Passion for pasta pays off for Italian-born chef

Giuseppe Farinato and his wife Anna. Pasta Farinato

Italian-born Giuseppe Farinato has turned his passion for pasta into a thriving Swiss business.

He came to Switzerland 37 year ago, making his home in the central Swiss canton of Lucerne. After working in the hotel business for years, he opened his own restaurant and a speciality pasta production facility in Ebikon.

He told swissinfo that he originally came to Switzerland just to learn German.

“I thought I might stay here just two or three years, enough time to learn the German language,” Farinato explained. However, his passion for pasta soon inspired him to open the business, which specialises in producing handmade ‘pasta artiginale’.

Farinato believes Switzerland is a good place to run his business, as he feels that bureaucracy here is less than in Italy.

“As a gastronome my passion has always been to bring a good quality of pasta to people here in Switzerland,” Farinato added.

While other businessmen may relish expansion, he prefers to focus on quality.

Rich in nutrients

The Farinato pasta, which is made along traditional lines, going back more than a century, is richer in nutrients and vitamins than industrially produced pasta.

Farinato supplies both restaurants and speciality shops with his pasta and sauces.

He explained to swissinfo the secret of his success in Switzerland. “Number one is first class quality and number two is a good service to customers.”

With people eating more and more pasta at home, Giuseppe Farinato has made improving pasta his mission. A year and a half ago, he began the ‘Pasta Academy’.

“The people don’t know enough about pasta and don’t have enough information on pasta so we began one and a half years ago with the pasta school working together with the National Pasta Museum in Rome, in Italy.”

His enthusiasm is contagious, as he expounds on the finer methods of pasta cooking, and the instruction.

“When an artist does not transfer his work to others his work dies,” explained Farinato. “But when he transfers it to others the culture lives on.”

by Tom O’Brien