Italian food legend Ado Campeol, better known as the ‘Father of Tiramisu’ died at the age of 93, on Saturday, October 30th. He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The owner of 'Le Beccherie' restaurant in Treviso, northern Italy, Ado Campeol’s best contribution to the world of food has to be the innovation of the world-famous dessert Tiramisu in1969. The governor of the Veneta region, Luco Zaia, took to Facebook to share the news. "With Ado Campeol, gone today at age 93, Treviso loses another one of its gastronomical stars," he wrote. Take a look:
"I extend to all the family members my deepest condolences in the memory of a figure like Aldo, who contributed to the great Treviso," wrote the governor in his post. Several other people paid their respects to the food legend. Many food historians and journalists along with fans also got emotional on multiple social media platforms. “Farewell to the creator of dessert heaven.” wrote a Twitter user. Food Journalist Josh Barrie recalled his visit to Alle Beccherie, in Treviso to sample the original Tiramisu and shared a picture.
Tiramisu: The Origin Story
Campeol's restaurant Le Beccherie was the first to come up with the decadent concoction of espresso-coated biscuits topped with mascarpone cheese and finished with cocoa powder. Tiramisu comes from the Treviso dialect, “Tireme su”, and in Italian it means ‘pick me up’ which refers to the two primary caffeinated ingredients in the dessert- cocoa and coffee. It is a rich layered dessert that was originally made with ladyfinger biscuits (basically coffee-soaked savoiardi biscuits), strong coffee, mascarpone, eggs, sugar, Marsala wine, rum and cocoa powder. Legend has it that it was an accidental invention when the restaurant's chef Roberto Linguanatto along with Campeol’s wife Alba mistakenly dropped mascarpone in the egg and sugar mix while making vanilla ice cream. They noticed how well they complimented together each other, and further perfected it by adding coffee-soaked ladyfinger sponges, thus paving way to the divine dessert. While the family never patented it, but it was added to the restaurant's menu formally only in 1972. The concept really took off and has achieved global fame today. Almost every Italian restaurant around the world has Tiramisu on its menu.
Wish to try making Tiramisu at home? Here’s a recipe we have for you.