Pasquale Carpino, known as the Singing Chef on his Toronto-based TV cooking shows
deb...@comcast.net
Last Updated Mon, 02 Jan 2006 16:19:36 EST
CBC Arts
Pasquale Carpino, known as the Singing Chef in his Toronto-based TV
cooking shows, has died at 69.
"If I sing when I cook, the food is going to be happy," Carpino was
often quoted as saying.
Carpino died Dec. 30 of complications from surgery, his family said.
The effervescent chef introduced legions of Canadians and cooks around
the world to the joys of simple Italian dishes. He shows have aired
globally since the mid-1970s. Kitchen Express was the top daytime
program on the Discovery Channel from 1990 to1992.
"The chef is like a composer..."-Pasquale Carpino
Carpino, in his trademark blue double-breasted smock, performed with
ease on his shows, naming recipes after composers or opera singers.
"To me, singing a beautiful song and preparing a beautiful recipe are
the same. They both give us a chance to find happiness in creativity
and to share that joy with others," Carpino once said. "The chef is
like a composer, creating new recipes and adapting old ones to express
the individuality that is found in each of us."
Carpino's oldest daughter Beatrice told the Toronto Star that her
father acted naturally on television: "Nothing was made up ... it was
just Dad all the time."
Carpino said he began singing to keep Beatrice interested in her
Italian heritage and language.
Arriving from Italy in 1958, Carpino started as a dishwasher at a
Toronto restaurant and moved up the ranks rapidly to become a chef. He
soon had a job at an esteemed hotel while studying opera at the Royal
Conservatory of Music.
Carpino met his wife Evelina when he was looking for a soprano for a
concert in 1964.
"[Music] was his first love but sometimes you can't make a living with
love," said his wife, who added he was "a very kind gentleman."
Evelina Carpino said her husband would want to be remembered as an
honest man who loved his family. The Singing Chef is also survived by
his two daughters, two brothers and two sisters.