Alessio is a fellow classmate of mine at UNISG as well as co-founder of Carbogang, an online community dedicated to celebrating and selling high-quality ingredients to make the perfect carbonara. The group puts together “carbo-kits” that include Felicetti pasta, guanciale Amatriciano, Pecorino Romano DOP and other ingredients sourced from the best producers across Italy and sends them to happy customers.
How did your relationship with food begin and develop?
Fried zucchini flowers are probably one of the oldest memories I have, and the way that my grandmother would prepare the batter and fry them was so simple and unique. This is probably one of the most meaningful dishes to me, as it reminds me of when I would spend entire mornings in my grandmother’s garden, picking zucchini flowers and waiting for her to transform them into something delicious. We would spend hours talking and she would always have an answer to all of my questions and doubts.
“Pasta al pomodoro” is also a simple recipe that takes me back to my childhood. My grandparents would spend their summers in Campania, where they had fields of olive trees and tomatoes. At the end of August, when they would come back to Trento, they would distribute amongst all their children and nephews big jars of olive oil and recycled beer bottles filled with tomato sauce.
That is how my relationship with food started and the reason why tomato sauce and olive oil have special value for me. These were products that we never had to buy – I could exactly retrace them back to their origins.
What is the story behind Carbogang?
In 2017, me and three of my best friends founded “Carbogang”. It was the summer of our graduation when Emanuele, Sebastiano, Alex and I got obsessed with the well-known and beloved by all “pasta alla Carbonara”. We were keen to make the perfect version of the dish and for that reason we would cook it almost every day, posting pictures of the results on our Instagram page. There is not really a reason why we decided to cook carbonara specifically, we just loved it so much that we decided to proclaim ourselves as the “crusaders of Carbonara”, to ultimately teach people how to make it properly and most importantly educate them about the importance of using “guanciale” instead of “bacon”!
I remember we decided to do “secret Santa” that year and I gave Emanuele a kit to make Carbonara made of “guanciale”, pasta and “pecorino”. That was the moment when we started thinking that we could turn it into a business and finally give our fans a product to reproduce the amazing Carbonara that we had been cooking so far.
Ultimately, several of my experiences outside of school proved crucial in helping manage and develop this project: from managing a bed and breakfast on my own to following online courses in coding, photography and marketing.
Which are the ingredients to have the perfect Carbonara?
After a few months, an article on the newspaper “Adige” talked about us and that’s how we got the attention of “Felicetti”, a brand of high quality pasta made in Trentino. “Felicetti” saw an opportunity in us to become more innovative and appealing to younger generations. Since then, they have supplied us with “mezze maniche” or “spaghettoni” pasta extruded through bronze, made with organic semolina.
Meanwhile for the other ingredients, we got in contact with the producers of Guanciale Amatriciano (produced in Accumoli, Lazio) and Pecorino Romano DOP (produced in Lazio) through gastronomic fairs and a lot of research. We partner with the former not only because of the extraordinary quality they offer but also to support an area that traditionally produces guanciale which was hit by an earthquake in 2016. Regarding the latter, we selected it because it has a strong sapidity and flavour which are essential characteristics to make the best carbonara.
How did Covid-19 impact your business?
During the lock-down our sales tripled, as people were home and were looking for a new experience to entertain themselves. Many would send a “carbo-kit” to their friends or partners to recreate the feeling of conviviality through face-time, cooking Carbonara at the same time and feeling connected through food. As one of our co-founders Alex says: “Sharing food creates a unique atmosphere, as it makes us feel at home. Cooking is an act of love!” Our main value is creating a feeling of community, after all, our carbo-kit contains four portions and is made to be shared between your “carbo-brothers and sisters”!
What do you think needs to change about our food system?
I wish everyone had the same food education I had. Being able to grow your own vegetables as well as knowing what you fed your animals is a priceless experience. As a kid, I would spend hours with my feet and hands in the soil helping my grandmother to pick up what would become our lunch. I believe we should recreate these experiences also for all of those kids that live in cities, as their education on food will influence their lifestyle and choices related to food in the future. There are many abandoned establishments/sites that are unused but that could have a second life by hosting workshops and by becoming agricultural spots, to ultimately also shorten the supply chain. Technology is a powerful tool that we should use, to spread knowledge and information on food and on its origins.
What are your projects for the future?
My studies at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo have allowed me to have a broader view of the food landscape and have given me the tools to approach it with different perspectives.
Our current project is creating a guide of the Carbonara. It won’t only be a book about the best spots where to eat Carbonara around Italy, but also a book that approaches this recipe from an anthropological and cultural perspective. Each ingredient will be analysed and will be connected to a different concept. Tradition and conviviality will be the key points, together with the relationship that our generation (Gen Z) has with tradition and food itself.
We recently created another Instagram page called “Carbohouse”, where we post pictures and recipes of other kinds of pasta, as we aim at expanding the business and innovating ourselves selling other kind of “kits” to make for example “Amatriciana” or “Cacio e Pepe”. Indeed, our plan is to open restaurants in the future, starting in Milan and then moving abroad as we believe that nowadays all the restaurant chains that offer pasta abroad are not genuine and traditional (many of them are not even owned by Italians). We aim to bring the real Italian spirit and cuisine to other countries, to be enjoyed both by expat and by foreigners that will try for the first time real Italian pasta. Our idea is to offer a casual and affordable restaurant where you can go in with your friends and enjoy a good forkful of “Gricia”. At the end of the day, it is all about sharing good food with good friends!
“Carbogang is where tradition meets innovation. Our aim is to deliver quality, simplicity and tradition in every dish”