October 26th 2015 sees the Europe wide launch of originàrio, the specialist Italian gourmet food company and its artisan tasting boxes. Containing a collection of prestigious products from passionate small producers, including products only available to Michelin star chefs until now – Box number three, “NOT ONLY MILK”, a box celebrating a selection of Italian cheeses amongst other ingredients, will be available to the whole of Europe for the first time, delivered direct to people’s doors.
originàrio delivers passionate food and wine lovers, uniquely exceptional products, previously only available to local Italian markets, created by skilled craftsmen and women. Established in 2014 by entrepreneur Sissi Semprini, who developed the concept alongside a team of other food and creative professionals, her co-founders include food writer/restaurateur Roberta Corradin and chef/agronomist Luca Zampa.
Designed for friends and family to enjoy together, the largest of the ‘‘NOT ONLY MILK” tasting boxes will provide ‘dinner for six’ with easy to follow recipes and tasting notes for each product. The box will include products such as two different cheeses from Aurina valley and South Tyrol; sheep cheese from Montefeltro in Marche region; Carmelo Nicotra’s cocktail olives harvested from the foothills of Mount Etna; Carpino extra virgin olive oil grown and bottled near the slopes of the Iblei Mountains in Sicily. The box will include two different wines, Pinot Nero Cuna from Tuscany and PassoLento, Castles of Jesi, Verdicchio Riserva, DOCG classico from La Marca di San Michele. “NOT ONLY MILK” is also available as ‘dinner for two’ and ‘for you’ – a smaller box that is perfect as a presentation gift.
A series of Christmas boxes will be available from November 2015 and will contain a selection of traditional, festive Italian products to be enjoyed before and after Christmas dinner.
Each producer is either personally known, or has been carefully sourced by originàrio’s founding members, not only for their outstanding dedication to their product, but also for their artisanal skill in creating it. Many of them though, lack the resources to promote themselves beyond their own region. Their produce, until recently, could only be accessed by informed locals or regional chefs and due to a small production, would never be found in Italian supermarkets or through larger generic produce suppliers.
originàrio, with their own passion for nature and sustainability, is a ‘digital destination’ for food and wine aficionados and aims to strengthen the direct relationship between farmer and consumer, narrating through the website the journey of these extraordinary producers along the way. This veritable digital storybook provides consumers with an assurance of quality that is more than just a meal.
Sissi explains ‘People talk a lot about food in Italy, but mostly we talk about products and not about who is behind that product which is the only real guarantee of quality. Not only have we found passionate with a great sense of responsibility but also quite lovely people who take enormous care and have great patience in what they do. We wanted to help them tell their stories’.
2014 saw the collation of two ‘test’ boxes that received critical acclaim as part an initial marketing strategy. The products included Bilei lonzino, a rare pork loin steak from Luciano Pelucchini, owner of his family run charcuterie, Bilei in Fabriano, Marche; Ma’Kaira pasta from Giacomo Santoleri of Casino di Caprafico - a hard, spelt, wheat bran linguine from the hills of Guardiagrele, Abruzzo; tomato confit, olives and pesto from Marco Ferrari located in the tiny town of Gazzo di Arroscia in Liguria; Franciacorta brut “sospiri” 2007 by Cà Del Vént from the vineyard in the ancient wine zone of Campiani di Cellatica in Lombardy; Infossato cheese of Case Ventena - a pit cheese from the Marche region made by the second generation Pala brothers and the marzipan fruit from the Corsino family in Sicily.
Future plans include the possibility of customers and members being able to tailor-make their own boxes and for 2016, a monthly changing ‘special box’.
For further information, please contact:
Sara Al-Ali or Lucy Golding Lotus PR
+44 (0)20 7751 5812
sara@lotuspr.co.uk / lucy@lotuspr.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITOR
www.originar.io was established in 2014.
Prices of below available boxes include shipping to UK/EU:
‘Dinner for six’ box: £160/€224
‘Dinner for two’ box: £86/€122
‘For you’ box: £52/€72
Co-founders:
- Sissi Semprini: originàrio CEO. Originàrio is the brainchild of Sissi. After completing a degree in public relations, Sissi embarked on her career in communication, co-founding the Italian branch of communications agency Cohn & Wolfe. Sissi co-founded greenbean in 2009, the first Italian brand communication agency dedicated to sustainability. In 2014, it was the idea of helping Italian food and wine producers who were lacking in the resources to promote and distribute their products that gave Sissi the idea for what it is today originàrio.
- Roberta Corradin: Roberta is who tells the stories of the people behind the products selected by originàrio. A food and fiction writer, Roberta edited Nonna Genia's Classic Langhe Cookbook (the Bible of Piedmontese Cooking according Carlo Petrini, Slow Food's founder). Her book Taste and Tradition, a Culinary Journey through Italy (2 volumes) is sold all over the world. A former contributor to Saveur and Food Arts magazines, Roberta now calls southeastern Sicily home, after decades spent as a western nomad living in Paris, New York and Rome. She now runs a seaside restaurant, a hillside farm and a vineyard and is currently working on her latest book.
- Luca Zampa: a gourmet, a chef and a sommelier. With a background in agronomy and territorial planning, he is an expert in each step of the food production process. Luca studied agronomy and for more than a decade has worked in the tourism sector, specifically exploring the topics of nutrition and food. In 2008, Luca founded Levàa Food Thinkers in Milan, an interdisciplinary agency for agriculture and food systems. Here Luca has developed various catering, food and retail concepts and researched new food production processes, looking at both markets and distribution.
- Francesca Moscheni: originàrio food & lifestyle photographer.
- Federico Cagnoni: originàrio film director and creator.