We love a good homemade pasta here at the MFM office, so we chatted with Robert Pingitore, founder and director of Pasta Reggio to find out what makes his homemade pasta so delicious.
MFM: When did you start Pasta Reggio, and what was your motivation to create a company selling fresh pasta and sauces?
Robert: Pasta Reggio started in September 2021. Originally the idea of starting up a business was when my wife Nella and I used to teach our children about our family traditions and the heritage of food, and how a lot of things we enjoy and love as a family are all homemade. Pasta making was something we did most Sundays and we thought, let's start up a small business to go to farmers markets on the weekends for just a little extra income. When we looked at the pasta market we found that a lot of products included preservatives, additives and fillers, and that nothing out there from the big brands was actually homemade. From there we decided, let's make some pasta products and keep them as natural and the way homemade pasta should be made. As we continue to grow we continue to provide these products as natural homemade recipes.
MFM: Why call it Pasta Reggio?
Robert: When deciding on a name for our business we landed on Reggio because both of our families trace back to Calabria in southern Italy. Reggio Calabria had been one of the biggest cities in the region, so the name Pasta Reggio has traces leading back to the home of our families. We are truly a family business and all members of the family contribute in some way to the products and sales of the products. From our long heritage in Italy to our current family in Australia, our traditions and passion for food filter way down. Most customers will see not only Nella and I at a market on the weekend but our children also.
MFM: Where did you learn to make pasta?
Robert: I taught myself to make pasta. I worked for an extremely large pasta manufacturer and picked up on some bits and pieces around pasta-making, but most of what I do now is from my own research. My passion for pasta not only stems from eating a lot of it but also from knowing that a lot of the dry pasta that we eat makes us feel bloated and unwell afterwards. So with a lot of trial and error before we started the business, and with input from my parents and Nella’s parents, I perfected my pasta making skills. I like to think of new recipes and flavors because I always want to bring customers new products. Since 2023, we’ve been bringing our customers a new flavored pasta every month!
MFM: Is there a story behind any of the pastas that you make?
Robert: We decided a large portion of our pastas would be traditional homemade pasta, but with that we also wanted to bring something different and something never seen in the pasta market, so we decided to make some pastas without egg (as egg pasta is the traditional homemade pasta). Then we thought why stop there? Let's see what else we can do. As we looked at the market again, we saw that popular tri-colored pasta was traditionally Tomato, Egg, and Spinach and we decided to make our own tri-coloured pasta but with Pumpkin, Beetroot and Kale instead. Not a very traditional pasta but something different with bright bold colours catches a customer’s eye.
MFM: Beetroot Salad…Beetroot Pasta!
Robert: We used to cook roast pork and I would pair it with a beetroot, pear and fennel salad. So a summery beetroot pasta came to mind. It would be a great kin to a hearty but very refreshing summer salad. We tell a lot of customers to make the beetroot pasta with pear and fennel, dressed with EVO and lemon juice and top it with a crumbled fetta. People's eyes light up at the thought of that and the next time they come back they always tell us it was the most amazing dish they ever had!
MFM: What do you want your customers to know?
Robert: We keep it simple. We use local ingredients and try to stay away from imported products. There are a lot of pasta products on the market that either use imported flours from Italy or are imported from Italy. As we express to our customers, if a fresh pasta is imported, what are they doing to that product for it to stay fresh for all that travel time?
There’s a huge difference between Pasta Reggio and the bigger brands. As an example, in our Beef Ravioli there is Australian beef and vegetables. If you compare it to the bigger brands, they use breadcrumbs, potato flakes and starches in their raviolis. You won't find that in our products. It's the same with our Gnocchi. A lot of big brand gnocchi are made from potato flakes and potato starches. We use real vegetables in our gnocchi.
MFM: Any new, exciting pastas, sauces, pizzas on the horizon?
Robert: As Pasta Reggio continues to grow, we are always looking at new products to introduce. As we continually work on some major advancements. We have some big news coming out very soon. This news will allow us to introduce some new, delicious products!
We are looking at expanding our Farmers Markets footprint by adding new markets to our calendar, and we are also looking at placing our products in local stores so Pasta Reggio is available in more places.
Market Days: Every first and third Saturday at Carlton; Every second and fourth Sunday at Alphington; Every fourth Saturday at Coburg.
Follow Pasta Reggio on IG @pastareggiovic