History

Chef Neil Fusco has always had a taste for great food, fresh ingredients and quality. Chef Neil’s family has been farming in Southern Italy for over 200 years. At an early age, he began helping on the family farm where he was born, in the San Marzano town in the Campania region of Italy. Chef Neil’s mother started taking him to the farm when he was a baby, and as soon as they were old enough, Chef Neil and his sister began to help. Their first job - weed pullers. Instead of using pesticides, the weeds were removed by hand (weeds suck some of the nutrients out of the soil that are meant for the tomatoes, so weed pulling is an important job!).

Starting about the age of seven, Chef Neil’s mother would send him home on many an evening to prepare the family meal, using the fresh ingredients from the farm, and the delicious recipes handed down from generations. This early introduction to food, and cooking with the farm fresh ingredients, eventually led Chef Neil to start a restaurant. In 1998, while Chef Neil worked as the chef/owner of his New York Times Very Good rated restaurant, Cucina Antica was “born.” All of his customers loved how he used fresh ingredients on his menu, and in his sauce. Some customers would come in just to order sauce, and they kept asking him to jar it.

One day while walking down the sauce aisle at a local grocery store, Chef Neil realized “I could do this, and do it better! I’ll make a fresh, homemade tasting and quality sauce, with no added sugar and without adding any artificial ingredients.” È qui (Italian for “here is”)
- Cucina Antica.

Philosophy

Our business is conducted so that it always gives the human person preference over any material gain. Although we recognize the importance of profits because they ensure the efficient operation of our business, for us making a profit means the following: to satisfy a true and authentic need at a just price (and with an awesome flavor)! Equally important, we seek to work with those in the various areas of production, sourcing, etc., that are respectful of the human person and are consciously good stewards of our earthly planet. At Cucina Antica, it is not just a way of doing business, but a way of life. In every jar of sauce, there is Quality, Pride and Integrity, and il sapore - THE FLAVOR ™!

At Cucina Antica, the value is in the people, from each employee to the customer who brings the sauce home for a delicious meal. Putting people first puts a great product on the shelf!

In summation, we at Cucina Antica want to do good for the common good. Chef Neil says “It is not what one can take from the table, but rather what good one can bring TO the table that makes the difference!”

Philanthropy

Although we do not advertise it, our giving program is very important to us, especially giving to the poor, the homeless and to single parent families, despite the challenging economy. Hard times have not stopped us at Cucina Antica from giving to the needy, as giving must always involve sacrifice. Charity for the less fortunate motivates our lives, thus paving the way we live and work. The whole staff at Cucina Antica, no matter what the current giving project may be, is always ready and willing to lend a hand.

What is a cooking sauce?

Unlike other sauces, our pasta sauce is actually called COOKING SAUCE. What makes it a cooking sauce? You can re-cook the Cucina Antica pasta sauce while retaining the fruitiness and THE FLAVOR™ of the sauce, in other words, recooking will not make it acidic (some other brands of sauce are somewhat over-cooked and will lose their flavor when recooked). OUR cooking sauces are cooked in small batches of 150 cases per batch using a traditional cooking method where the tomatoes are broken in chunks by the AGITATOR in the kettle. This is similar to hand crushing the plum tomatoes. The sauce is then cooked just to the point where we are able to jar it. This traditional method allows the home chef to re-cook the sauce while maintaining THE FLAVOR™.

What gives our pasta sauce il sapore, THE FLAVOR™?

The San Marzano tomatoes and our traditional cooking method! Unlike other sauces, where sugar and an over-abundance of sodium are added to mask any unattractive taste, our sauces use the hearty, full-flavored, delicious imported Italian San Marzano tomatoes, so they do not need any enhancer.

Chef Neil’s family has been farming the famous San Marzano tomatoes for over 200 years. Chef Neil, born in San Marzano, Italy, where these world renowned tomatoes are grown, knows that it is the San Marzano tomato that he uses to make the Cucina Antica pasta sauces that ultimately gives the sauce that unparalleled, fresh, light homemade flavor.

Chef Neil attributes THE FLAVOR™, that ultimate awesome homemade flavor, to the Italian San Marzano tomato, and his traditional cooking method. The San Marzano tomatoes are combined with just the right amount of fresh seasoning/herbs, and cooked just to the right point to maximize THE FLAVOR™ and to the temperature needed to be jarred, and the result – il sapore, THE FLAVOR™!!!

The sauce has such a homemade, fresh flavor, that many a customer who used to make their own sauce, have shared with us that they cannot believe the sauce is out of a jar.

What else makes Cucina Antica pasta sauces stand out above other sauces?

Chef Neil works closely with the tomato supplier and makes frequent trips to Italy. We work with the same farmers year after year. Having a family that has farmed this tomato variety for the last 200 years, they know from first-hand experience what a good tomato should taste like!

The imported San Marzano tomatoes are grown in the volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvius in Southern Italy. The volcanic soil is believed to act as a filter for water impurities. The San Marzano tomatoes, a variety of the plum tomato, are considered by many chefs to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world. The tomatoes are ripened in the perfect Mediterranean climate. Hot, dry days and cool nights make for perfect ripening. The result is a deep red plum tomato full of natural flavor.

The Cucina Antica pasta sauces are All Natural and Gluten Free, with a light, fresh, home-made taste! They have No Sugar Added and No Preservatives.