A Taste of Italy - a Soo Market vendor - is a favourite for cheese and meat lovers.
“A lot of the products that A Taste of Italy carries are not available in local grocery stores,” said A Taste of Italy owner/operator Steve Casagrande chatting with SooToday.
“We carry a lot of specialty cheeses from Italy, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands. Our meats are gluten free products from Italia Meats from Guelph.”
A Taste of Italy sells healthy meats for those concerned about consuming nitrates.
In processed meat products, nitrates have been associated with an increased risk of certain cancers.
“We carry a natural line of meats, called naturalismo, with celery and cherry powder for people who are cautious about nitrates. It’s a naturally occurring nitrate,” Casagrande said.
Such natural nitrates can improve blood pressure and circulation.
“We sell prosciutto, salami, cacciatore, capicola, we have a lot of Italian staple meats. We offer pre-packaged samples because outside the market there are apartment buildings with a lot of seniors. They don’t really have a lot of variety downtown to choose from so we started doing those pre-packaged samples with seniors in mind. And, a lot of travellers will buy a package of meat, cheese or sausage from us and enjoy it while going for a walk on the boardwalk,” Casagrande said.
A Taste of Italy - open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday at Soo Market - offers free samples of cheese from around the world. The samples are always a favourite for children visiting the business with their parents.
Saturday’s sample was Dutch Maasdam cheese, described as a fast-ripening cheese with a nutty and sweet flavour.
“The samples are always very well received,” Casagrande said.
Born in Italy, Casagrande moved to Canada with his family at a young age.
The Casagrande family has food industry experience.
“I worked at Rico's Foods and my wife Sherry was a meat manager at Metro for several years before she retired,” Casagrande said.
A Taste of Italy shares a vendor space with RLC Cosmetics, owned by Sherry Casagrande and operated by daughter Rachel Casagrande.
Sherry does the meat slicing and prepares gift baskets for A Taste of Italy while daughter Julia Casagrande assists her parents in customer service at their space in Soo Market.
2025 marks A Taste of Italy’s third year as a vendor at Soo Market.
“We’re running a little family business here and we’re enjoying it. The kids are learning about business and it’s a family affair. I’m still working at Algoma Steel but I’m getting ready to retire so this is a little project of mine, a family business that can carry on after my retirement,” Casagrande said.
He stated that running A Taste of Italy at Soo Market is a change and a social outlet for him.
“I’ve worked in industry for 39 years and I like being out in the public and meeting people. The market’s been fantastic for that. We’ve had customers from Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England, France, our neighbours from the States. It’s nice to meet different people. I always ask ‘what brought you to the Sault?’ and a lot of it’s because of the Agawa Canyon Tour Train. A lot of people like to visit Canada and a lot of them come through Sault Ste. Marie. They love stopping here and I’ve met a lot of very nice people.”
