(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Morning, Rita.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Well, I used to kind of explain it like, it's kind of like pepperoni, but it's different.

- I hate to say the word pepperoni.

- I call it like a spicy pepperoni.

- It's not pepperoni.

- About the same texture as pepperoni.

- But it's similar.

- But spicier.

- It is the biggest thing since sliced bread here in town.

- It's not the bacon.

- It's like potato chips.

Once you eat 'em, you can't stop.

- It's not salami.

- It's a dried, cured, spicy Italian sausage.

- Some people think it's like a sausage, but it's different.

It's a spicy, hard pork meat that's cured.

- I've had soppressata before and I said before it has like a genoa look and a genoa feel, that's not soupy.

At least to us it's not soupy, you know, that's a commercial product to make money.

It's not made with love.

- I think soupy making stems from the roots of where most of the people who live in Westerly come from, and that's Calabria.

(gentle upbeat music) - My father's parents were from Acri, Calabria, and they brought that tradition over, and my aunts and uncles would all do it.

- Our little corner of the world is so unique as far as this tradition goes, and it all stems from the motherland, Calabria.

- I think that the soupy tradition probably came from kind of a rustic, poor background.

Meaning, it's not the best cut of meat of the pork.

It's needed to be cut off the bone.

It's a very labor intensive kind of thing, if you bring it back many, many, many years.

- Back in the day there was no refrigeration so you really had to make the most of any animal that you may have raised to feed your family.

- And I think it was something that created food for the season, for the year.

- Basically, it's ground meats that are probably less tender, fat included.

- If you go to Italy to this day and try to give it to a local, they say salami, say no soppressat, no salami.

because soppressat in Italy is mostly fat, it's white.

- Westerly is unique, 'cause it has paprika in it, which makes it red.

If you look at a lot of them say boar's head or some of the more commercial ones, it's more like a white salami, like a genoa.

- It used to be I think strictly an Italian thing, but it's not anymore.

You know, many different families make soupy, and maybe you learn from somebody who's done it before, who probably Italian.

But once you learn it, then you just kind of take it on and you can do it on your own.

- So, soupy itself came short of the word soppressata, which is again a very broad term, but ours is unique.

So, to us soupy is soupy.

Everything else is crap.

(Dave laughing) - We have a series here at the United called The United Table that we created, because we were doing a lot of cookbook authors and we found that talks with cookbook authors were really popular.

People love to learn about food and I thought, you know, if we're doing a lot of culinary events, we need to celebrate the thing Westerly is most known for, which is soupy.

(upbeat music) And I wanted to take that idea and create kind of a festival atmosphere around it and not just do something that felt like a folksy food event, but you know, we do a lot of live music and produce a lot of events here.

So, I wanted to kind of take soupy and make it feel a little more rock and roll and a little, you know, more special and do something kind of big, and that's what we did.

(upbeat music) - I'm really excited about this, 'cause last week we started with 37 entries and we whittled it down to 10.

Everyone was really, really good and it was a tough decision.

When we got done totalling it, there were 12 judges and they were all within points of each other.

That's how close they really were.

There were no losers here for sure.

The best part about this is it's totally blind.

All I know is I'm tasting sample number one.

I have no idea who made it, nor did we when we did the initial tasting.

(upbeat music) - And then we brought on Steve Schirripa from "Sopranos" and "Blue Bloods" fame to be our MC and that kind of helped elevate it.

- You know, down in New York it's soppressat and you buy it in the Italian delis, little different texture, a little different, you know?

That's what I grew up on, though I've had this before.

I know people are very proud of it.

I know they bring it to restaurants like a fine bottle of wine.

They want their own soupy.

What does that tell you?

(upbeat music) - The first time I saw them make soupy, I was a little kid sitting on the stairs at my grandmother's house.

We looked downstairs and they were all making it.

- Martin Luther King Weekend was the weekend that we kind of targeted to make the soupy.

- Soupy back then was very labor intensive.

- You have to get the meat, you have to order everything, you have to gather everybody together.

- Young kids would have to clean the intestines and they're trimming.

It would be a sometimes more than one day.

It was a real issue.

- After we'd wash all the intestines, we'd put 'em in a big bucket and we put oranges in them.

And you cut the oranges that helps clean them.

- We had to cut the meat off the bone, being careful to take some of the fat out, but not all of the fat.

- They deliberately trimmed the pork butts.

They'd leave a little meat on the bone, 'cause that those bones were used to make spaghetti sauce.

- We don't just buy the ground meat, we actually, grind the meat ourselves.

We go restaurant depot, buy the pork butts, trim the fat.

- So, it's ground pork.

Then you mix it with the 3% salt, paprika, ground pepper.

And then you mix that, mix it very, very well.

- The most important thing in the soupy making is making sure there's enough salt in it, because that's what really cures it.

- Salt first, number one, it's the most important thing.

It's gotta be done right away.

- The process is pretty interesting.

I think you have to pay attention.

- My father would say, "Okay, we need six hands of salt," And he had hands this big, and he would throw it into the meat.

- Your hand and my hand may not be the same size.

- 'Cause he put hands full of stuff in it, you know?

- "All right, we need five hands of red pepper."

- You gotta make sure the ingredients is the same proportion.

- Six hands of paprika.

- Someone's hand is bigger than the other person and you put more salt in than you do paprika.

- I like mine spicy.

They like theirs less, they like theirs mild.

So, we kinda like have our own different ingredients, but we mix each batch separately.

- Some families use peppercorns.

We used peppercorns in the old days.

We used pepper flakes along with the hot pepper.

Some people don't do that.

- Some people don't like it too hot.

Me, I like a little tang to it, but I don't like it so hot that I, you know, it burns my mouth.

- My father's was like hot.

It would actually burn your throat, your ears.

You'd be like, you'd be having a runny nose and stuff.

It's like, mine's not like that.

Mine's just has a nice little bite to it at the end where you can feel it like a little tickle in your throat.

- Some people like it really hot, it's probably so they don't have to give away so much.

They cut it and then, oh, that's very good.

Instead of something that's very easily consumed.

- And then after they got all done, they'd be on each across the table.

They start mixing it.

(upbeat music) - We don't use a mixer, an electric mixer, we actually mix by hand the way my parents did it 60 years ago.

So, we've used very little machinery and stuff.

So, it's very important to us to mix it completely well.

So, my brother, Nate, and I are the two that mix, 'cause we work together on each side of the table.

- When our soupy is ready to get packed, what we always do is we take about a handful, about a pound, and we put it into a frying pan and we fry it up.

And that's the gold for us.

We love eating the fresh fried up soupy.

- After the meat's mixed and everything else, and so, we have certain people that do certain jobs where it's time to start stuffing the meat in the case.

- But you gotta make the balls and then you have one, it's like a one person running the machine, one person pulling the skins.

- We take the balls and put it in the grind, it's an electric grinder, then it comes out into the casings.

- I had the job of stuffing the meat into the grinder and at that time it was a hand grinder.

- Probably the most important job is being behind the machine, holding the intestines onto the machine and being able to work it back and forth so that there are no air pockets.

- Someone's holding the casings and another person's tying the string.

- And then we've got two guys tying at the end.

I remember having to put band-aids on, 'cause my grandmother would be making me tie string and then if he didn't, it would cut into your fingers, 'cause it got so wet.

- That's one of the hazards of making soupy.

Don't make me tie please.

I wanna stuff.

Anyway.

- I mean, if we need the help, my father would call upstairs, "Josephine, we need you to tie."

So, she would come down and tie.

- And then once that's done, is the hanging.

We do some of it in my mother's basement.

She has a little room there and my brother has a room in his basement.

(upbeat music) - And we let it hang in a temperature-controlled room, so to speak.

A lot of people have soupy cellars.

- We have a room with a little window for the air, and you can put a fan in there, if you want, to make sure the air circulates.

- My mother has a small room, usually you want it around 40, 45 degrees.

And she has a window there that you can kind of control the temperature a bit.

If it gets really cold, you close the window and if it's a little warmer, you open the window a bit.

- Some people do it in their attic.

Some people make a room, specifically designed to hang their soupy.

Many people put it in their garage.

- Depending on the weather and the conditions, usually six to eight weeks till it's nice and firm.

- Essentially, you wanna lose 50% of it's weight, which is all the liquid.

You really don't want to get it too much more than that, because then the outside gets very, very hard.

- Out of 800 pounds, we get about eight or 900 sticks of soupy.

Usually, per 60 pound box, we get 62, 63 sticks.

All depends how big the guy behind the machine makes them.

When we start the beginning of the box, he makes them a nice size like this, but as we're getting toward the end and everybody wants to get done, now you're getting soupy sticks this long.

- And my father, he has the number one job of all, he's the supervisor and gives us the wine to make sure we're drinking plenty of fluids.

- Buddy Cianci's coming down, he's gonna be a guest for the Armory, and he's big in soupy.

Well, he was a character.

He was such a good guy.

He used to come down to Margaret Gallo's, Frankie Gallo's mother's house.

Yeah, she's like my second mother.

And Buddy was in the Westerly paper when he was making soupy with Margaret Gallo on Pier Street.

And at the end of the day, they'd have a big cook out, cook with the meat, trying it out and tasting it, frying it up.

- Somebody brings the pasta, somebody brings the cheese, somebody brings the wine.

It's just a nice time to get together again.

And you look forward to those days.

- So, my soupy, we've been making it for about 12, 13 years or so.

I learned from one of the old-time Italian families, my father, my son.

So, three of us generations went, learned, videotaped it.

And we've been making it in my house for the last 13 years or so.

- Well, I'm very honored to be a finalist.

My family goes back to making soupy.

My grandparents came over from the old country.

We go back to the day when we cut the meat from the bone and did all that kind of stuff.

Everything was measured by hand.

But as my aunts got older, we took and had them weighted things out so we could have a recipe, and that's what we've got.

(gentle upbeat music) - The United has become the hub of downtown.

Soupy represents part of the heart of Westerly.

This event has brought together so many wonderful people.

- I remember when I was a little kid, I was helping my mom make soupy.

And back then we had no machinery to grind the meat, no machinery to fill.

So, we used to cut a little piece, you know, with a knife and you chop it, make a small, small pieces and then fill it in.

You know, put 'em in the casing, fill it in with the hands, with a thumb and push it in it down.

So, it was really fun, a lot of work.

- It's very important that we carry out the traditions of our grandparents, our great-grandparents.

And you feel that belonging to that ancestry that we're so proud of.

We're proud to be American as well, obviously, but that Calabresa instinct and Italian is very strong.

(upbeat music) - Well, actually, I was here two days ago for the event over at the Armory had a great time.

They paid me off with three soppressatas, which was great.

I went home, I actually ate one already.

- Well, it's the biggest night of my career.

I've done 'em all.

The apple fest, the cherry blossom fest, clam cakes, oysters, Armenian, Greek, Columbus State, but now, to be at the Soupy Festival is big.

- Soupy traditionally, is made around Christmas.

Anytime the weather starts to drop down to a very safe level.

- We always make ours in January, couple of weekends in January.

- And I think the weather personally, yeah, the weather has always been a key thing for us.

And that's why we always did Martin Luther King Weekend, because it was cold.

Some people make it in July, but I think it's, personally, I just think it's always been a winter tradition with the cold weather.

- The commercial places that make it, they make it year round, because where they cure it is humidity controlled and temperature controlled, and so they can make it year round.

That's the biggest reason why it's made, I think in the winter in the home, because it has to be cold and it has to be dry.

- I always tell people the worst day of the year growing up for me as a child was December 26th, because most of the soupy was made in the Italian community and most of the Italian community worked in mills.

So, they would have Christmas to New Year's off.

So, they all wanted to make soupy the day after Christmas when their family was around.

So, me and my brother would have to go in day after Christmas around 02:00 in the morning, 03:00 in the morning, and start processing and grinding for people to make soupy or soppressata in their homes.

- Well, we purchased the meat from a wholesaler and they deliver it to my shop and we have to write down all the temperatures.

There's a receiving log and everything.

It's all from the USDA.

And it's not like it was when we grew up and we could just do anything we wanted to.

The USDA stands over us every single day.

- I can still remember my father was so proud.

There was a writeup in "The New London Day".

Nice color photo of my father in the attic with the soupies hanging, and you know, Westerly Packing, and he was so proud of this.

And I was in college at the time, and he gets a call from the state and he is like, "You guys are curing pork in an attic and then you're reselling it?"

And we were like, "Yeah, we're not supposed to do that?"

We ended up putting coolers in, which was a blessing.

We put coolers in and we do it year round now.

- When I first started making the soupy, it had too much fat in it, because people used the butt meat.

And I can remember as my mother would have us kids picking out the fat to lean it out, because people don't want to put all that fat into their bodies.

So, I mean, I'm not a good example for it, but.

(Mike chuckling) - We buy fresh pork and we kind of do our own little combination of what we use for pork.

And then from that we grind it up and then we'll mix spices into it.

- And then we stuff it into manmade casings.

I don't use the intestines like some people do.

That's old fashioned.

And the breakage of those intestines will drive you absolutely insane.

- We prefer the natural casings.

I have a lot of customers that use synthetic casings, most commercial places use synthetic casings.

To us, it just doesn't give us that natural feel.

We feel that it cures better, it's more natural.

It's more of the way that we were doing it, you know, in Italy.

We're still doing it the same way my great-great grandparents did it.

- When I first started this and I was using the fibrous casings, my mother, God rest her soul, and my sister-in-law didn't want me to make their soupy like that.

After a couple of years, I convinced them to try my product the way I do it commercially.

From that year on, I made it for them in the fibrous casings.

And they come out beautiful.

- And then we'll stuff it, tie it, then hang it, and then it usually, hangs a good, you know, five weeks.

And then from there we either package it for shipping or we put it in our retail store.

- A lot of the people I make it for, I don't use my recipe, I use their recipes.

Seems like everybody has a recipe.

And I think that there was one recipe brought to this country and it just expanded and went from door to door, family to family, friend to friend.

And that's how it expanded in this town.

- You need to offer a variety just to try and hit people's taste palettes and give them a variety.

You know, we do, do a, you know, a sweet, which is no hot pepper, mild, which is a little bit, which mild to us is the best seller, then hot is the next best seller.

We do an extra hot, you know?

As you keep eating it, you know, it's not as hot as it used to be.

You know what I mean?

It gets, you know, you start off with sweet and then you say, "I could go a little heat and then mild."

And you're like, "Ah, it's not hot anymore."

You kind of build up your tolerance.

(gentle music) - Every Christmas party you go to, there's gonna be a plate of soupy, and people kind of gather around and they get close to it and they eat.

It's almost like Italian cocaine, you know?

You can't tell anybody where you got it.

You gather around the plate of it and you know, it's really interesting.

- If someone knows you're from Westerly, one of the first questions is, "You make your own soupy?"

And I happily say, "Oh yeah, yeah," you know?

They could go to the couple of the local stores and get it, but hey, Dave, you got any soupy you can spare?

And I'm always happy to oblige.

- I make the soupy.

I give it out to almost everybody.

It's what we do.

It's just, when somebody comes to my house, the oil man has to fix something.

When he leaves, he knows he's gonna get paid plus he's gonna get a soupy.

It's just what we do, you know?

- Oh, you can have your house painted for a stick of soup here in Westerly.

- But in terms of a gift, to me, it's like people can count on a friend.

Oh, he'll bring the soupy, they'll bring the soupy.

Well, I know I can get soupy from them.

And I've given it away as Christmas presents many years.

- People do understand when you give 'em soupy you're giving 'em something that your family did.

You know, you worked hard at it, you know what I mean?

My family's given this to your family.

- Somebody does a little job for you, an electrician or a plumber comes to the house.

And in fact, it just happened to me.

I had somebody fix my garage door.

As he was breaking up and did my job for me, I said, "By the way, would you like a soupy?"

He said, "Do you have soupy?"

I said, "Yeah."

And I handed him a soupy to take and enjoy with his family.

- My father, Borab, used to tell me, "Jimmy, you never sell soupy, because you always get people wanna buy it from you," you know?

"You never sell soupy," he said, "If you like somebody, and they ask you for a soupy, you give it to 'em.

You don't sell it to 'em.

If somebody asks for your soupy and you don't particularly care for 'em or you don't know 'em, you say, 'Geez, I'd like to, but I only got one left.'"

- The old Italians, "Sorry, I don't have any, I got one left and I'm saving it."

And that one soupy left lasted the whole year.

People didn't part with it like they do today.

It was too expensive back in the day.

- Well, my father goes, you know, doctor's appointment, whatever, and he'll bring a stick of soupy or he'll go see, you know, his attorney or something like that, and always brings us always, it's like, you know?

He never goes empty handed.

- So, it means a lot.

And that's what we do to say thank you.

- But to give it as a gift really means something.

You know, it's not a tie, it's your family.

- Carly, our executive director, who's amazing, she just moved into town when she got this job.

So, she's totally new to Westerly.

And when we talked about soupy with her, she thought it was some kind of soup-related thing.

- So, I started this job in November of '22.

And like any new job in the beginning days you're just kind of listening and taking it all in and learning.

And I had heard over and over again people talking about soupy.

And I assumed that it was an affectionate term for soup.

And I thought, okay, this is great.

I love soup too.

And people started to talk about how they were hanging soupy in their basement.

And I thought to myself, I need to raise my hand here and say I need a little more intel, because I've never heard, and I'm a food person, but I've never heard of soup being hung in a basement.

And so, I raised my hand and started to talk to my team and I learned about the tradition of soupy and Westerly, and the soupy basements, and the families coming together.

And I was instantly and madly in love.

In my heart, I was just so smitten with the intersection of family and story and culture and community and history and food.

And since then, I've been a soupy aficionado.

So, it was so exciting to be able to have this opportunity to celebrate this food tradition in Westerly, which is just extraordinary.

- I grew up in Brooklyn, Brooklyn in the sixties.

That's what it reminds me of.

Everyone knows each other.

Everyone seems to like each other.

Everyone has fun together.

There's a sense of community of tradition, which has gone away that is not around anymore.

You know, and it's still here in Westerly and it's, you know, not the only place, but one of the few that are kind of left.

And now this Soupy Fest.

I mean, here I'm talking to people, they all know each other.

They're all competing against each other.

They said, "We're already a winner just doing this having fun."

I mean, that's what I like about it here, you know?

I've been coming up here for a while and have a good friend that has a restaurant here, and I've been coming back a lot lately.

You know, I enjoy it tremendously.

Reminds me of old school.

- Three, two, one.

(audience cheering) - Well, we are gonna dedicate a sign here in the north end about soupy, soupy and Westerly.

The mega factory outlet of all times is Westerly Rhode Island for our soupy and we love it.

- Okay, so an idea was brought to me about making soupy the food of Westerly, which made a lot of sense.

And there was a company called Hungry for History, the Pomeroy Foundation that was putting this on.

So, it made complete sense to look into getting a plaque and making it official.

So, if anybody ever did a Google search and said, "What is Westerly famous for?"

They could say it's for soupy.

So, I took that information, I passed it down to the town manager who thought it was a great idea, who then passed it to the assistant town manager.

So, the two of us had been working on it.

We found that soupy actually, had become the official food of Westerly in 1994.

But neither one of us actually, knew that.

And so, the plaque is now gonna just be an extension of something that everybody in this town knows about.

- I think a sign up would be wonderful, because I personally don't know of other places in Rhode Island that have the soupy-making tradition.

- For Westerly to be the place where people think of and come for soupy, it's very important.

I think people are realizing the way we make it with tradition and love and really respect for the product and where it came from.

- And they're gonna unveil the sign to show everybody it's the food of Westerly.

It's Westerly's greatest tradition.

- Well, when I got elected as a state representative 16 years ago, as a freshman, I brought up some soupy that I had made with my family and gave it to the other newly reps. And it was a big mistake, because they felt that I should now bring it up there every time I go, which, you know, you can't do.

I mean, this stuff is like gold.

- You go outside of Westerly, a lot of people don't even know what it is.

I mean, you gotta, you know, you have to kind of explain.

It came over, you know, the Italians when they came over, it was something they brought with them.

And there's plenty of basements in town that hang soupy.

- It's a family tradition that we make it, but it's a Westerly tradition that it's made here in Westerly by the tons.

You can't believe the amount of meat that goes through Westerly households doing this soupy.

- It took over a year of back and forth with the Pomeroy Foundation.

It took a lot of letters and proof, because their biggest issue was they wanted proof from before 1970 that this was official food of Westerly and what it means here.

So, because of, you know, a lot of people aren't alive anymore, that had started this tradition, because it's definitely more than 100 years old.

We had to let, you know, certified letters to state how the process was done, who did the process and stuff.

And so, we've had some older people that have helped us with that.

And, you know, we couldn't have done this without the help of the community.

- [All] Yay!

(gentle music) - Hmm.

Westerly soupy is?

- Westerly soupy is a way to carry on traditions.

- Westerly soupy is unique.

- Westerly soupy is tradition.

It's family, it's love.

- It also brings this whole community together.

- Westerly soupy is the best.

It's a legend, legendary.

- Westerly soupy is tying gold.

It's Westerly's greatest tradition.

- Westerly soupy is a tradition and something you really can't replicate in another place just because of the tradition and how it's done, and the people who do it.

- Westerly soupy is gold.

- Westerly gold, yep.

It's been called that many a times.

- And there's not many places around the country that do this, especially in the volume per capita that we have.

- I can't even fathom the people that make it in New York to compare their soppressata to what we make here in Westerly.

- The most important thing in my estimation is it allows families to gather and carry on traditions.

- Westerly has a lot to offer.

Soupy's right there.

(people cheering) - one of the people that I made it with was an insurance salesman.

And he always told us that he would receive claims regularly on stolen soupy.

So, you can't tell anybody where you put it.

- Most of the people in Westerly, when they make their soupy, it's a big secret.

They don't like to, sometimes I've hear when they pull the shades down, I've heard of this, I don't know if it's true.

- I've learned that people are very, very particular about their soupy, very protective about the recipe.

- My wife would tell you that.

What's in the secret ingredients?

- [Wife] It's a secret.

(Tommy laughing) - It's a secret.

- They'll have soupy parties in their basement, but you know, they're like sworn to secrecy.

- I don't know why it would be a big secret.

We wanna pass it on, you know?

- Yeah.

I don't know if it was a secret.

I think all the families in Westerly make it pretty much the same way.

- I'm involved in the Westerly Armory.

I'm vice president down there with Roberta and I said, "Why don't we have a seminar?"

We sold I think almost close to 450 tickets, $10 tickets.

We had a big sign in the front of the Armory, soupy seminar.

And people that have always loved it, buy it, you know, or have it given to them were gonna get a chance to learn how to make it, you know?

So, it sold out really good.

I made soupy early.

We're gonna show people in the audience how to make soupy, right?

Well, that got to be a big issue, because we got reported and we never knew who did that.

But all of a sudden it came down from, is Dr. Julian was the head of the food and drug in the state of Rhode Island.

And he said, "You're not allowed to do this," because we weren't certified and soupy I was gonna pass out was made in my house, which it wasn't a certified kitchen.

It was in the front page of the Westerly Sun that were doing this.

And then it was soupy seminars in limbo.

And I go to Sam and Palmer Frambino and their son, Bruno.

Bruno, I said, "They're certified the Westerly Meat Packing."

And Dr. Julian, along with him just speaking to the crowd.

Allowed us to put the thing on.

- One of the things that concerned me tonight, you know, when I first saw the announcement was that somebody was gonna be making it in their home and passing it out to the group.

Now, from a public health perspective, if they didn't do it right, what I didn't want to have happen then, again, I don't know how it was made, is for 300 people to become sick.

It can be done safely, but follow an approved process and don't deviate from that process, okay?

- But if you ask people, they don't want to give you their recipes for soupy.

We're all using the same four ingredients, you know?

(audience laughing) Nobody wants to give it.

My buddy, Johnny, he just told me, he said, if his aunt dies, they can't make soupy unless they make a mold of her hand.

Because that's what they do, it's the hand.

So, Aunt Mary has to stay alive, but we gotta take care of her.

You know what I mean?

- Soupy is not only a piece of meat of product that we eat, that we all love, it's a tremendous tradition in this town.

And it represents camaraderie, friendship, love, family.

When you do it, it's another holiday in this town.

The families that get together to do that, it's a special day almost like another Thanksgiving.

They all go to the house, they all prepare and they get ready to do this and at the end of it all they cook and eat, and it's just a great time.

- Who makes the best soupy?

- I don't really want to go on.

The best soupy in town?

Me.

- Me.

(Dave laughing) Did you expect anything else?

- I can't answer that question, because I get in trouble either way so.

- Who makes the best soupy?

I would think it would be, my family makes very good soupy.

I think everybody always comes back.

Everybody always wants it.

- Yeah.

I've had people say they really like mine, so I'm gonna say mine.

- We do, we enjoy it.

Everybody wants to know how we make it.

What's the stuff we use.

It's just regular soupy.

Again, everybody makes soupy differently.

- I think I have great soupy.

I wouldn't say it's the best.

I mean, everybody has their own taste.

- I think all families make the best soupy in Westerly.

- As anybody probably will tell you, the best soupy in town is their own.

You know, I really have not really had a soupy that I didn't like.

- It always seems that when I make it for myself, it comes out the way I wanna.

I'm very experienced at it, because I do it every week at the store.

- I think that most people will say that theirs is the best.

I don't think it's out of the ordinary to feel that way about something you make with such love and tradition that you think it's the best.

- There's plenty of people have great soupy.

I've tasted a lot of other people's soupy in the past.

- I got the best, you have the best, Chris has the best.

I just think it's just special and everybody should be proud of what they make.

- Every family does have their own unique recipes that their grandmother probably gave them, but it could be this very similar to the neighbor's.

But no one wants to admit that, 'cause theirs is the best.

That's for sure.

- Well, you know, it's funny, everybody will say it.

I believe strongly that my soupy is really good.

- I do kind of have a favorite, but I'd rather not say.

- The Westerly community makes the best soupy.

I'll go with that.

- All right, so to facilitate our judging, I'm very excited to introduce our MC for the evening.

You know him from "Blue Bloods" or "The Sopranos" among many other things.

He's one of the great actors working today.

Give it up for Mr. Steve Schirripa.

(audience cheering) (gentle upbeat music) - Hey, how are you, Westerly?

How are you?

Happy to be here.

How's everybody doing?

Now, look at these wonderful, wonderful trophies.

This is a work of art, my friends.

A work of art.

Now, this is the first annual Soupy Fest here at The United Theater.

We've had over what, 50 entries, Tony?

And next year we expect to double that, all right?

So, get your recipes ready.

- Chicago has its Chicago hotdogs and its deep-dish pizza.

There's these food staples in all of these big cities and communities around the entire country.

So, for Westerly to start being noticed more outside of Westerly, perhaps for soupy, I mean that's a great goal, right?

If we can build awareness beyond Westerly about soupy and what soupy is, because anytime you bring up soupy, people are like, "What is soupy?"

- Soupy was brought over here to Westerly by Calabrian immigrants around 1900, but you all know that already, I assume.

These immigrants worked in the local quarries and factories.

Establishing a tradition that continues today.

Reflecting a deep sense of pride among its makers and the community.

Give yourselves a nice round of applause here.

(audience cheering) Soupy is more than a food, as we all know, it's a communal tradition in Westerly.

This tradition fosters a strong sense of community and belonging.

And it links the past and the present.

I am very, very honored to be here.

And from the bottom of my heart, I honestly mean that.

A couple of people earlier thought I was a judge and they tried to bribe me.

That's all I'm gonna say.

(audience laughing) (gentle upbeat music) I'm not gonna mention any names.

I'm not a snitch, but I'm never.

- I think if we can elevate the idea and identity around soupy and Westerly as this culinary center for Italian culture, I think that's great, because food tourism is a thing.

Food entertainment is a thing.

That's why we're doing these kinds of events to begin with.

- So, my name's Michael Constantino.

I'm one of the managers here at Venda Ravioli in Providence, Rhode Island.

So, this is my family's store.

We are a Italian salumeria.

We're located in Federal Hill, in Providence, Rhode Island.

And we sell all kind of Italian specialty products and our own homemade pasta.

So, we have a ton of customers from Westerly that come in and, you know, they want the soupy, you know, they want Westerly soupy.

And you know, we love to be able to provide those kind of things for them.

So, this is a sweet and a hot traditional kind of soppressata that we take.

It's a, you know, smaller piece than, let's say a bigger slice that you would get is a, you know, a sliced soppressata and it's aged with black pepper or red pepper, if it's this spicy.

And same thing, it's usually a coarse grind in all soppressata.

And then right here we have our Westerly soupy, which is, you know, obviously really special, very spicy, very dry, really makes a great presentation and a great taste.

What's great about the Westerly soupy is the spice, you know, at least as far as my opinion.

The flavor in that is just fantastic.

- I've never even heard of it.

- No, I have never had Westerly soupy.

- Never heard the term soupy.

- I've never had Westerly soupy.

- Never heard of it.

- I've never ever heard of soupy.

- This is it.?

- That's it.

- This is soupy?

- That's soupy.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Okay.

I've really never had this before.

- It's got a little bit of a bite to it.

- Spicy.

- I think it's very good.

It's not that fatty either.

- Very good.

- Very earthy.

- It tastes almost a little bit peppery.

- There's some other component in here I can't identify.

- There's another flavor I'm trying to pinpoint, but it's very good.

Do you know what it is?

- It's very good.

- It's beautiful, it's just like a soppressata that you get anywhere, but a lot more rich.

- Started sweet, went to salty, got a good pepper component.

Of course, the fat for the mouth, the feel.

- But it's not overwhelming.

- Not too spicy.

I would say right in the middle.

- Melts in my mouth.

- It's very good.

- Tasty.

- It's very good.

- It's good.

It's really good.

- Delicious.

- The only thing you're missing is the wine.

- A lot of spice there.

And you can really tell it's made with love and care.

- I love it.

- That's from your town?

- Westerly.

- Westerly.

I gotta go to Westerly next.

(patron laughing) - I have tried Westerly soupy.

I actually make it in Westerly with a bunch of people.

We do it every year.

I've been doing it for 12 years.

I make it at Greg Purcell's home.

I hope he doesn't mind me saying that, but that's where we do it.

It's fantastic.

I actually, have some in my truck right now, 'cause I just packaged it the other day and I'm ready to pass it out.

So, you know, I'm not lying.

(upbeat music) (packet rustling) Soppressat.

(Joe laughing) It's all beautiful.

Look at it.

- [Camera Person] What are you doing carrying that in your car?

- I'm passing it out to friends all day.

Wherever I go, I see someone that I know and love, I give them a soppressat.

(Joe laughing) It's all good.

It's all good.

- When I cut that first stick, a lot of times you cut it too early, it's like, ugh, uh.

It's a little mushy.

- You wanna make sure that it's cured, you know what I mean?

It's not soft.

And then you cut a few pieces and you try it, and hopefully, it's the way you want it.

- If I've lost near 50% of my weight, you know, I'll eat it anyway.

It's really not a big deal.

but that's when I kind of gauge, well, geez, I should go a few more days, another week.

- We cut down the soupy on Easter Sunday morning.

- If you've heard anything about soupy, it's the staple for Easter morning breakfast.

(upbeat music) (people chatting indistinctly) (meat sizzling) (upbeat music continues) (meat sizzling) (upbeat music continues) - Everyone's there waiting for that time to taste it so.

- Traditionally, Easter's the day where the family cracks it out and they make the board, they make the anise bread with the egg in it.

- We end up gathering around the family table.

And we would make pizza fritte, which is fried dough, which is a staple in every Italian household on Sunday.

And soupy and eggs, frittata they would it.

- You make the frittata, which is the Easter breakfast with the (Mike speaking Italian) cheese and the ricotta cheese and the soppressata.

My wife either cooks it fried up or sometimes she does the pans and the she'll make a pan of it and stick in the oven.

- And it would be soupy and eggs and mozzarella cheese and ricot.

And we would make that every Sunday.

And it was sort of the breaking out of the soupy day.

(upbeat music) - I think it had nice flavor.

This has a nice light fat content to it.

- I loved that one.

- And the fat content is exactly how I'd want it for any type of cured sausage, cured meat.

- And what was cool about this one was the length of the, like the flavor changed over time.

It was really nice.

It kind of developed and got a little spicier.

Very good.

- This one had a little bit more of a like emulsified fat kind the texture on the mouth.

- I'm gonna, I like this one a little better.

No, no, a little bit.

As you say in your profession a little bit, little bit.

(upbeat music) - If you cure it longer, is it better?

- No, no.

- No.

All right, take it easy.

I just asked a question.

Guys got a beef over here.

I don't know.

(upbeat music) Look at these wonderful trophies.

This is the gold standard here.

When you people get old, you'll understand what these are.

(audience laughing) You senior citizens understand what I'm talking about.

(upbeat music) It's a shame.

It's a shame.

Every single person I spoke to, and I met all 10 contestants, they said their soupy by far is the absolute best.

Third place winner, Lombardo/Manfred.

(audience cheering) Second place winner, Piro/DeCaro.

(audience cheering) (upbeat music) The 2024 Soupy Fest winner, gold winner, Cozzolino.

(upbeat music) (audience cheering) - I grew up making soupy, but I left Westerly.

Both my grandparents are from Calabria, but Pat's family continued.

Pat Cozzolino and his family continued the tradition.

They reintroduced it to us, brought us in.

And Pat is our leader, he's the guru, he's the master.

- Yep.

- [Scott] We follow his lead, he directs us.

- It has nothing to do with making the soupy, it's everything to do with getting together and organizing and producing something that we all love.

And everybody who makes soupy knows what the Nani cellar is.

It's an unfinished basement with a table and a big sink and a gas-powered oven, a stove.

Is Aunt Adele comes down, "Oh, you boys, you're not leaving till you have some milanese," and you're not leaving till you have some milanese.

That's what it's all about.

That's what it's all about.

- I was on the stage at the Wood River Inn playing my guitar, because I'm a musician.

We booked a gig far in advance.

We didn't know we were gonna make the top 10.

We didn't know we were gonna anything.

So, I had the gig and it's a musician's code, you can't not be there.

So, I'm there.

I get a text from a family member that I won and it was just amazing.

And I saw some video later about how the place erupted, so cool.

And my close friends and coworkers that helped make the soupy were able to share in that excitement in the room, how I wish I was there.

It's okay.

The whole meaning of soupy is a celebration of life.

These people came from where life was poor and it was hard.

And they had their soupy and they would look around the table and see who was alive and with them able to celebrate making the soupy, 'cause we could afford it and we could make it.

And it would help us get through another year and we'd celebrate the people that were before us that couldn't be here anymore.

And so, it's more than a tradition and it's more than spices and pork stuffed into some kind of like a intestine.

It's way more than that, in my opinion and from my experience.

- Like my uncle Lou said, I used to, I'd say my Uncle Lou, "Isn't this great we're making this from scratch?"

And he says, "Scratch, Jimmy?"

He said, "In the old country, we used to kill the pig," he said.

"The only thing we didn't use was the oink."

- You know the movie Kevin Costner when he did "The Field of Dreams," right?

If you build it, he will come, you know?

Well, I'll reword that.

If you make soupy, they will come, you know?

- The tradition continues every year, but not like what it was back in the fifties and sixties.

- And nowadays the older generation is passed away and my generation is pretty much taken over and we've brought the younger kids in to make sure it goes for another generation.

- It used to be something that when we were kids, I don't want to help you, because I had more important things to do.

But you know, as you get older, you realize the important thing is being with your family.

- The tradition is held now by older people, people fifties, sixties, seventies.

And the younger people, as much as they like the taste of it and like having it and like making it, it appears to me that they might not carry on that tradition when the older folks die.

- It just was a heritage that unfortunately we might be losing, 'cause a lot of my nephews and stuff, they don't last.

They come down there for like 20 minutes and they leave.

And my son doesn't know how to do it.

He's very interested in it, but I just hope that it continues.

- Old timers like me, tradition's always been important.

- When we make soupy in Westerly, it really brings us all together.

You know, this is what we look forward to every year.

- It's a holiday for us.

In other words, in Westerly, the people that make soupy, a lot of 'em are our family.

It's an additional holiday like Thanksgiving.

- And I think the importance of announcing when you're making soupy and when your aunts and uncles can come over and have the wine and have a festive day, I think that's very important.

- It just brings back all the old memories.

- We had my aunts and uncles would come, my godmother and her husband would come.

- My brothers and my cousins and nephews, nieces and nephews.

- My ancestors and my family, my grandparents.

- I think the old Italian families just did it so great.

And you wanna keep that kind of family traditions going.

- My family on the Sicilian side and the Calabrian side was so sweet, so big, and always together that, geez, we didn't need next door neighbors.

We had 10 kids in the family.

I mean, the uncles played with the kids.

We played baseball together.

So, keeping that tradition alive sort of keeps all that stuff alive for me, you know?

(gentle upbeat music) - Keeping my mom's legacy around, while we making soupy that's gold too, you know?

- You know, our mom was the backbone of the family.

She's the one that kept us all together.

She's the one that made sure we were together on Thanksgiving, on Christmas Eve, Easter, you know, Sunday dinners.

She would bend over backwards to make sure that her kids and her grandchildren were always at the house and stuff.

So, making soupy was something that she cherished.

- It makes me proud that we're still doing it.

I don't wanna get emotional it for like my uncle Bobby, my father, my uncle Pete, my grandmother.

It just, you know, you think about 'em all the time when we used to do that.

So, they're all gone now so.

- And, you know, still to this day, that's what soupy making is all about.

It's bringing together all the family members.

And no matter how much you make, whether it's 50 pounds or 500 pounds, it brings everybody together.

- So, I think our town and our area have just really carried on the traditions from our grandparents and our parents from Italy and carried it over here.

And we're very fortunate to have this in our area as something that's ours.

- You know, when you are a kid, when you think of these things, you're in a sweet place, and that's what soupy is.

- Westerly Soupy is a lot of things, you know?

You know, for me, it's for my family, it's tradition, memories.

I think in our community it's everything.

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