Breaking the Hold and Raking the Gold: The Struggle of an Immigrant Boy on the Road to the American Dream

An Italian Boy Becomes a Gold-Medal Chef and Lives the American Dream!

From a small poverty-ridden town in southern Italy, Joe Beato leaves for Switzerland at age 14 to break the hold and learn to be a chef. After four years of dedication and long hours, his apprenticeship is complete. At 18, his journey takes him to Canada, where he learns a new language and invigorates his passion for food, propelling his culinary career upward.

A few years later, he moves to America, starts a family and continues to work hard as he climbs the ladder to success. He becomes a renowned chef in one of Detroit s most prestigious hospitals and wins gold medals around the world in the Culinary Olympics and at other international and national gastronomical events.

Included in this book is a selection of the chef s personal recipes, as well as family and traditional recipes from southern Italy, where he has his roots.