Mangia e Scappa

In Italy, food isn’t just something to eat. It’s a passion. It’s a part of the culture. It's tradition. These are the things that led Guilia Carbone to leave her career as an interior designer and open Mangia e Scappa, a specialty grocery store offering authentic Italian cooking and baking to the residents of Langley. “The whole idea was to help people enjoy what I have enjoyed all my life,” says Giulia. “I’ve always loved cooking and baking and really enjoying my family’s traditions. So I decided to share all the traditions and the recipes.”

Giulia’s relatives are from a small village in southern Italy. They own a bakery with wood-burning ovens that can bake up to four or five hundred loaves of bread a day “Every time I go back to my mom and dad’s little village of 800 people, it hasn’t changed in centuries. I fall in love with it over and over again,” she says. “The way of life – the traditions they all share and stay true to – always leave something in me and I can’t let go of it. If anything, it lets the passion grow more and more and it encouraged me to take this leap of faith with Mangia e Scappa.”