Bella Gelateria’s Yaletown location serves up a fantastic selection of real Italian food, gelato, wine.
An oven, a work of Italian art welcomes you as you walk in the doors, it sits pretty as a picture waiting to produce Pizza Napolitana per me! Meet Bella
Bella Gelateria in Coal Harbour, Vancouver B.C is famous for world champion gelati and everybody knows James Coleridge the maestro of Gelato, he set out to conquer the world of mountains, gelato, and now pizza. Yes as would be expected he has made it to the summit and added another peak with his Neopolitan Gluten Free crust. Thanks to James and his pizza slinging maestro (on the left) at their other location in Yaletown we can now really and truly enjoy a real italian pizza.
Traditionally the ingredients of a Neopolitan pizza dough has strict rules but those rules were thrown out in favour of our affliction.
The dough ingredients (wheat etc.) were replaced by gluten free flours, that is the only difference. The tradition of creating, shaping, and baking remains the same; kneaded by hand, formed by hand, baked in an italian oven…
But first it is topped with san Marzano pomodori, parmigiano (aged 36 months) from the Reggio Emilia region and San Daniele prosciutto from 10 regions of Northern Central Italy, as well as fior di latte (fancy way of saying mozzarella), and fungi e carciofi (mushrooms and artichokes).
La Capricciosa Pizza…the whimsical pizza
la migliore pizza del mondo! (the best pizza in the world!) Yes eating at Bella Gelateria will make you want to break into la lingua d’italia…
It is crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside…if you close your eyes you will taste, feel, and be in Italy…the beauty of the presentation is only trumped by the taste…delizioso.
Meet Jamie Gelati (James Coleridge), there is a story behind the man and here it is…
James vibrates from the adrenaline of living, he likes to challenge the status quo though in the making of our pizza dough he was more, “Appalled by the swill these people call food,” than the challenge of “trumping the best”. He wondered why we should suffer twice – once for being Gluten Intolerant and Celiac – twice for being offered the food “out there.”. Through trial and error James and his team perfected their pizza dough and he says, “Our dough may not be the fastest to the finish line but it sure is the best.”
We all know James for his…
Mountain Climbing/death defying situations, “On the summit, we were trapped for days, dying slowly. I saw a motionless cloud across the iced over wind tunnel and I told myself…I am not dying today.”
“I grew up with bad ice cream, when I tasted gelato for the first time I felt like I was on top of a mountain and I heard singing.”
“I am like Johnny appleseed, I will start a revolution of replanting and protecting the old world process against industrialization.” James wants more businesses to emulate him so we can have more “guardians”.
When James was asked if he liked his job, “I have never been employed, never had a job.”
What makes him the best, “Education with passion that’s a deadly combination.”
What keeps him grounded, “I am a simple fellow touched by simple things like life and breath.”
Words of wisdom, “Each of us has 86,400 seconds a day, live every single second of it!.”
Something we don’t know, “I love the haunting melody of Indian music though I don’t understand a word of it.”
All pictures were provided by Jer Baum, Vancouver based Marketer, Photographer, Blogger at Kits Connect,
Until next time
Samantha McLeod @glutenfreesam
Gluten Free Blogger
theprovince.com
