Mum's the word about menu for pope's 81st birthday celebration

Published: 2008-04-15

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The tightest of security surrounded the meals being prepared for Pope Benedict XVI during his April 15-20 U.S. visit. Even the menus were being kept secret. "We were told by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, nuncio to the United States, to not reveal the menus, the budgets or even the ingredients of dishes we're preparing," said Franco Nuschese, the owner of Cafe Milano, an Italian restaurant in the Georgetown section of Washington. Nuschese, executive chef Fabio Salvatore and 23 other professionals were responsible for Pope Benedict's 81st birthday lunch April 16 at the Vatican Embassy, or nunciature, in Washington. "When Franco first told me, I thought he was joking. But then I quickly realized he was being serious," said Salvatore, a graduate of the Istituto Professionale Albergiero in Pescara, one of Italy's finest culinary institutes. "I was glad initially because it's an incredible honor to cook for the pope but the full weight of it didn't really hit me until about a week later. And then I got really nervous," Salvatore told Catholic News Service April 14 in a telephone conference call with him and Nuschese from Washington.

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