To this Italiana — Food is family. Food is fun. Food is love. Comfort food is forever synonymous with Italian food. Consider Mama Giardino’s answer to any problem, any joy, “Pray and mangia,” not necessarily in that order.
My childhood dinner table always exploded with a smorgasbord of exotic visions and aromas. I delighted in the adventure, sampling the likes of eels, rattlesnake and snails to the disgust of my Mericana friends. My first and last date with a would-be-suitor was a gastronomic lie: passing off Rabbit Cacciatore as chicken. That sick puppy never called again!
Mama was Regina di Cucina, cooking three meals a day until 90 years old. We seldom went out to dinner, because restaurant food never measured up to her savory meals. The pungent perfume of meatballs and garlic sautéing in extra virgin olive oil was a magnet to legions dropping by at the dinner hour. On her deathbed, food was foremost on Mama’s mind with her final decree, “When you maka the spaghetti sauce, usa the fresha tomatoes!”
Entertaining took place in la cucina, a room brimming with spicy and zesty taste and talk. The clatter of boisterous conversations complemented the bubbling of chicken soup dancing with orzo pastina. A baby’s cry, a saucy joke, a recanted Old Country story harmonized the sizzling of peppers and homemade sausage. At this Italian opera, eating continues until the fat lady (or man) sings.
Forget Giada and Emeril. I got my cooking lessons from bona fide experts. Grandma Carmela rolling gnocci with all ten fingers. Zia Anna drying ravioli on the bedroom sheets. Aunt Lee stuffing scaciatta rolls with parsley. Auntie Jaye teaching us cousins how to make Easter pie. And Mama’s favorite cooking tip, ”Garlic is like la famiglia…there’s never too mucha!”
My passionate love affair with food is never ending. Celebrating the blessing of another birth or grieving the loss of a loved one, each announcement is heralded with scrumptious eats. When I’m happy, I cook. When I’m upset, I spend the day experimenting with new recipes in a marathon frenzy of menu discovery. Get out of my way when this Foodie is not cooking, or not eating!
Most people eat to live. My Italian family lives to eat. Food is the elixir that binds us together. It is the grated Parmesan of our lives, the savory topping that brings forth all the flavors of living, combining every laugh and tear into la vita bella.
Life is a colossal Italian banquet…go back for seconds!
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Living my personal mission statement, “Each One, Teach One,” my greatest blessing is being the mother of two, grandmother of three and a lifelong educator. A graduate of UF and UNF, I am the former principal of St. Paul’s Catholic School in Jacksonville Beach, Florida and executive director of Tree Hill Nature Center in Jacksonville.
Since retirement my avocation is now my vocation – freelance writing. The technical writing of past professional life evolved into more creative genres of poetry, short fiction and memoir. My goal is to invoke the entire spectrum of human emotions in my reader: longing to laughter, pain to promise, despair to discernment.
