


Tom Sarlo
Feb 14, 2024
United States
Categories:
Restaurants, Grandmothers, Cooking, Heritage, Culture, Community Building
Visit the Enoteca Maria restaurant in Staten Island, New York. Here you will find a diverse cuisine that changes regularly. Here's the twist. Enoteca Maria invites and hires grandmothers worldwide to cook the family recipes handed down through the generations that define their cultural heritage. And aspiring chefs can attend cooking classes put by the Grandmother in residence. And Enoteca Maria has put together a cookbook of recipes from their matriarchic cooks.
This inspiring article recalled my Grandmother's cooking holidays and Sunday dinners. My one Grandmother was born in Northern Italy and cooked on a coal and gas stove. She cooked all Italian along with the wild game, freshly picked wild mushrooms, and fresh vegetables from her garden. The Sunday dinners were warm, and the aroma of her cooking was inviting as we walked into the house. My other Grandmother was all German, and her cuisine was traditional American, but her baking of deserts was not to be passed up. My Grandmothers had their particular way of cooking, and to this day, some of those dishes are hard to duplicate.
Throughout the world, mothers teach their daughters and grandchildren specific ways of cooking and family recipes. Owner Joe Scaravella opened his restaurant 16 years ago and named it after his late mother. Mr. Scaravella started employing Italian Nonnas to share their unique recipes and cook. Joe knew the power of food could unite people. Eventually, he began hiring Grandmothers from different cultures and countries worldwide.
Many of the women are empty nesters and widows. They have not lost their love of cooking for people—cooking food forms a special bond and common ground. Food has a way of bringing people together and rekindling fond memories. Joe calls all the Grandmothers Nonna, Italian, for Grandmother. The restaurant menu changes according to what Nonna is cooking. The patrons at Enoteca Maria restaurant enjoy the diverse menu. Joe mentions that if his Nonnas aren't hugging him, they are giving hugs to the customers. The restaurant has a great website and encourages Grandmothers and their family members to connect and submit a family recipe and photo of their Nonna to the "Nonnas of the World Book."
We live in a time where it may be challenging to have those Sunday family dinners or to pass down generations of unique recipes. The "Enoteca Maria Restaurant" has brought together Nonnas from all over the world to share their love of food and give the dining folks a delicious taste of the old world and a slice of past days and times when all our Nonnas cooked, taught the next generations and gave us warm-hearted traditions.
You can set up a heritage cooking event in your community and use it as a community builder or fundraiser. It can be a regular event (annually, semi-annually (think spring and fall), built around a holiday, or part of an existing community festival). Local religious institutions, restaurants, or community centers may have large kitchens and want to host a local Nonna. People will travel to food-themed events, and a heritage cooking event could be a tourist draw bringing more money into your hometown. And, if successful, a heritage cooking event could be a springboard to a more significant multi-cultural festival.
Put out the call to your local Nonnas. Consider inviting the extended family (and friends) to help out. Events such as this not only strengthen community bonds but family ones as well. Our cultural heritage is something to embrace, enjoy and share. And there is no better way than through the simple act of cooking and sharing food.
Vivi, ama, ridi, mangia! (Live, love, laugh, eat in Italian)
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.
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Catalog #:
0623.101.02.060923