(photo: hummus or chickpeas with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Omit the tahini if you’d like a more Italian version!) By now many of our readers have realized that Italian food is all about simple preparation and great ingredients.  In short, simple food equals great food that is satisfying, easy to prepare, and healthy for you. […]

What is Antipasto and What Does it Include – Guide to Antipasto: Italian Appetizers that Come Before the Meal Antipasto literally means “before the meal” and varies from province to province in Italy.  Similar to French hors d’oeuvres or Spanish tapas, antipasto is a combination of small bites of tasty food, usually accompanied by wine (see our wine basics guide) or beer […]

Christmas is just around the corner and if you’re celebrating an “Italian Christmas” then you’ve most likely heard of the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  The traditional Christmas Eve dinner is steeped in folk tradition and as Maria Laurino writing for the NY Times has said, the ritual varies from region to region, including the number and type of fish served. […]

Oliva Schiacciate or Calabrian Cracked Olive Salad One of the great thrills in my life, if you haven’t noticed, is the simple ritual of preparing and eating food.  The preparing part fulfills me on a tactical kind of level; that is, finding the ingredients, thinking through how I’ll manipulate the products, and working with the food.  The eating part, well, […]

With the passing of my grandparents, my father and his uncles have moved to sell the first Scordo home here in the United States (purchased in the late 1960’s and just a few years after my parents and grandparents arrived in the United States).  The house is full of memories and Italian American traditions, as I spent the first five […]

What is Cucina Povera? A friend recently asked me to explain the concept of cucina povera and here’s the working definition I came up with: A style of cooking best represented, in the past, by the lower class (read: peasants) of a given society.  Peasant cooking aims to utilize whatever is found in the kitchen, household, farm, etc. to prepare meals. […]

The Culture and History of Homemade Grappa Homemade Grappa is traditionally made from grape stalks, seeds and stems (essentially the remaining components of the wine making process) and has been around since the Middle Ages.  Grappa was understood very little outside of Italy until after the War when some mass production started to take place.   Like many Italians, my […]

(photo: by Piero Morello.  Children in Calabrian classroom.) One of the great appeals of living in a country like Italy is that daily life is truly enjoyed.  That is to say, a stroll by the sea, a day hunting with friends, or a simple prank in a classroom is seen as a form of fulfillment or happiness. The following photos […]

Young Scordo’s First Experience with Fennel Like most foods I love today, my first introduction to fennel was a catastrophe.  My mother recalls a Christmas Eve dinner back in 1981 when a young Scordo (viz., me) erupted in a temper tantrum to end all temper tantrums when it was suggested by an inebriated uncle that he try a piece of […]

Best Italian Movies – Top 25 One of the most frustrating (yet liberating) aspects of studying philosophy as an undergraduate was the idea that one could construct a logical argument for pretty much anything (such as figuring out the best Italian movies).  So, I spent my University days racking my brain at getting at “ultimate truths” like whether God exists and […]