Unlike other parts of the world, Italy is blessed with varied micro-environments.  The micro-environments help preserve the varied culture, foods, and traditions of the 107 provinces or regions of Italy. Cheese is an ideal example of how each Italian region produces it’s own version of a basic food commodity.  The region of Calabria, and the birthplace of my parents, produces […]

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How to Make Great StoveTop Espresso or Moka at Home Like an Italian In my view, espresso is the greatest representation of coffee on the planet.  I do enjoy a cup of French Press coffee each and every day but when I crave pure coffee taste, I brew up a batch of stovetop espresso or at times referred to as Moka […]

Maria Laurino of the NY Times recently published an article on the Italian-American tradition of serving seven fishes during the holiday season (the feast of the seven fishes) and here’s her explanation on on why many Italian-Americans prepare fish on Christmas Eve: “The significance of seven types of fish has yielded numerous theories, including a correspondence to the number of […]

Along with making our own wine and sun dried tomatoes,  my family also cans fresh plum tomatoes every August for use throughout the year.  The canned tomatoes are used mostly for making tomatoe sauce.  Canning your tomatoes produces a better tasting tomato sauce and, of course, saves you money over the long term (especially after you’ve owned the canning equipment for several years). Tomato […]

My parents emigrated from Italy in the early to mid 1970’s.  My father has the equivalent of a technical high school education and my mother finished her formal education in the 7th grade.  Yet my parents are one of the most financially savvy couples I know, often making smarter economic decisions then their US-born Boomer peers (with BAs and Master’s […]

OK, so I just updated my Facebook status to read, “Vincent is feeling Old World” and I need to explain the thinking behind the status: I just finished watching Emanuele’s Crialese’s The Golden Door and it was truly magnificent.  Crialese tells the story of a Sicilian’s family voyage to the US in the early 20th century.  The film is simplistic […]

(photo courtesy of tastfood.info) Like most Italian dishes in the US, Eggplant Parmigiano (American-style) is a gross misrepresentation of the authentic dish from the mother country.  Here’s a simple Eggplant recipe that will give you the essence of eggplant and cheese: 2 medium sized eggplants (they can be your typical supermarket type, but make sure they are free of any […]

Every once in a while I have a realization about how well, for the most part, we live as American citizens.  Sure, I understand that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer (with the income gap growing each year) and that wages adjusted for inflation haven’t grown in well over 30 years, but when compared to […]

Southern Italy Bagnara Calabra Province of Calabria Calabria was, and continues to be, a poor region (by northern Italian standards), however the people tend to lead happy lives.  From a culinary perspective, Calabrians tend to consume: swordfish sardines cod (Baccalà) pork lamb goat eggplant chili pepper Lemon Fruit (pears, peach, cactus pears, mulberry, etc.) From a production and economic perspective, there’s […]