Knowing a person’s heritage helps me in understanding why that person acts certain ways in different situations. The different cultures in the person’s background shape that person into who she is. I have many different nationalities in my background: Polish, Italian and German. The one that has affected the way I act in certain situations would have to be my Italian heritage because I am three-quarters Italian. One of the major attributes that having some Italian in me has affected me is the way I choose what food I eat and how I eat the food.
Italy is a little peninsula that sticks off the Mediterranean coast of Europe. Most people would recognize Italy on a map as the boot-shaped country. Off the West Coast is a little island called Sicily that belongs to Italy. My family is from a little village up north from Naples.
For the longest time, people have associated Italy and Italians with food. One of the most famous foods from Italy would have to be pizza. Pizza is the Italian word for pie. When I hear someone say "pizza pie", I have to laugh to myself because they are really saying, "pie pie".
"Where did this pizza come from?" one might ask. Raphael Esposito of Napoli first invented pizza in 1889 (www.metropark.com/imos1/history.html). These tasty treats were so affordable so that even Italian peasants could make it and eat it in their homes (www.sliceofitaly.com). All one needed to make pizza was dough, tomatoes, and cheese. It stayed affordable up until Columbus brought it over to America. During the sixteenth century, the Tavern of Cerrigilio in Spaccanapoli, Italy, was the first tavern anywhere to sell already made and ready to eat pizza (www.slicofitaly.com). The first pizzeria to open in America was in Manhattan in 1905, but it wasn’t in great demand until after World War II when the soldiers returned from Italy where they ate the pizza almost everyday (www.metropark.com/imos1/history.html).
One might not know, but there are different types of pizza. The first type was Pizza Margherita, which is a tomato-mozzarella-basil pizza. Queen Margherita loved it because it portrayed the colors of the Italian flag (www.sliceofitaly.com). The red was represented by the tomatoes, the white by the mozzarella cheese, and the green by the basil (www.metropark.com/imos1/history.html). After a while it was also known as Pizza Neapolitan Style. Other types of pizza are Pizza Sicilian, New York Pizza, Chicago-style Pizza, and California-style Pizza. To this day, many different variations of pizza are still being created.
Another dish Italy made famous would be pasta, even though it was not created in Italy. First invented by the Ancient Chinese, Marco Polo introduced pasta to Italy after he explored the Far East (www.rosetto.com). Pasta became a part of Italian life. Mostly served on special occasions, pasta was a highly treasured meal. Naples began mass-producing the pasta, and became the world’s pasta leader (www.rosetto.com). Pasta’s journey to America was not done by the Italian’s. The English brought the pasta idea over to America, and in 1789, Thomas Jefferson brought the first "macaroni" machine to America (www.rosetto.com). Pasta is still a highly treasured meal in Italian homes, and in most American homes, too.
I’m not saying that Italians are fat slobs that eat a lot. What I am saying is that Italy is known for its delicious food. I have never met a person who does not like at least one Italian dish, whether it is an entrée or dessert. Everyone likes Italian food.
Part of my love for food comes from all the delicious dishes that I have been exposed to while growing up. Every Sunday or every big occasion or holiday called for a big feast. A three-course meal of stomach-filling food is what I remember. Every meal started off with Antipasto. Antipasto is a salad with delicious pickled vegetables and cheeses and juicy meats that everyone loves to pick at before we sit down at the table. Next came the pasta cooked al dente and served with tomato sauce that tastes like fresh tomatoes. After devouring the pasta, with what room we have left in our tummies we get onto the main course. The main course is usually a type of meat dish like Chicken Parmesan. There’s nothing like a nice chicken cutlet covered with homemade sauce and creamy mozzarella to get the taste buds going crazy. After the main course, a green salad or a satisfying dessert is served. The salad is only the greenest leaves of Romaine lettuce with oil and vinegar dressing on it. Desserts range from homemade cookies to canolies. The sweet taste of sugar hits everyone’s sweet tooth, and brings the delicious meal to an end.
Being exposed to such great food causes me to be picky about certain foods that I eat. One thing I can not have unless it is homemade is tomato sauce. Sauce is not good if it is bought from the store. It does not taste as fresh as homemade. Usually, it has a sweet taste to it that tells me it is not homemade. Homemade sauce has the taste of fresh ripe tomatoes that makes your mouth water at the smell of the sauce. If I don’t like a sauce, I usually cover up the taste with lots of grated cheese. Usually, however, the taste of store bought sauce can’t be masked by the cheese, and I can still taste the imitation sauce. I can tell the difference between homemade and store-bought, so no one should ever try to trick me by serving me store bought and telling me it is homemade.
My great-grandfather, Poppy, made the best sauce I have ever tasted in my life. He used a family recipe that has been passed on from generation to generation. He used ripe tomatoes from the garden and certain spices and herbs to flavor the sauce deliciously. The smell of tomatoes and garlic roaming through the house made everyone’s mouths water. The sauce is not too thick, but it is also not too watery. It sits on top of the pasta just perfectly. Nothing can beat Poppy’s sauce.
My papa said I was next in line to learn how to make the sauce. Since Poppy is not around to teach me, my papa said he would gladly teach me. Learning how to make this sauce is such a privilege to me. It makes me know that now I can keep it with me and pass it on to my children.
With the sauce, my papa said he would teach me some other recipes that have been in my family for generations. One of these recipes is roasted red peppers. These peppers have been around for ages. The taste of the roasted peppers help in bringing out the tastes of other foods. I mostly use them on sandwiches. I asked my papa for the recipe for my paper, and he gladly gave it to me:
Roasted Red Peppers
Ingredients needed:
6 red bell peppers
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
one clove of fresh garlic, minced
½ teaspoon of dried oregano
6 to 10 oil cured Italian olives, cut in half
salt and fresh ground pepper
How to prepare:
Place the red peppers, whole and un-peeled, on the charcoal grill,
turning often until the skins are charred black. Remove peppers from the
grill and place in a covered container, allowing them to steam until the
are cool enough to handle. When cooled slightly, peel, core them and discard
the seeds. Slice the peppers lengthwise into ½ to ¾
inch slices and place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients to the bowl
and shake up the bowl to coat the peppers. Do not chill! Serve the peppers
at room temperature.
Usually my papa makes a lot at a time and stores them down in the basement for later use.
Sauce is really the only food I am picky about. I get mad though when people pronounce Italian words for certain foods wrong. The word I get annoyed the most with is mozzarella. I pronounce it as Italians do, and when I hear it pronounced differently I have to hold myself back from telling the person she said it wrong.
Poppy was born in Italy. He moved to Waterbury, CT, when he was only nine years old. I grew up hearing his heavy Italian accent, and hearing the rest of the family who are all Italian Americans pronounce the words like him. So, it makes me uncomfortable hearing someone pronounce a word differently than what I am used to.
Another way my heritage has affected me is the way I eat my spaghetti. I have always twirled my spaghetti around my fork since I was a little girl. I tried to copy the way my papa and Poppy ate their spaghetti. On one of the web sites I visit called virtualitalia.com, I found directions that describe how to eat spaghetti. It gives a step by step guide for "non-Italians" on how to eat spaghetti with just a fork:
"It is so easy! First, no spoon, no knife—neither is permitted. Only a fork. The rolling operation must be done with the fork on the curve of the wide, deep bowl (piatto fondo) in which it is served. It must be a wide bowl like a shallow soup bowl with a shallow rim against which the prongs of the fork are held while rolling in a clockwise motion (counter-clockwise for left-handers so as not to splatter sauce on yourself). Work with the right hand against the left side of the plate and vice versa for left-handers. Now free a little space at the side of the bowl, heaping the spaghetti towards the center. Now take the spaghetti, not too much or too little and do not cut it. Spaghetti is sold in the right size, neither too long nor too short. It should be about ten inches long. However, if it is longer, it does not matter, it will still roll around your fork. An Italian takes some of the spaghetti on his or her fork, raises it high above the bowl and measures the length with his eye. If he decides it is too long, then he puts drops some off the fork and picks up a smaller amount which is then rolled expertly around the fork to form a neat bundle, exactly the right size to go easily into the mouth." (Virtualitalia.com).
This is the right way to eat spaghetti according to people with Italian nationality in them. I agree that this is right. I myself eat spaghetti like that. That’s how my papa and Poppy ate it, and I hope my future children will eat it like that.
Poppy has affected the way I view most things in life. His traditions from Italy will always be a part of me, and I will pass them on to my children. Poppy passed away this past September, and I know I miss him very much. The types of food I eat and the way I say certain words help keep a part of Poppy in me for the rest of my life.
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Works Cited
"Alice’s Spaghetti Primer- How To Eat Spaghetti." Virtualitalia.com
http://www.virtualitalia.com/recipes/spaghetti.html (28 March 1999).
"History of Pizza." Slice of Italy. http://www.sliceofitaly.com/pizza.html (14 April 1999).
"Pasta History." Rosetto. http://www.rosetto.com/pasta/PastaHistory.html (15 April 1999).
"The Real History of Pizza." Original St. Louis Style Pizza.
http://www.metropark.com/imos1/history.html (14 April 1999).
Virtualitalia.com. http://www.virtualitalia.com (26 March 1999).
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