Mangia Con Elena

Growing Up Italian: Humble Beginnings IG: @mangia.con.elena The meaning of "La cucina povera" has evolved and has become synonymous with Italian cooking. It is used in restaurants and food establishments to describe meals that are often decadent and modernized versions of authentic Italian cooking. If you look at the history of how and when la cucina povera actually began you will see that Italian cucina povera  food is basic and simple with minimal ingredients. It was born out of necessity for survival during the Ventennio Fascista (20 years of fascisim) in Italy that spanned from 1922-1943. Italy was in the grips of poverty, rations, chaos and fear. Food was scarce and flour was impossible to get. It was much worse for the peasants and lower class who did not have the means to buy food from the "black market" which was also born out of necessity. If you would like to read a fascinating book about what it was actually like during this time then I would highly recom

  Growing Up Italian- Two Doors and a Key My Journey Back to my Roots IG: @mangia.con.elena Pinterest: mangia con elena My father lived in the small room at back of house The house they moved into My Mother's house where she was born and raised My parents took us back to Italy several times as children. My first visit was when I was three years old. I remember bits and pieces of those visits such as my cousin's First Communion and the festivities and the food! So much food. We would stay at my paternal Nonno and Nonna's house in the tiny village of Supino that is located in the Lazio region  about a few hours drive from Rome. It is nestled in the valley surrounded by the Lepinni mountains and hills. My father was born in a tiny space at the back of a house and it is where he lived. Later, after my father immigrated to Canada, my Nonni were able to move into another house right next door and that is where I stayed when we would visit. It had one bedroom, one bathroom and a k

Polenta IG: @mangia.con.elena Pinterest: mangia con elena   I adore polenta. Growing up my mother would make it often for Sunday dinners. I love its thick, creamy and flavourful texture. In our region it is served with a rich and meaty meat sauce loaded with sausages and shredded short rib meat that has been simmering all day long.  Eaten with rapini and a dollop of ricotta cheese on top. What a combination! Be sure to get a little bit of everything in each bite and savour that taste sensation! My mother would pour the polenta on a large wooden board the size of our kitchen table that my dad had made for her when they were first married. She would smooth it out before it cooled and then put little dips into it with the back of her spoon for holding the sauce. The sauce would be poured on and the rapini and the sausages placed in the middle. We would then take a bit of ricotta and place in front of us and we began to dig in. We each had our own section and together we made the map of It

  Growing Up Italian Life in our Neighbourhood I was born and raised in a Northern Ontario city that started its beginnings in the 1880s as a transient camp for workers building the western expansion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was soon discovered that its land formation was rich in minerals, iron, nickel, copper and ore and overtime it became the hard rock mining company of the world. INCO took over the mines in 1928 and there was a need for workers. The city grew quickly and eagerly welcomed immigrants to work in the mines.    Meanwhile Post WW11 Italy was in a state of  indescribable ruins, destruction, famish, no work or little hope. In 1953, after serving his obligatory military duties my father and some of his cousins made the voyage by sea to the "land of milk and honey."  He was 25 and was sponsored by my Godfather's father who had arrived pre war for work and when he was unable to return home, he began sponsoring many from his home town. My father arrived