Tag: Italian

Eleven years of blogging, eight of podcasting

Another year! The good news is that this blog is still active and luckily keeps being found by those searching for Italian specialties like pizzoccheri or canederli or Italian misconceptions like my 6 Italian myths. The bad news of course is that I haven’t posted any new articles or recipes this year. I know, it’s terrible – but it’s also okay, given that social media has taken the place of blogging in many ways.

But I did resume podcasting (yay!) and produced 16 new episodes with as many guests and collaborations this past year! This continues to be a lot of fun for me and I’ve already started to work on a new round of episodes to hopefully reach my dream milestone of 100 episodes very soon!

Here is a list of the episodes this year. Thanks again to all of my wonderful guests!

On a personal level, we keep well here in southern England, still working from home and enjoying plenty of homecooked food. We pretty much spend our time planning meals, cooking, cleaning the kitchen, and being grateful for having a dishwasher. As the government lifted all social distancing measures exactly two weeks ago, we are far from back to normal, unfortunately. Traveling is still not really possible, including to and from Italy which of course breaks our hearts. But we enjoy our area, which is wonderfully green after a very wet summer, and spending time with our cat Rascal, who just turned 19, overall doing great and still a great source of comfort and inspiration to us both.

I hope you’re all well, wherever you are, and please get in touch for collaborations, to be on the podcast, or just to say hi – I’d love that 🙂

[Thoughts on the Table – 92] The Quest for Authentic & Original Recipes, with Diana Pinto

Thoughts on the Table is back with a new guest, Diana Pinto, and a very special episode. As she describes it, Diana became interested in noting recipe variations across different cookbooks. Incidentally and unexpectedly, this brought her to challenge the concept of authenticity or at least the implication that there’s one true way to cook traditional Italian dishes, a claim that we see so frequently on social media and that risks having a deeply damaging effect.

Diana mentions several cookbooks and authors (though she doesn’t endorse them all necessarily!) Here is a written list for your reference, in order of “appearance”.

  • The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan
  • Anna del Conte
  • La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene by Pellegrino Artusi
  • Il Talismano della Felicita` by Ada Boni
  • Il Cucchiaio d’Argento / The Silver Spoon
  • Sauces and Shapes by Oretta Zanini de Vita
  • Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds by Oretta Zanini de Vita
  • The Italian Baker by Carol Field
  • Le Ricette Regionali Italiane by Anna Gosetti della Salda

During the show, we also mention bloggers Frank Fariello (Memorie di Angelina) and Tina Prestia (Tina’s Table) who were previous podcast guests and also touched on the theme of authenticity:

You can follow Diana Pinto on Instagram @cremafrangipane and on YouTube.

The music in the episode is by www.purple-planet.com.

Listen now!
   

[Thoughts on the Table – 91] Introducing Podcaster Wendy Holloway from Flavor of Italy

Cannolo Award winner Wendy Holloway shares her fascinating story on what brought her to Italy and how she started Flavor of Italy, a company offering bespoke travel and culinary experiences for over 25 years.

During the episode, we discuss becoming absorbed into a new culture by learning people’s language and their values. We also talk about the immense richness of the Italian food traditions and the importance of capturing them faithfully to make them more accessible to other cultures.

Finally, Wendy describes her current culinary projects and how podcasting has become such a central channel for her, with a new episode out every week and no intention to slow down!

You can follow Flavor of Italy also on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Listen now!
   

[Thoughts on the Table – 90] Italian Words Gone Wrong – Mistakes on the Menu

This unusual episode is the audio version of the article Italian Words Gone Wrong – 6 Mistakes Native Italians Don’t Make.

Despite the broad title, the post focuses on the types of mistakes that are commonly found on the menus of Italian restaurants outside of Italy.

This spoken version of course adds the pronunciation of the Italian words used as examples. I hope this can be useful to some readers, rather than more confusing 🙂 Thanks for listening!

The music in the episode is by www.purple-planet.com.

Listen now!
   

[Thoughts on the Table – 89] Introducing Kristie Prada from Mammaprada

This episode’s guest is Kristie Prada, the author of Mammaprada – a blog on Italian travel, parenting, and raising bilingual children.

Join us in our chat to hear Kristie’s unique perspective on how much love and respect Italians have for their food, how much they honor even their humblest meals, and cherish the time spent with their families at the table.

In the second part of the episode, Kristie talks about the many challenges (and rewards) of raising her children while exposing them to both British and Italian cultures and languages.

You can follow Kristie Prada also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Addendum: Kristie just published an interview of Yours Truly! Please go check it out as I’m sure you’ll find her questions very interesting. Thanks Kristie for featuring me and my work here!

Listen now!
   

[Thoughts on the Table – 85] Introducing Local Aromas’ Advent Calendar and More

Valeria and Benedetta are back on the show to talk about their 2020 Advent Calendar, a collection of 24 festive recipes, each expertly paired with a wine.

Join us to hear more about the 9 food ambassadors that contributed the recipes (including my friend Pina Bresciani) and to hear us dig into some of them, such as Tortellini, Minestra Maritata (Italian Wedding Soup), Insalata Russa (Russian Salad), and Salmon Mousse.

You can hear more about Valeria and Benedetta on Episode 79 and follow them on the Local Aromas YouTube channel as well as on Instagram and Facebook. 

Listen now!
   

[Thoughts on the Table – 84] Introducing Christine from Italian Dish Podcast

My guest today is Christine from Italian Dish Podcast, a fantastic audio project featuring one recipe per episode from Christine’s point of view of an American in Florence. With that as a premise, Christine’s charming storytelling, fueled by her love for food and her fascination with cooking, brings each dish to life via an uncut chronicle of the cooking process, with digressions on the ingredients and the traditions that surround the dish.

During our chat, Christine and I compare our experiences fitting in into the culture of our adoptive homes and how we found it important to try to master the language, but also the local cuisine. Christine also reflects on how talking-while-cooking helps her be her real self and connect with her audience. Finally, we digress on the difficult task of cooking Italian food for native Italians, with the high bars set by their nonnas and with the brutal honesty they are known for!

You can listen to Christine’s Italian Dish Podcast on italiandishpodcast.com as well as stream or download it on any podcast client, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. You can connect with Christine on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Listen now!
   

[Thoughts on the Table – 83] Introducing Cooking with Mamma Marzia Cookbook

Marzia Bellotti Molatore from Bella Cibo introduces her first cookbook titled Cooking with Mamma Marzia – Authentic Italian Recipes for the Whole Family.

In the episode, Marzia describes how much this cookbook means to her and the importance of creating family traditions in the kitchen. In the second part, Marzia talks about a few of the recipes featured in the book: Casatiello Napoletano (savory stuffed bread), polenta Taragna (buckwheat polenta with cheese), pizzoccheri, pesce all’acqua pazza (“crazy water” poached fish), vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce), and crostoli (fried sweets)!

You can order Cooking with Mamma Marzia on www.mammamarzia.ca. You can hear Marzia’s touching story from her own voice on episode 71. For daily updates, Marzia is also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Listen now!
   

[Thoughts on the Table – 82] Dissecting Ragù alla Bolognese with Tina Prestia

In this episode, Bologna-based, food instructor and blogger Tina Prestia talks about Ragù alla Bolognese, arguably the most famous and misunderstood Italian sauce.

Join us to hear Tina Prestia break down Ragù alla Bolognese after she analyzed 50+ recipes and directly tested several of them. What ingredients are non-negotiables? What ingredients can be optional? What are most definitely a no-no?

The episode is largely based on Tina’s great post: Ragù Bolognese – An Analysis, with recipes, tips & resources, and it refers to a few cities and regions of Italy. See the map below for a visual reference!

ragu` regions
Based on blank map by TUBS (Wikimedia Commons). License: CC BY-SA

You can follow Tina on her blog and also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. You can hear Tina’s interview on episode 76.

The music in the episode is by www.purple-planet.com.

Listen now!