All About Italian Food interview
Linda Prospero
Linda Prospero used to be a journalist in NYC and left the rat-race to live in Italy for a year, with her husband.
Her family is of Italian origin. Her mother was from the Emilia-Romagna region (people say that it’s the best place to eat in Italy), her father’s family was from Calabria (the place where they make hot sausage) and her husband’s family is from Abbruzzo.
While in Italy, Linda could live the real Italian life, visiting her husband’s family in a small city where they have a bakery, and travelling all around Italy, in no particular hurry, just wandering.
You can experience it all reading her blog Ciao Chow Linda where she presents some mouth-watering recipes together with photos that show some interesting moments in the kitchen, during Carnival, and with many other testimonies to the real Italian culture.
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1. Hi Linda, thanks for sharing your time with us. How did you feel, leaving the rat-race, to live in Italy with your husband? It usually isn’t an easy task, or was your Italian heritage calling you?
It was not hard to leave the "rat-race." There comes a time in life when you have to decide what do you really need to make you happy and I came to the conclusion that having a stressful career and commuting to New York City each day did not hold any joy for me any more.
I needed to do something different to maintain my sanity and my husband had already retired. We had always been drawn to Italy for our vacations, not just because of our heritage, but our love of the beautiful landscape of the country and the fabulous artwork everywhere.
| We had always had the idea of moving to Italy temporarily and the timing seemed right. That year in Italy was the best year of our lives. We had visited Italy many times in the last 35 years, so we were very familiar with the country and with our relatives, both mine in Emilia Romagna, and my husband's in Abruzzo. |  |
But they were just "visits" and it is an entirely different feeling when you're living there. We lived there the last half of 2005 and the first half of 2006, and there were so many exciting things that happened during that time in Italy, including national elections, and the Torino Olympics, during which I worked for La Stampa. Italy also won the World Cup in 2006 and we had the time of our lives watching the final on a maxi-screen with hundreds of other revelers in Trieste's main piazza.
2. It’s interesting how ever-present, Italian culture is in your life.
’Le Matte del Lunedi’, or ’Do the crazy Monday ladies’ still often
meet for a ’chiaccherata’?
The ladies still meet every week for a chiacchierata. It is one of the things I treasure about my life here in Princeton. The ladies' ages and backgrounds are all different, yet we are so supportive of each other.
There is usually no theme to the discussions, but this past week was particularly interesting, because one of the members brought her cousin, who is writing a book about what Italian women can learn from American women, and vice-versa. There were thoughtful comments from everyone and it was a very lively discussion.
I am also on the board of trustees of an Italian Cultural Institution in Princeton, where we hold programs each month on anything that has to do with Italy, from programs on opera to programs on new books by Italian authors, or art history. We also have classes in the Italian language for adults and children.
3. When did you begin to cook Italian? It seems as though you have always done it, or was there a specific moment when you began to ’practice’ it?
| I grew up watching my mother cook so it was always in the home. I never really cooked though until I got married. I also learned from my mother-in-law, who was from Abruzzo and had a very different style of cooking from my mother, who was from Emilia-Romagna. |  |
Much of what I know comes from watching these two women, but a lot comes from reading cookbooks, watching chefs on television and experimenting in the kitchen.
4. You are an Italian food expert living outside Italy, which allows
you a wide vision of this reality, maybe less evident for an insider.
How would you summarize the success of Italian food around the world? Do you believe that it is because it encompasses only simple dishes, or because it has flavors that really please different cultures?
I don't know if I could say I'm an Italian food expert, but I believe Italian food is so popular around the world because of the simplicity AND deliciousness of the flavor combinations.It's hard to resist a simple dish of pasta with tomatoes and basil, or polenta and sausages.
| When you start out with the freshest ingredients and you cook with respect for those ingredients, the end product has to be wonderful. Most people don't have the time or energy to cook complicated, multi-step recipes and the beauty of Italian cooking is that it doesn't require you to do so in order to eat well. |  |
5) When you cook for friends, do you prepare Italian food? What do you usually cook?
I almost always prepare Italian food, or if it's summer, something simply prepared outdoors on the grill. For dinner tonight, we ate a pork tenderloin that was stuffed with mushrooms, fontina cheese and roasted red peppers, and I made a side dish of cauliflower that was simply tossed in a skillet with some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.
I'm having a dinner party in about two weeks and I'm thinking of making osso buco and either polenta or risotto.
6) What do you believe is a ’must do, see and taste’ in Italy? What would you suggest to an American who goes to Italy?
As you know, all cooking is regional in Italy, so it depends on where the visitor is going. Most people start out with the big three cities of Rome, Florence and Venice.
It's not a bad choice, but there are so many other interesting, and less traveled parts of Italy too. If I had to choose ten things that are "must do, see and taste" they might be:
1. Rome, Rome, Rome - my favorite place in the world for all the layers of history and art. Eat pasta all'amatriciana and carciofi alla giudea and gelato - gelato every day.
2. Florence - You can feel the Renaissance just by walking down the streets. Of course you must eat a bistecca alla Fiorentina here.
3. Emilia-Romagna - Choose any city in the region- Bologna, Piacenza, Parma, for example, and you will get the BEST pasta of anywhere in Italy. The parmigiano reggiano and prosciutto from here is legendary and can't be beat.
| 4. Amalfi Coast/Naples - The vistas along the Amalfi Coast are stunning and the pizza in Naples deserves its famous reputation. I had some of the best seafood dishes of my life in Sorrento and Naples. |  |
5. Dolomite mountains - We ski each winter in the Val Gardena, a fairy-tale valley of three villages in the Dolomites. Every year, I can't wait to go back, not just for the skiing and the majestic mountains, but the food - the polenta, the strudels, the goulash - so much like Austrian cooking than what we think of as Italian.
6. Val D'Aosta - I love all the impressive castles that are scattered throughout the region and the mountains everywhere. We loved the wonderful cheeses here.
| 7. Sardinia - I don't know why anyone would ever leave this enchanting island. It looks like paradise and the seafood is what I loved best about the food here - the fresh octopus and fish we ate, cooked on the beach by the owners of a fishing boat - a very happy memory. |  |
Try the pasta called maloreddus
8. Sicily - I am in love with Sicily. It's everything that the rest of Italy is, but exploded in all senses - the sun seems to shine brighter, the food seems to be bolder, the people seem to be more outgoing. Taormina is one of the most beautiful places in the world and I would gladly go back each year if I could.
9. Venice - I couldn't leave Venice off the list. Even though I think the food is better in other parts of Italy, the city is a magical place that always captures my heart, no matter how many times I've been there. Go during Carnevale if you can and you will have an unforgettable time.
10. Le Cinque Terre - You can't imagine how breathtaking these vistas are until you've walked the trails linking the towns. I know it's become a tourist haven, but for good reason. The stuffed mussels they make here are simply heavenly.
7) An easy but never-fail question: among all the inviting recipes you have on your blog, do you have a favorite?
That's like asking me if I have a favorite child!! How can I answer that?
Let's pretend that I have to eat one last meal from the recipes on my blog.
| Maybe I would make it this: -pumpkin ravioli with walnut cream sauce -stinco di vitello -baba au rhum |
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8) During the year you lived in Rome, you probably learned a great deal from the local cuisine. Did you practice, or just eat in local restaurants?
Oh yes, of course I practiced. We ate out at restaurants once a week, but the rest of the time I cooked at home. I went to the local fruit and vegetable market near our apartment every day and got to know the cheese lady, the fruit man, the fish seller, etc.
I was usually guided by what looked best, and what was in season. I used to watch the TV show "La Prova Del Cuoco" and that gave me ideas on how to prepare different things too.
9) What would be your advice to an Italian food-lover who wants to cook Italian, but doesn’live in Italy? Which ingredients are
preferable, living abroad?
| Start with good ingredients, don't skimp on quality and you'll have good results. Don't buy prepared or packaged foods - start from scratch whenever possible. |  |
We can get most of the same things you have in Italy, i.e. San Marzano tomatoes
If you live near New York you can get burrata cheese, but it's not nearly as delicious as having it freshly made from the local latteria.
Find a good cookbook - it's not hard to do. My favorites are cookbooks by Marcella Hazan
10) What impressed you most while living in Italy? (Not only with
regard to food.)
Aside from food, it was the access to art everywhere you went. You could walk down the street and pass a building that was constructed in the Renaissance, see a pagan temple that was erected before Christ, or walk into a 17th century church that was built during the height of the rococo period.
It gives you so much more of a sense of history to be immersed in it daily, and brings joy to your daily life. At least it did for me. I am eager to repeat our experience and go back for another year.
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We want to thank Linda Prospero again for taking the time out to speak with us at All About Italian Food. We hope she has showed you some new aspects of Italian food and culture.
Be sure to check out Linda's blog Ciao Chow Linda
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