All About Italian Food interview
Sharon Sanders
Sharon and Wather Sanders express their Italian fondness with a great expression: their Inner Italian.
Sharon lived and worked, loved and married in Italy in the celebrated Church of Santa Croce Walter Sanders, from Chicago. The Sanders family now includes daughters Emma and Tess. During a three-week vacation to Italy in 1998, they return to Florence for a celebration of our 20th anniversary.
The girls “remarry” them with a spontaneous renewal of their vows. Walter was able to track down Padre Franchi who performed the original marriage.
Their long range goal is to live in Italy at least a portion of the year.
Until that time, they engage their Inner Italians no matter where they are. It brings them warmth, happiness and for Walter, the distant memory of pepper and cigar smoke of his childhood Italian friend grandfather's car.
Sharon put all their love for Italy and its food in her book called Cooking up an Italian Life that begins with “You don't have to be in Italy to live like an Italian”, with an inviting collection of meals and memories, Sharon Sanders unites an Italian sensibility to an American lifestyle.
1) Hi Sharon, thanks for sharing your time with us. When did you begin to cook Italian? Was there a specific moment when you began to “practice” it? Do you and your husband Walter both cook?
| I started with Tuscan cooking when I lived and worked in Florence as a young unmarried woman. Taking the cue from locals, I shopped daily in the neighborhood frutta e verdura, panificio, latteria, and alimentari. |  |
At least once a week, I’d walk from my Santa Croce neighborhood to the immense Mercato Centrale in San Lorenzo, a cornucopia of intoxicating flavors and aromas.
Walter jokes that he taught me everything he knows in the kitchen! He is a superb griller who masterfully cooks everything from porchetta to vegetables over glowing coals.
2) You are Italian food experts living outside Italy, which allows you a wide vision of this reality, maybe less evident for insiders. 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?
The regional foods of Italy that are best known abroad – pasta and pizza – are happy foods that are easy to like. These days, Americans are becoming more acquainted with the many cuisines of the Italian regions, whether it’s risotto from Milan, saltimbocca from Rome, or pasta with sardines from Sicily.
3) When you cook for friends, do you prepare Italian food? What do you usually cook?
My idea of eating Italian outside of Italy is to follow the seasons in the Italian way. It is the high quality of the raw ingredients that makes Italian dishes so spectacular. In winter, I’ll prepare braised cannellini beans or ossobuco. In summer, pasta with uncooked tomato-basil sauce or grilled shrimp. |
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4) How much of your Inner Italian have you transmitted to your children? Did they absorb it or live it like a personal experience of their parents?
| My husband Walter and I took our daughters Emma and Tess for three weeks to Italy to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. They still talk about our adventures. I think the Inner Italian experience they absorbed most deeply is savoring meal times at the table. They both enjoy the social aspect of dining as much as the food. |  |
5) During the period you lived in Florence, you probably learned a great deal from the local cuisine. Did you practice, or just eat in local restaurants?
Walter and I loved Trattoria Benvenuto which at that time was owned by Loriano and Gabriella Pallini. We ate there frequently and I hung out in the kitchen as much as possible to see these wonderful cooks in action.
6) Sharon, your book contains such a lot of recipes! Please entice our readers appetite talking about a special recipe for you. The cacciucco recipe is the same you ate in Florence?
| My life has not been the same since I experienced cacciucco! This seafood stew is a mixture of fish and shellfish in a red wine, tomato sauce that becomes so complex because of the mingling of flavors. |  |
The stew is served over a chunk of crusty garlic bread that soaks up all that flavor. Here in the States, the seafood may be different varieties but I still end up with a delightful tasting concoction.
7) What would be your advice to an Italian food-lover who wants to cook Italian, but doesn’t live in Italy? Which ingredients are preferable, living abroad?
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
| More recipes from Sharon on her book Cooking up an Italian Life |
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8) What impressed you most while living in Italy? (Not only with regard to food.)
The life! People in most places in Italy (outside the biggest, busiest cities) still put life and family ahead of work. There is a balance and beauty to each day. For those who still take a break at midday, perhaps with a riposo, it’s almost like they’re getting two days for every one calendar day.
On my Blog www.simpleitaly.com, I try to stay in touch with my Inner Italian and encourage others to do the same.
8) What do you believe is a “must do, see and taste” in Italy? What would you suggest to an American who goes to Italy?
My recommendation for anyone going to Italy is “get lost.” Head off the beaten tourist paths and have adventures with local Italians. You’ll have experiences that can’t compare with the advice from guidebooks.
That said, the artistic and cultural sites are incomparable and you’ll want to fit those in. From the aquatic majesty of Venice to the Pantheon in Rome to the Greek temples in Sicily, every region offers inspiration.
Certified Culinary Professional Sharon Sanders is the author of Cooking Up an Italian Life: Simple Pleasures of Italy in Recipes and Stories and, with her husband Walter Sanders, a corporate communications consultant, blogs about Italian food and life at www.simpleitaly.com . Sharon and Walter met in Tuscany, lived and worked there for several years, and married in the historic Church of Santa Croce in Florence. The couple continue to travel often throughout Italy for research.
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We want to thank Sharon Sanders 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 Sharon's blog Simple Italy
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