Almost Italian- Thanksgiving Message

Holly Chase and Skip Lombardi of Almost Italian are asking readers to do a bit of culinary sleuthing. Click on the link to their online cookbook and send them your comments and stories.

I’d love to hear stories and speculation on this from other Italian-Americans. Alas, I’ve no one left in my own family to interview.

It’s easy enough to ascertain how certain traditional Italian recipes morphed into Italian-American dishes; that’s what the Almost Italian project is about. But how did the original recipes arrive intact? We need to ask how they made the trip from Italy to America in the first place, especially since we already know that many of the immigrants were so poor in Italy they couldn’t have afforded to cook them back home.

So start making YOUR lists. The questions you pose could prove to be lifesavers during those awkward Thanksgiving moments when talk turns to Hillary Clinton, ethanol, or immigration reform. When your aunt starts asking about your little nose-ring or latest tattoo, or someone has just spilled an especially dark Zinfandel on the lace tablecloth, you’ll be glad you can divert everyone’s attention with:

So, do you think Zio Beppo’s sausages, the ones he cured in the trunk of his ‘68 Impala, were more Calabrese or Abruzzese?

When did Dad start making “‘Mom’s’ Sunday Gravy?” Whose mom was it anyway?

Is it true that cousin Tony sold his sister’s collection of Mass cards on Ebay?

When it comes to family history, there are many truths…share some of yours, right here, on Almost Italian.