THE BEAUTIFUL CUISINE

BY LAURA RANGONI

Among the pages of this magazine, I want to offer a recipe book of memory, which comes from the notebooks written in beautiful calligraphy by the women of my family.

Some of them have collected the best Italian recipes before a good marriage, and the black-lined notebooks with their slightly yellowed sheets have been part of their dowry. They came to me, (I’m the last of my family) sometimes worn, torn, correct, greasy, stained with sauce.

But they are invaluable, as they tell the story of four generations of women who love good food.

Women who have experienced moments of wealth and others of poverty, have crossed the Great Century surviving two world wars, and succeeding to put together lunch with dinner.

These sheets have accompanied me for over thirty years, being kept in the liberty’s drawer kitchen in the kitchen that followed my wanderings in life.

And now the time gives them importance, to allow those notes to realize and to tell their story to a wide audience, because tradition must not die. And when the roots are deep, they freeze ...