Healthy Eating

Growing up Italian and traveling to Italy developed in me a very good and healthy palate. Everyday as a child my Mamma would make all her meals from scratch. I vividly remember eating a Primo and Secondo Piatto every day at dinner with the family. The Primo Piatto is the first entree of the meal which always consisted of some grain-based dish such as soup or pasta. We would also have polenta and gnocchi dishes as part of the Primo Piatto. I now love to make homemade soups because of the wonderful soups that my carissima Mamma made for us, her six children such as lentil or minestrone soup. Whenever I now ask my own grown married children what they would like me to  make for them, their response is always .....Minestra! For the Secondo Piatto  which was also always prepared for everyday dinner, not just Sunday ones, consisted of meat, chicken, or fish and a medley of different vegetables that were in season and fresh. My favorite Secondo was  Costolette alla Milanese (Milanese cutlets) accompanied by sautéed broccoli rabe and salad. The food was always fresh, nutritious and delicious! My Papa in America was a humble factory employee unlike in Italy before World War II in which he was the proprietor of a furniture  shop but despite his financial situation, he always made having an abundance of good, healthy food a priority in his home. On Saturdays I would go with him to outdoor markets to get the best produce and fruits and then to the best Italian stores in Chicago to get Italian specialties and other important staples for  my Mamma's unforgettable Italian dishes. Because we had a large family of seven, Papa would find great deals by buying bushelful of fruits and vegetables that my Mamma would then prepare or can. Our dinner table which Papa made because later on, he needed to accommodate my brothers who were married with children. Every Sunday everyone would come for Sunday dinner at one o'clock. The meal was always the same: a primo of pasta in meat sauce (sugo alla bolognese) and a secondo piatto of meatballs and other meats , sautéed greens and salad. Fruit followed by a special pastry with espresso always ended the meal. Wine and Italian bread was always another important part of the meal which had a special connection to our Catholic faith. I remember times at the table (A Tavola) with great tenderness and fondness. I have such a passion for eating healthy and feeding my family in a healthy way because of the full and intimate gastronomic experience I had eating in my Papa and Mamma's loving home. Now that I have tried to emulate them in their cooking and feeding their family, I realize what a labor of love and sacrifice it was for my loving and aging immigrant parents to provide such extraordinary meals for us  everyday of  their lives until they could not due to old age. I am totally indebted to them for teaching me  the art of eating healthy and scrumptious and delectable food. I also learned that my body is a temple of God that I need to safeguard from foreign objects such as too much fast food, GMO's, excessive salt and sugar and as of late, from genetically modified foods. Thinking about eating in my parent's home especially during my adolescence conjures up hundreds of  warm and intimate memories that stimulate to this day long after my carissimi parents' passing all of my senses and makes me so thankful for growing up Italian. I am very grateful to my carissimi genitori, Armando and Vittoria Giannese for teaching and inspiring me how to eat with immense love for good and healthy eating, reverence for quality not quantity and vast appreciation for eating healthy. In an American society that now produces unhealthy food for consumers, it becomes more and more difficult to cook as my Italian parents taught me and this saddens and worries me for  the health and welfare of my children and my grandchildren. We must as responsible citizens of this great land demand from our government that nutrition and good eating be promoted and protected.