My ethnicity? I am the least Italian person on the planet. But culinarily, I am a close cousin to Massimo Bottura, whose three-Michelin-star restaurant has been number 1 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list twice. Comparing me culinarily to Massimo Bottura is a slap in the face to the Italian restauranteur and chef patron of Osteria Francescana, I know, but I genuinely enjoy preparing pasta dishes. I relish searing the sliced chicken for creamy Tuscan chicken and pepper my dishes with more garlic than required. Watching a sauce simmer until it thickens brings me a sense of accomplishment. (There has to be some deeper metaphor about life there.)

I grew up watching Great Chefs, Julia Child, Justin Wilson, and the Food Network. The food I saw on TV did not reflect what I ate as a child. Our socioeconomic status and our geographic location made a real difference (basically, we were lower middle-class white people from the South, and my mom didn’t cook what I saw on TV). Her spaghetti was hamburger meat in canned sauce, not the spaghetti aglio e olio I saw on TV. (And don’t get offended Momma, your spaghetti was good.) And even though I am getting better at searing meat over the open flame, my palate enjoys the culinary innovation that the meld of flavors in a pot of sauce will bring.

Images:

Maccaronara 01 image by VinRock80 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110851577