Synopses & Reviews
During Louise DeSalvo's childhood in 1950s New Jersey, the kitchen becomes the site for fierce generational battle. Louise's step-grandmother insists on recreating the domestic habits of her Southern Italian peasant upbringing, clashing with Louise's convenience-food-loving mother; Louise, meanwhile, dreams of cooking perfect fresh pasta in her own kitchen. But as Louise grows up to indulge in amazing food and travels to Italy herself, she arrives at a fuller and more compassionate picture of her own roots. And, in the process, she reveals that our image of the bounteous Italian American kitchen may exist in part to mask a sometimes painful history.
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"Illuminate[s] the difficulties of reconciling past and present...DeSalvo celebrates the table of her ancestors by savoring her own rediscovered history." New York Times Book Review
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"Louise DeSalvo packs about six courses of emotional wallop into her slim memoir...[A] tough, courageous story, one of hard-won wisdom and memory." San Francisco Chronicle
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"An affecting story of immigrants in America...These recollections are tinged with pain and beauty." Publishers Weekly
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"An affecting story of immigrants in America...These recollections are tinged with pain and beauty."(Publishers Weekly)
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"A superior, dedicated writer...[A] juicy, tender text, seasoned with fear, loathing, and love served Italian style." Kirkus Reviews
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"In fierce and brawling prose, Louise DeSalvo evokes how food and its absence shaped three generations of her family. Now I know why Italian cooking is so good: every bite has the power to vindicate the past." Patricia Volk, author of Stuffed
About the Author
Louise DeSalvo is a writer, professor, lecturer, and scholar who lives in New Jersey. Her many books include the memoirs Vertigo, Breathless, and Adultery; the acclaimed biography Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on her Life and Work; and Writing as a Way of Healing. Recently, she edited Woolf's early novel Melymbrosia and coedited The Milk of Almonds: Italian American Women Writers on Food and Culture.