Clara's Kitchen by Clara Cannucciari
Photographs by Abby Lope
Published by St. Martin's Press
Reviewed by Leigh Kimmel
Here is a perfect example of what I am attempting to achieve with this website, such that as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to give it a full review. If you can only afford one book this year, I'd strongly suggest that you pick this one. The combination of homey wisdom, reminiscences of hard times overcome, and recipes for simple but filling foods really shows the fundamental thesis that underlies the creation of this website -- that we shouldn't panic in the face of all the doomsayers' dire warnings, but remember that we're here because our grandparents and great-grandparents survived the hard times of the Great Depression of the 1930's.
Like myself, Christopher Cannucciari lost three of his four grandparents before he was old enough to really appreciate the tales they told. That made his relationship with his one remaining grandmother all the closer -- and he was able to realize it in time to capture some of those stories on paper and video for posterity.
Clara begins by telling us the story of her childhood as the daughter of working-class Italian immigrants. Although she was born in Chicago, her family spoke only Italian at home, so she didn't learn English until she went to school. That made for some difficult years in class, since she went to a Catholic school where the nuns were very strict. But in time she picked up enough to successfully navigate the hurdles of schoolwork, until things became bad enough for her family that she had to go to work full time.
She also has some interesting tales about the various jobs she held. Some of them were enjoyable, while at least one was made unpleasant by a boss who was constantly blaming others' mistakes on her, including his own. One day she caught him at it and was able to demonstrate that the mis-made part was in fact someone else's work, which only made things worse. But at least she was able to leave that job for one with a more agreeable work situation soon afterward.
It's interesting to see how many of her precepts for making things stretch match up with the things my grandmother taught me when I was growing up. Right off, I recognized the importance of taking good care of everything and not running out to replace things just because they have a slight ding. I smiled and nodded as I read her comment about still using her mother's cooking utensils for every-day cooking. I have a number of things in my kitchen that were hand-me-downs from my grandmother, and the rest of my kitchen utensils are mostly acquired from garage sales rather than new. It's astonishing how much money you can run through if you're constantly breaking things, or if you insist on replacing anything that shows the least bit of wear or falls out of fashion.
But it's really the recipes that are the heart of the book. They are focused on simple, easily available ingredients that create foods which are both nourishing and filling. They're arranged thematically to complement the reminiscences, rather than by categories such as type of food or ingredients used. However, there is a very effective index in the back which will enable you to locate any recipe quickly and easily. And if you think of Italian food as something expensive you can only get at a restaurant or in pre-packaged dinners, you'll find a wealth of recipes that will show you that inexpensive food doesn't have to be miserable, cheap poverty food, but can also be tasty and memorable.
Review posted June 9, 2011.
Buy Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression from Amazon.com
