Easter Feast, Italian Style
Posted by Mrs Zeee on 04/09/2009
As Italians, we have a special relationship with food. Put it this way, if every day life is a steamy love affair, then holidays are a freakin’ orgi. Famous for feasting at every opportunity, my family prepares for Easter with the dedication of an Olympic athlete — rounds and rounds of qualifiers to get ready for the big event.
The good news is that the menu never changes, so there is no “stress” of planning a unique selection. BUT, the stress comes in a different form for the hostess or whomever is doing most of the cooking (Nonni). This fine lady has the challenge of:
1) Cooking mass amounts of food for a hungry crowd
2) Timing each course perfectly so food is hot & fresh
3) Nailing-down each of the family recipes that we’ve been looking forward to all year long. (MOST IMPORTANT)
Knowing that we (the family) are all nostalgic for favorites like pizza rustica and panettone, she also has to make sure there are plenty of those dishes to go around for the day and leftovers for each person to take home, for the week!!! (The reason we can survive without these favorites all year long is because we gorge on them the whole week– trust me, it takes a year to get your appetite back for baked egg,cheese and salami pies)
I know this does not seem fair. In fact, I’d never sign-up for the job. But to know Nonni is to understand –she loves the thrill of the holiday!! She’s old school — they don’t make them like her anymore. We are blessed to have her because no one does a holiday like this lady :)
Of course, everyone tries to help out where they can — bringing side dishes, setting-up, cleaning, providing desserts/wine/coffee. But Nonni is the power house behind the Easter feast, and Christmas, Superbowl Sunday (she doesn’t even know what Superbowl is and she cooks for it) and every Sunday for that matter…
So how was it growing-up in this environment? Well, we certainly didn’t starve! In fact, there was no children’s menu. We ate what the adults ate, with one exception:
As kids, we anticipated the Easter bunny’s visit all season long. So, imagine our surprise when he finally arrived on Easter Sunday — as the main course!
Italians are not without a sense of irony.
Sharma said,
Where are the men in all of this??
Mrs Zeee said,
HA! Stuffing their faces and falling asleep on the couch. Must be nice, right?
Maria@Conversations with moms said,
The Portuguese celebrate it in almost the same way but not to the same extent with food. This year, my family (parents, siblings, nephews) and I are going to eat at a restaurant, which I would guess is very different from Italian tradition.
Enjoy your Easter!
mamambird said,
Yum! Sounds like fun. My family does the same type of thing only with lot’s of meat (ham, turkey, lamb and kielbasa)…guess we’re not to worried about cholesterol!!! Happy Easter.
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