L'Italo-Americano
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2019
www.italoamericano.org
4
FRANCESCA BEZZONE
NEWS & FEATURES
TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS
Pasta Grannies: Italian nonne take
YouTube by storm
I
f you are familiar with all
that's trending on YouTu-
be, then you may know
T h e P a s t a G r a n n i e s , a
channel with more than
400.000 subscribers where each
video is dedicated to Italian
nonne and the way they make
t r a d i t i o n a l , d e l i c i o u s p a s t a
dishes. We have nonna Giusep-
pina and her pici, nonna Giggi-
na and her gnocchi and nonna
Rosa with her ravioli, all over
80, all with genuine smiles and
all influencers: a breath of fresh
air on a platform populated by
b a d m a k e u p t u t o r i a l s a n d
drama channels.
We of l'Italo-Americano
had the pleasure to share some
thoughts and memories with the
creator of the project, Vicky
Bennison, with whom we spoke
a b o u t h e r l o v e f o r f o o d , t h e
grannies and how Italian she
f e e l s , a f t e r a l l t h i s w r i t i n g
about pasta!
V i c k y e x p l a i n s t o u s t h e
Pasta Grannies' YouTube chan-
n e l i s o n l y p a r t o f a m u c h
w i d e r p r o j e c t t h a t w a n t s t o
k e e p a l i v e t h e h a n d - m a k i n g
pasta tradition of Italy, a tradi-
tion incredibly important for the
country, but that has been lar-
gely neglected by the younger
generations. Bennison's aim is
that of keeping this incredible
wealth of culinary knowledge
alive by using modern media:
YouTube, we said, but also a
website and, just a couple of
w e e k s a g o , a b o o k , P a s t a
G r a n n i e s : t h e S e c r e t s o f
I t a l y ' s B e s t H o m e C o o k s ,
p u b l i s h e d b y H a r d i e G r a n t
Books, a collection of the most
popular grannies' recipes gathe-
red by Bennison through the
years.
Time passes, and the risk of
seeing all this wealth of know-
ledge and deliciousness going
l o s t w a s b e c o m i n g r e a l .
Bennison took upon herself the
duty of keeping hundreds of
recipes alive and, with them,
also the stories, memories and
traditional elements they carry
within. Hers is an endeavor of
love and passion for a country,
Italy, she spends half of her
time in, but also for the cultu-
ral, emotional and affective
value of food making and sha-
r i n g , s o m e t h i n g s h e h e r s e l f
knows first hand.
In fact, when reading about
Vicky, it becomes clear she has
a passion for food and the que-
stion comes quite naturally: did
she have a "nonna" inspiring
Nonna Giuseppina, 97, smiles for the camera while making her delicious pasta (Copyright: Emma Lee)
Continued to page 6
