L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017 L'Italo-Americano LIFE PEOPLE MOVIES MUSIC BOOKS F rom Italy and Spain to Egypt, Cyprus, and Korea, The Recipe Hunters have been scouring the earth in search of traditional family recipes. Harvesting olives to make olive oil in Calabria, cultivating percebes on the Galician coastline of Spain, fertilizing date trees on an Egyptian oasis, gathering cab- bage to make Kimchi in Korea… these are the kinds of things you will find them doing. Their names are Anthony and Leila, co- founders of the Culinary Heritage Corporation, and this is their story. The Recipe Hunters travel to countries all over the world and document traditional recipes through photography, writing, and video. For about six months out of the year, with the help of crowd funding campaigns and opportunities they find posted on WorkAway.com, they volunteer on homesteads and local, organic farms where they work with fam- ilies to cultivate the region's sea- sonal produce. They integrate themselves into the communities, learn the language, form friend- ships with the locals, and learn traditional recipes that incorpo- rate at least one main seasonal ingredient from the land. In this way, they support local farmers, preserve the rich and eclectic culinary heritage of the world, and raise awareness about the culture they are experiencing. To better understand their story, we have to start at the beginning. I caught up with Anthony and Leila on a Skype call while they were passing through Cyprus. They had just come from a 3-week stay in Palestine and were on their way to Lebanon. The pair came to recipe hunt- ing via rather unexpected routes. Anthony was born into an Italian-American family in Garden City, New York. Leila is an Irish-Lebanese American who grew up in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Their paths merged three years ago when, like most twen- ty-something year olds, they were both going through a transi- tional life phase. After graduat- ing, Anthony worked in invest- ment banking for three years, and then started a healthcare technol- ogy company in Costa Rica where he stayed for two years before deciding to pursue other goals. Leila was on the pre-med track. After doing research on anesthesiology and cancer, she realized it wasn't how she want- ed to spend her life. "My whole perspective on life changed. I realized I wanted to live my life according to my passions," she said. So she moved to Chicago and did volunteer work on a sheep farm. "We fell in love over food," said Leila. A large part of their relationship grew out of a cultur- al exchange that happened between them. "She was coming to my house and experiencing Italian-American culture, and I was going to her house and expe- riencing Lebanese culture. I was curious about things. I saw they use eggplant, but mash it up and put it in baba ganoush. We use it, but we put it in eggplant parme- san," said Anthony. Learning about their own roots led them on a quest to find the different ways in which ingredients are used in the cuisines of diverse cultures. They started in the States, and then set their sights on the rest of the world. Three years ago they booked the cheapest flight out of New York and made the first stop on their international jour- ney: Norway. They have since traveled to Spain, Korea, Sweden, China, Israel, Egypt, Croatia, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Italy. "The problem with growing up in the States is that everything is so fast paced, and you're so stuck in your social bubble. To be able to pop that and be able to be who you really want to be by traveling is so incredible. Travel is so important because you real- ize none of it actually matters. The social expectations that you have growing up in the States, they're so intense and it's stress- ful. Walking away from that and seeing how much opportunity there is in this world gave me hope and positivity," said Leila. It was specifically the time they spent in Southern Italy that was meaningful to them both. Anthony's grandparents are from Naples and Calabria. Determined to better learn the Italian lan- guage and reconnect with his roots, he and Leila stayed in his Nonno's hometown, Caulonia, in Calabria, where they learned the recipes for braciole di melanzane (eggplant fritters) and zeppole con le alici (zeppoli with anchovies). They also worked on the olive groves, helping with the harvest. VINCENZA DI MAGGIO The Recipe Hunters: Preser ving the World's Culinary Heritage, One Country and One Recipe at a Time "That experience of being able to help on a land where you're from is something that's intangible," said Anthony. He expressed a sentiment that most of us who are born to parents who come from elsewhere often feel: a constant, however vague, misplaced sense of identity or belonging. When you travel to your home country, walk the streets of your ancestors and sweat on the same land they toiled on, something within you falls into place. "You fit in with- out having to fit in. Whereas sometimes in the United States I feel like I don't fit in all the way. I still have to express my culture in a certain way. When people ask what you are you say 'I'm an Italian-American.' You don't say you're an American," said Anthony. Meeting the people with whom you share the same blood is something that Anthony and Leila feel strongly about. "I think it's essential, and I think it's our obligation. It's a respect to the generations before us who worked so hard to get us to the United States and get us these opportunities, to go back and see where they came from. Because then maybe you'll respect the opportunity that you have to be in the United States a lot more," said Anthony. In addition to Calabria, The Recipe Hunters have also trav- eled to Basilicata, where they foraged for wild asparagus, pre- served artichokes and mush- rooms, and made soppressata. In Apulia they made burrata. In Campania they helped plant vines for a man's vineyard in San Giovanni a Piro in Cilento Park. In Rome they learned the recipes for saltimbocca alla romana, gelato, and tonnarelli alla gricia. In Tuscany they stayed with a priest who requested their help in accompanying 44 teenagers on a pilgrimage to Galicia, in the North West part of Spain. Before departing on their voyage they learned how to make pici, a type of Tuscan pasta, and occhiali, a type of ravioli, from the locals in the town of Castel del Piano. "A lot of people were telling us not to go to Southern Italy, that it's dangerous. They could not have been more wrong. Southern Italy is the heart of Italy. It's where the traditional culture still exists, and where the people still have these generation old traditions that they're main- taining," said Leila. Through their short documen- taries, The Recipe Hunters aim to highlight the traditional food sys- tems of places in Southern Italy like Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, and Campania. "You have this tourism desert where no one vis- its in Southern Italy. For us it's such a shame that it's not appre- ciated and it's not known about. We would love to shed light upon that culture and food scene, and those artisanal food prod- ucts," said Leila. The Recipe Hunters are big supporters of Slow Food, a glob- al grassroots organization found- ed by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986. The nonprofit was born out of the desire to encourage sus- tainability and farming, preserve heritage, and promote local busi- nesses. It advocates for the mak- ing, growing, and consumption of foods that are good, clean, and fair, meaning that it is healthy, does not use pesticides, and prices are accessible to con- sumers. "[Italy] represents amaz- ing agricultural innovation, and at the same time traditional roots. If you go back to the Roman Empire, they wanted to create sustainable pockets. A city like Rome is sustainable through its agriculture. People were very proud to be able to live off their own land. Nowadays, everyone is relying on a worldwide economy, and importing and exporting in order to survive. Slow food is trying to maintain these small food connections," explained Anthony. Through their own nonprofit Antony and Leila joined the movement, working to change the way Americans think of and consume food. In 2015 they founded the Culinary Heritage Foundation. By encouraging the slow food movement, they hope to steer Americans away from fast food, and back towards a cul- ture that values sharing healthy, wholesome meals around the din- ner table. Their aim is to teach Americans how to cook and eat healthy by sharing their recipes, hosting culinary workshops, and inspiring people to participate in farmers' markets. What's the next stop on their journey? Leila's home country, Lebanon. Since rose water is prevalently used in Arabic cui- sine, they will be harvesting roses on a rose flower farm, and then distilling rose water with a grandma. She will then teach them the recipe for mammoul, a traditional Lebanese cookie. "We're also going to be working with Syrian refugees again. Anything to raise awareness about them and give them a voice is really important to us," said Leila. Anthony Morano of The Recipe Hunters learning to make gnocchi with Maria Grazia Cura in the town of Cirie in Piemonte_Photo Courtesy of Leila Elamine @TheRecipeHunters.jpg

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