The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken

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Just the title and photo of this book would make me want to pick it up.  Who wouldn’t enjoy reading about lost, treasured family recipes;  but how many would go to the lengths author Laura Schenone did as she takes us across the ocean to Italy, deep into her ancestral family kitchens to find her great-grandmother’s ravioli recipe.  Her original goal was so simple, but things got more complicated as she reunites with relatives.  Little did she know when she left New Jersey she would find more than recipes; she found deep, Old World roots complicated with buried family stories and the illusive nature of tradition and memory.   How could anyone resist a book with chapters titled, “The Summer of 1957: When Aunt Tessie came to Cook” or “In Lumarzo, All Persons are Schenone,” or “All the World’s a Dumpling,” and even “Ghosts.”
The reader is rewarded with the “lost” recipes in the last chapter of the book.  They include ravioli with ricotta, spinach, or mushrooms, but also recipes for minestrone, gnocchi, and pandolce.  After you finish the book, all you want to do is become Italian yourself and make the recipes!  The book is so poignant and fascinating, it made me start to think about my own ancestry and that of my husband, whose family is from Finland.  When our girls were in Helsinki visiting relatives, they learned how to make some Finnish staples such as pulla bread and Karelian pies with egg butter.  They traveled up to the Arctic Circle to see the “real’ Santa and ate salmon in a sami tent.  My husband was thrilled that the girls were learning about their heritage.  I was thrilled that they were gaining family recipes.  Recipes are a way of keeping family traditions alive.  Many things can be passed from generation to generation, but traditional family recipes will never change.  Recipes are real and enduring, and include a part of who we are and where we came from. 
I wonder what these Finnish relatives made in their kitchens?
A Finnish Sami tent where you can have fresh salmon and a cup of coffee.
Kara at the Arctic Circle in Finland.

 Kara with her Finnish cousins, Toni and Sini.

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2 Responses to The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken

  1. August 12, 2010 at 10:39 pm #

    Oh wow. I heard of this book and I really wanted to read it. And then I forgot about it. My husband and I just moved out of Hoboken last year. We lived there for 5 years. There are still quite a few older Italians living there. In fact, my landlord was off-the-boat and owned the deli/ bakery downstairs that had amazing bread and was known for its prosciutto. Anyway, I love your blog and learning about cookbooks & recipes. Thanks for sharing 🙂

  2. August 13, 2010 at 4:00 am #

    Hi Trish! Thanks so much for writing. I hope you find the book because I think you will love it. I also just found your blog and think it’s amazing! I added you to my blog roll immediately, and will be reading you daily.

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