For the ladies ( and gentlemen ) !

[wetibbe]

I'm posting a matter that I personally found fascinating. It has several components:

Clara Cunnuciari. She is a 96 year old Italian American who is the You Tube celebrity chef sensation and author of the cook book Clara's Kitchen, Great Depression Cooking. Maybe you know her.

I ordered her cookbook on line. It sells new for $33. Amazon.Com has them used and new from many vendors for as little and under $5.00. Mine was used and with shipping and handling it as $9 and change. Although used it was in mint condition, perfect. The book is small and hard back, less than 200 pages. It is a combination of her life and family, events during the depression and recipes.

I'm dividing the components as follows:

* Historical value. It is quite interesting to me to read the experiences of someone during the depression. I'm old enough that I experienced it too.

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...+cooking+video

http://www.amazon.com/Claras-Kitchen.../dp/0312608276

* Immigration. Clara's mother and father, Sicilians, emigrated to the USA from Tunisia where they were living. Most of the family followed. How it was that they were all admitted is something of an enigma to me but .......................????

* Cooking. Since I do all of my own cooking I am, naturally, interested in new and novel, as well as old traditional, ways. The book starts off with anecdotes and recipes that I can best describe as any thing but recipes. These are so basic and simple that they are better described as simply heating up and boiling stuff. This isn't cuisine. It is sub-stone age survival. Basic eggs, potatoes, pastas, bread, supplemented with home grown vegetables. NO meats, no poultry, no fish !!! This brings into question the nutritional values touted. She is 96 in good health and has her own teeth !!!! You'll be shocked beyond belief when you read what they ate in those days and survived on such as weeds - dandelion, burdock! And what they could not afford. But her post-depression recipes are much improved and her last - piece de resistance - is an elaborate, expensive extravaganza desert which is quite clever in the progression or evolution.

Clara laments that people are hurting now and she feels a need to emphasize and offer advice to be frugal and survive. I agree.

[Ayatollahgondola]

thanks WeTibbe,

I'll be trying a few of these. when I was a teenager, I spent quite a bit of time around an older Italian guy. He taught me how to dredge for gold, throw a knife, and eat italian food. this guy was a fantastic cook, and used to make chicken cacciatore over a campfire in the woods while we were at the mine sites. also made lasagna, and other dishes from scratch at home.

Lots of good food memories there