How many different names do you know for grandmother? I did a quick search on the internet (for this column I used “The Bump”) and it came up with hundreds from all over the world. But here is a small sample for you to feast on:
Granny (Grannie), Grammy (Grammie), Gammie, Nan, Gigi, Gan-Gan, Maw-Maw, Mimi, Nini, Birdy, Baba, Mumsie, Kitty, Meems, MooMoo, Mimsy, Ouma, Popo, Maa maa, Yaya, Savta, Sobo, Babushka, Abuela, Bubbe and Zumu. This is the short list!
For my kids it was Grandma (Nellie Smith) and MeeMaw (Angie Battista). Mine were Nana (Concetta Carolis) and Big Grandma (Anna Battista). The most popular Italian grandmother name is Nonna, or some version such as Nana, Nahna or Nonnina.
So why am I fixated on this grandmother topic? Because just in time for last week’s Mother’s Day, my wife and I spent Saturday night watching the new Vince Vaughn comedy/drama “Nonnas” on Netflix. It had been recommended by a number of friends and family, and it didn’t disappoint, at least not for this sentimental Italian. We laughed; we cried; we loved it! It was like a trip down memory lane for me and made me think of my Nanna Concetta Carolis and Big Grandma Anna Battista, my mom, my aunts and my cousins (all excellent cooks). The movie turned out to be an early Mother’s Day treat.
The film is based on the true-life story of Joe Scaravella, the owner of Enoteca Maria restaurant in Staten Island. Joe, who is played in the movie by Vaughn, risks everything to honor his recently deceased mother by opening an Italian restaurant. The kicker: He uses real-life grandmothers (Nonnas) as his chefs. Joe’s idea was to bring authentic recipes from actual Nonnas to honor his own mom and Nonna and to differentiate the Enoteca Maria from the competition.
The movie co-stars Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro, Lorraine Bracco and Susan Sarandon as the Nonnas. I did a little research and found that while Hollywood certainly took some poetic license (including Joe’s love interest, Olivia, who was made up for the movie), it was a pretty accurate depiction of the Enoteca Maria restaurant story (which is still in operation). The movie critics gave it an “above average rating with mostly positive reviews,” and audiences loved it. It’s been described as the “feelgood movie of the year.”
I’ve written in the past about the Nonnas in my life, but seeing this new movie brought back a flood of emotions and memories. It was a simpler time when distractions were few and family gatherings were the norm, at least in the East Liberty and Penn Hills sections of Pittsburgh with our extended Battista and Carolis families. It also meant we were going to be spoiled with amazing Italian food, and plenty of it!
My wife and I just returned from our nephew Nicholas (and Alli Paratore) Battista’s wedding at Carrigan Farms north of Charlotte and it had two distinct themes: hockey and Italian cookies. Hockey because they met while playing at Cal U of Pennsylvania and are both active youth hockey coaches. Italian cookies because both are from Western PA and cookie tables are an Italian tradition. My mother made dozens of “Tattalucci” (aka wedding knots), cherry biscotti, butterballs, pizzelles, chocolate chip and waffle cookies. Alli’s family and my sister-in-law’s family and friends made others that took up two tables and had to be refilled more than once. In the movie, Susan Sarandon is the baking specialist and her character had nothing on my mom and the others who chipped in on the Italian cookie table tradition.
Inspired by the movie I reached out to my mom about some of my memories and wanted to hear about hers as well. When my mother was growing up, her mom, my Nana Concetta, would get out a big 4’ x 4’ cutting board and make homemade polenta (cornmeal) and they would bake it and then put homemade tomato sauce over it and then eat it right off the cutting board! My Nanas’ specialty was cavatelli (made with ricotta cheese) which is different from gnocchi (which is made with potatoes). She had her own macaroni machine with a hand crank and could make just about any shape and length of pasta.
My Grandma Anna’s specialty was homemade ravioli, and all the kids would help roll the flour and eggs before she would fill them with Ricotta cheese, eggs, parsley and parmesan cheese. We kids took forks and got to put the finishing touches around the outside of each ravioli. Grandma Anna also made the lamb’s head (even pulling the teeth out) that was featured in the movie. She would also make escargot, and to keep us kids occupied and out of her way, my aunt would get us to each pick out a snail and we would have snail races on the kitchen table.
My own mother’s specialty is meatballs (ground sirloin with bread crumbs, grated parmesan cheese eggs, parsley) which she fried in extra virgin olive oil. Her sauce was so smooth and was less acidic because she added a pinch (or two) of sugar. She also made terrific cavatelli, pastina soup (my favorite), and “greens and beans” (made with escarole and cannellini beans).
My cousin Rachel (Russo) Stiffler, who lives outside of Pittsburgh, traditionally hosts our Carolis family Easter and she is essentially a gourmet cook in her own right. She told me, “I remember my Nana making her Easter bread or fresh pasta on her huge cutting board. Nothing was ever measured; it was just from feel. I have tried many times to make the Easter bread and CANNOT match it! It had to be the touch I guess, which I don’t have! I had her macaroni/Easter bread cutting board which was about 4 ft square that I stupidly got rid of when I moved. I am so sorry I did that. Maybe the touch was in the board! I am now ‘Nana’ to my own grandchildren, and I will always cherish the memories and the name!”
Well, there you have it, folks. I hope you could visualize yourself back in the tiny kitchens (compared to the ones in today’s homes) of that day with a lot of hustle and bustle of Italian Nonnas, aunts, and cousins cooking their favorite recipes. I have always had a tough time finding an Italian restaurant that I truly love because I was so spoiled by my own Nonnas.
So, if you want to take a night off from the usual blood-and-guts violent movies, and want to see a funny, uplifting, feelgood movie, then get out a nice glass of Italian wine and put on “Nonnas.”
The traditional Italian Easter feast at my Cousin Rachel’s home in Pittsburgh. Rachel still makes many of my Nana Concetta’s recipes
