For a long time “I-tal-yan” was the only ethnic food known by the majority of the U.S. and the original immigrants came to America in search of streets paved with food not gold. In other words today Italian cuisine is the results of poverty and scarcity in the old country that has existed for centuries.

The average 19th & 20th century Italian had meat once or twice a year unless he was from a wealthier family or employed by one. Food was extremely regional since most people were born and died in the same village, never traveling farther then the local fields or sea always returning home to their ancestral village at night and perhaps never journeying more than few miles from home in their entire lives.

Granted Italian foodways originated with the Greco-Roman dynasties but their only real lasting contribution consists of grain, wine and olives and a surprising number of today's cultivars came to Italy via the new world's discovery.

Many of the original dishes that traveled with the immigrants to America were reformulated by these hungry new arrivals and it is these dishes with their strong regional roots and local innovations we will examine. Bowing to time and availability we will prepare several of the following: