History & Culture Who is the woman pictured on the package insert?
This is Grandmother Giulia (pronounced “Julia”). She came to America in the late 1800’s from a very rural part of Calabria, Italy. The Porta Mangiare recipes and mixes are based on her original recipes brought from her home. Where did these recipes come from? They’re adapted from Grandma Giulia’s original recipes. She came to America in the late 1800’s as a 17 year old newlywed. Before leaving Italy, she had never even seen a house that had electricity. Landing in New York harbor, the “New World” was something like a different planet for most of the immigrants. The most important things that she brought with her were her family’s recipes that were typical of this region of Southern Italy. For years, we enjoyed her cooking on Sundays and holidays. As we showed an interest in cooking, little by little she let her secrets out. Most of the ingredients were purchased from neighborhood stores or street vendors in our highly ethnic part of town. For a glimpse of what it was like, read this st
