Fabio Viviani - Connnecting with Tradition

Over the summer, when I'm not teaching (or moving, for that matter), I tend to watch more television than I do during the year. Last summer I begin watching a show on ABC called "The Chew" which featured some chefs whose recipes I enjoy. They talk about food and cook food - both things I love to do.

This summer I was watching and a guy named Fabio Viviani was on the program a few times. He is an Italian from Tuscany who competed on Top Chef (which I don't usually watch because they are not making food that is quick to make or with ingredients that are typically on the grocery list) and just opened a restaurant in Chicago called Siena Tavern which looks amazing!

I noticed a tweet earlier this week ( @FabioViviani ) that he was going to be at a local Mariano's Market doing a cooking demonstration for Bertolli Olive Oils. Well, I couldn't pass that up!

Turns out, Fabio is as funny in person as he is on tv and his passion for food is evident. He loves what he is doing and seems deeply committed to making cooking a part of the story. After all, in Italy food is at the gathering but not necessarily the point of the gathering. Italians celebrate with food. It emphasizes the story and the memory. If you think about your favorite meals or restaurants, they are probably your favorite because of something that happened while eating that particular dish or in that particular location.

Fabio's new book is all about the recipes he grew up with. He says they are the 300 year old recipes that his nonna passed on to him and that he is passing on to the reader. It is about tradition, simplicity and eating. Below is a story about his nonna and how making pasta is a bit different when you have a food processor. (His vision is for people to hand make pasta every week and not buy the store-bought stuff. So easy with the processor and pasta machine! It took him less than 40 minutes to make a sauce and the pasta...with lots of extra talk time in the middle.)

There are a lot of things that might ring true in that story, but the reality is, I don't remember my grandmothers ever cooking. My dad's mom tended to let me aunt do most of the work. And when with my Maternal Grandma, I have more memories of eating out or at "the Club" in their neighborhood than I do of her cooking. Although, we had a lot of great lunches with deli meat and chips and soda!

I know that from my mom's stories, she had the experiences that Fabio had in his Italian house. She describes stories of her grandma's cooking, ravioli especially. Even today she values that recipe and the meat sauce recipe that was passed on to her. I love the thought of blessing the food others will eat with your time and patience. I just pain love when people share a meal around a hom-ecooked meal. Living by myself, I almost never get to experience that.

At any rate, it was great to learn a thing or to from Fabio on Saturday. I'll continue to follow his internet "show" and Email newsletter, Chow Ciao. Hopefully he'll appear on the Chew a few more times. And I'll have to check out Siena Tavern! It was a joy to meet him. (I am glad I wore my Italian t-shirt for the occasion.)

Enjoy your weekend everyone. Buon Appetito!

Making Pasta By Hand

Fabio Viviani & I