Learn how to make the traditional Neapolitan dessert and find out how the laborious process of making this sweet can change your perspective.
Pastiera is everything, especially this time of year. This Neapolitan wheat berry dessert dates back centuries. In your pie plate, under your fork, you find history, culture, and resurrection. It is the traditional Easter sweet and all the Italians you meet will insist you take a bite, or 500 bites, of their version during the spring.
Spitting into Plants
The year was 2004, and I was taking my grandparents on what would be their last trip to Italy, the motherland…
Find out how this Italian Mamma grapples with the guilt that comes with having a baby boy who rejects her food
“Eat, eat and get big,” said every Italian nonna since the beginning of time. Seriously, there were Italian cavewomen shoving spoons that they chiseled out of rock and that they filled with berries from the nearby tree into the mouths of their babes.
Italians feed their children with nutrition and deliciousness that is tantamount to pure love. My people were farm-to-table before that was a thing. Family dinner isn’t optional; it’s a guarantee like taxes and death.
So, when your Italian baby fails to gain weight and sometimes even rejects your food, you lose your identity, not to mention your…
Italy’s best party, known to others as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, is all about the food for Italian families.
Carnevale is the way Italians refer to the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. In normal times, the people in Venice take to the streets. They wear elegant and detailed masks, feast on decadent food, and toast the good life.
The next day, they go to church for a priest to place a cross of ashes on their forehead. It marks the start of Lent, the holy period Christians observe in anticipation of Easter Sunday. During Lent…
These are not the fried shellfish you’ll find on the boardwalk in the U.S., but they will make you swoon.
When you crave normalcy, you may find yourself turning to your food cravings. Or at least that is what my husband and I do. One day, my husband went to the local Korean market and found beautiful, already cleaned mussels in a transparent box. They called his name.
Immediately, the juicy looking mussels brought him back to his home of Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples in Italy. Seafood is ubiquitous. Imagine yourself on the beach with the sea breeze flowing through your hair. Beautiful people all around. A waiter comes by in his swim trunks, sunglasses, and…
Miscarriage remains a taboo subject, but we can share our stories to help people understand the distance between darkness and light.
There are bad days for your hometown, the country, or the world. They can sting you hard, especially if you are personally embroiled. Perhaps, you cry. Perhaps, you never forget. You find comfort in the shared suffering.
But then there are bad days that are yours and yours alone. You own them like the black dress in your closet. Like the dress, they fade over time, but the holes remain. You can try to sew them up, but usually…
Find out how you can ensure your kids avoid boredom regardless of whether they are locked in the house because of weather or the coronavirus crisis.
One of the facts of life is that kids’ cabin fever is real, and it can be really annoying to parents. We’ve all been there. “Mom, I’m booooooored,” says your kid with the heaviest sigh and an eye roll to boot.
Well, fear not, I have spent 10 months locked in the house with my husband and our two young sons, 9 and 1. And before that I spent years of fighting my own…
I am waxing nostalgic and sharing this love letter to my former home, the nation’s capital, in the wake of the Trump Capitol insurrection.
Some places will stay with you. The memories of the place stick to you like your DNA. Washington, D.C. has always been that place to me. As a bright-eyed 17-year-old girl, I went to the nation’s capital for the first time. A friend of mine and my teachers had recommended me, then the captain and MVP of my high school debate team, to be part of the National Young Leaders Conference. I don’t think that conference…
Find out how Italians celebrate the Epiphany on January 6 and learn all about the Italian Christmas witch.
Buona Befana! This is the greeting Italians share with one another on January 6, the feast of the Epiphany. It marks the end of the holiday season and recognizes the arrival of the three Magi to baby Jesus’ manger. As a religious feast, the Epiphany also is a celebration of the realization that Jesus was God incarnate and thus the Savior.
As a secular holiday, Italians usually have a special meal that includes sweets and bread with their loved ones. And the…
I spend much of my time talking to MBA students, administrators, and professors at the best business schools in the world. Discover their advice.
Businesspeople are the masters of job hunting and networking, which is why they have the best career tips. After all, business schools train students to build a long-term career that reaps professional and financial rewards. Much of this training happens in the career centers at top MBA programs, such as University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, London Business School, and more.
As a reporter for global business publications and…
Find out how I’m dealing (or not dealing) with the fact that the pandemic upended all my plans for my son’s first year of life
In November 2019, while I was at the hospital with my newborn son Pasquale, I held him in my arms and looked at his delicious little face. I whispered to him that I had big plans for his big brother Enzo and him. First, we would celebrate Thanksgiving with guests from Italy, who were coming to meet him. Then, we’d have a big party for his baptism and Christmas with our extended family in the…
Francesca Di Meglio
Francesca Di Meglio is a veteran reporter who has worked for Bloomberg Businessweek and Ladies’ Home Journal. Visit francescaandantonio.com for her blog.
