A Taste of the Past

Latest Episodes:

Episode 194: Preserving Traditional Italian Cuisine Feb 05, 2015

Show notes

Ciao! This week on a brand new episode of A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is chatting with one of America’s foremost authorities on Italian food, Julia della Croce. She is the author of over 13 cooking and travel books, notably “Italian Home Cooking: 125 Recipes to Comfort Your Soul” and “The Classic Italian Cookbook.” In the past decades, traditional Italian home cooking has seemingly gone to the wayside with dining in restaurants in Italy today being much different than traditional home cooking. True Italian food differs from region to region, says Julia, who emphasizes that this is imperative to the cuisine as a whole and that the food is truly tied to the land. After the break, Julia gives her thoughts on the ‘authenticity’ of Italian recipes as well as the cooking classes she leads. Tune in for a wonderful episode! This program has been brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“Italian cooking really is home cooking. The traditions I’m talking about began in the home, not in the restaurants. The restaurants just carried out the recipes found at home… The restaurant is a relatively new concept in Italy.” [4:19]

“Traditional Italian cooking is all about two things: ingredients, which are local… and the other thing is the skill of a homemaker who today would be a great grandmother.” [8:15]

“Here I am in this little town in Puglia that no one goes to, off the beaten path, and I can’t find parsley but I can find all the Pringles I want!” [17:30]

—Julia della Croce on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 193: Women Behind the Food Sections Jan 15, 2015

Show notes

This week on a brand new episode of A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio kicks off 2015 talking to Dr. Kimberly Wilmot Voss, author of “The Food Section: Newspaper Women and the Culinary Community.” Linda and Kim discuss how food blogs are everywhere today but that for generations, information and opinions about food were found in the food sections of newspapers in communities large and small. Until the early 1970s, these sections were housed in the women’s pages of newspapersâ€”where women could hold an authoritative voice. The food editorsâ€”often a mix of trained journalist and home economistâ€”reported on everything from nutrition news to features on the new chef in town. The food sections actually helped make James Beard and Julia Child household names as the editors wrote about their television appearances and reviewed their cookbooks. Tune in to this interesting episode to learn all about the evolution of food journalism and more! This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“The food sections in the 1950s and 1960s show that we had a more complex relationship with food than had previously been described.” [2:15]

“At the heart, many of these women were journalists… many were actually very poor cooks and some journalists didn’t want to be considered cooks.” [24:10]

—Dr. Kimberly Wilmot Voss on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 192: Chef Boyardee Dec 18, 2014

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio welcomes Anna Boiardi of the infamous Chef Boyardee empire. Anna is the granddaughter of Mario Boiardi, a man who along with his two brothers (including the chef himself, Hector Boiardi) launched a canned pasta empire that now pumps out 2.5 million cans of pasta a day. Anna gives Linda the story behind how the family business came to be, including the first supermarket to sell the Chef Boyardee sauce. Between timing, great product, and a little bit of luck, Anna’s family was shot into the food stratosphere and even contributed to the wartime effort, providing food for soldiers’ rations in World War II. After the break, Linda chats with Anna about her book “Delicious Memories: Recipes and Stories from the Chef Boyardee Family,” and she divulges that it was important to include the family stories and recipes as a way to preserve her rich family history. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“They were really introducing customers to Italian food. At the time, people didn’t even know the proper way to cook pasta.” [6:00]

“At the heart, Italian food is not really overly complicated food. It’s about really fresh ingredients, starting with good olive oil.” [26:00]

—Anna Boiardi on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 191: Eating Delancey: Jewish Food Memories Dec 11, 2014

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is delving into some delicious food memories, using theJewish cuisine on Delancey Street in New York City, as a guide. Welcoming Aaron Rezny, Jordan Schaps, Arthur Schwartz and Cara De Silva to the show, they are the authors and contributors to the book “Eating Delancey: A Celebration of Jewish Food.” Delancey Street conjures up an entire world of Yiddishkeit, or, “the quality of being Jewish; the Jewish way of life or its customs and practices.” Delancey, and the streets that cross it in the Lower East Sideâ€”Ludlow, Essex, Orchard, Rivington, and its “sister” street to the north, Houston Streetâ€”are the historical home of Jewish immigrants and thus a cradle of that unique Jewish experience. The group discusses how all the foods that were brought to America in the early 20th century by Jews during the great emigration from Europe came to the Lower East Side: knishes, bagels, lox, pastrami, whitefish, dill pickles, kasha, herring, egg creams, and much more. It is an area that continues to undergo rapid change but Eating Delancey hopes to capture forever the Jewish cuisine of the Lower East Side. Tune in to hear the book’s background details by those who know it best. This is a wonderfully informative and lively show! This program was brought to you by Whole Foods Market.

“Food is about the most powerful identity market that there is.” [16:50]

—Cara De Silva on A Taste of the Past

“My favorite memory of Ratner’s is seeing a table of six nuns!” [28:25]

—Jordan Schaps on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 190: Longevity Food Dec 04, 2014

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is headed to the Grecian Island of Ikaria where inhabitants seemingly forget to die! Chef, author, and Greek food expert Diane Kochilas joins Linda to talk about this amazing place via her new book, “Ikaria: Lessons on Food, Life, and Longevity from the Greek Island Where People Forget to Die.” Diane explains that Ikaria is mythical, beautiful, enigmatic and a place where residents live unaccountably long lives. Part cookbook, part travelogue, filled with gorgeous photography, stunning recipes, and interviews with locals, and packed with the often quirky secrets to a long life that Ikarians are spoon-fed at birth, this book is Diane’s ethno-culinary paean to this magical island. Tune in for a relaxing episode all about the culinary life on Ikaria and wonderful highlights from the book. This program was brought to you by Rolling Press.

“Their diet is the Mediterranean diet of fifty years ago. It’s completely reliant on very fresh, seasonal food – most of it completely local.” [10:10]

“We’re Greeks! We like to feed people!” [16:25]

—Diane Kochilas on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 189: Turkey, An American Story Nov 20, 2014

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is feeling festive, talking the history of the turkey with food historian Andrew Smith. Teaching food history at the New School in NYC, he is also the author of numerous books and hundreds of articles on food and history. Speaking on the the centerpiece of family Thanksgiving reunions, the turkey is a cultural symbol as well as a multi-billion dollar industry. As a bird, dinner, commodity, and national icon, the turkey has become as American as the bald eagle. Sitting down with Linda, Andrew discusses how this new world bird landed on the world’s tables starting with the bird’s origins and first recipes, before bringing up the topic of pickled turkey. After the break, Andrew explains how the turkey overcame the traditional goose holiday dinner, variations of stuffing throughout the years, and the preservation of heritage turkey breeds. Tune in for this timely episode! This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“Wild turkeys tend to taste very different depending on what they’ve consumed.” [13:45]

“Serving turkey [on Thanksgiving] did not become universal until the late nineteenth century, though it was certainly on the menu.” [26:20]

“In order to save the heritage turkeys you need to eat them.” [30:00]

—Andrew Smith on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 188: Brunch: A History Nov 13, 2014

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio welcomes Farha Ternikar, professor of sociology at Le Moyne College to talk about the history of every New Yorker’s favorite meal: brunch. Author of the book “Brunch: A History,” Farha explains that when Americans think of brunch, they typically think of Sunday mornings swelling into early afternoons; mimosas and bloody Marys; eggs Benedict and coffee cake; bacon and bagels; family and friends. Her book presents a modern history of brunch not only as a meal, but also as a cultural experience. Relying on diverse sources, from historic cookbooks to Twitter and television, “Brunch: A History” is a global and social history of the meal including brunch in the United States, Western Europe, South Asia and the Middle-East. Brunch takes us on a tour of a modern meal around the world. While brunch has become a modern meal of leisure, its history is far from restful; this meal’s past is both lively and fraught with tension. Here, Farha tells Linda of the gendered and class-based conflicts around this meal, and provides readers with an enlightening glimpse into the dining rooms, verandas, and kitchens where brunches were prepared, served, and enjoyed. This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

“Brunch is a pretty modern meal as we think of it – it wasn’t really invented until the 1890s.” [3:40]

“I think in the 20s and 30s it was still a meal of the elite.” [8:35]

—Farha Ternikar on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 187: 187 Nov 06, 2014

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio welcomes one of Greece’s foremost cooking authorities, Aglaia Kremezi to the show. Author of the new book, “Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts,” she lives on the island of Kea, Greece, and also runs a cooking school there. Talking to Linda about the meaning of “nose to tail” vegetarian cooking, Aglaia explains that when she was growing up in Greece, no aspect of food was wasted. Also inspired from her many travels around Greece and the surrounding countries, today she uncovers the history and evolution of many nearly forgotten Mediterranean recipes. Tune in to hear wonderful highlights from the new recipe book, “Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts,” and to learn to make the most with the ingredients around. This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

“These are recipes that I grew up eating, basically.” [2:24]

“One of the most expensive ingredients [in Greece] is wood to burn in the oven because there are no forests and just a few shrubs.” [10:08]

—Aglaia Kremezi on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 186: Mexico’s Culinary Heritage Oct 30, 2014

Show notes

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined by Margarita Carrillo Arronte to discuss the traditional foods for Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations as well as her research of some of Mexico’s historical forgotten recipes, plus where they originated from. Margarita is a teacher, chef, cookbook author, entrepreneur, and culinary activist who has spent her life researching, teaching and cooking Mexican cuisine. She is also the author of “Mexico: The Cookbook,” published by Phaidon, which is truly an encyclopedia of the country’s rich history of food. Tune in to hear Margarita’s take on Mexico’s regional and culinary heritage. This program was brought to you by Whole Foods Market.

Photos from: Fiamma Piacentini-Huff & Copetevic

“The book is just the tip of the iceberg. Mexico has such a huge wealth in its cuisine.” [9:13}

“Mexican traditional authentic cuisine is very complex, it’s nourishing, and it’s healthy.” [16:54]

—Margarita Carrillo Arronte on A Taste of the Past

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Episode 185: Baby Food: A Cultural History Oct 16, 2014

Show notes

Were you a Gerber baby? This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is talking the history of baby food with Amy Bentley, Food Historian and Associate Professor of Food Studies at New York University. She is also the author of the book, Inventing Baby Food: Taste, Health, and the Industrialization of the American Diet. Tune in to hear all about the past, present, and future of this family necessity. This program was brought to you by Whole Foods Market.

“At some point 90% of babies were being fed commercial baby food.” [16:35]

—Amy Bentley on A Taste of the Past

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