A restaurant in New York will not only send you down memory lane but also transport you to different countries with its specially created dishes from grandmothers around the world.
At Enoteca Maria, in Staten Island, they celebrate cultural diversity as nonnas (the Italian term for grandmothers) from different cultures whip up dishes with authentic recipes that have been passed down through the generations.
Several years ago, owner Jody Scaravella, 67, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, came up with the idea of opening his own restaurant as he wished to share the culinary culture of Italian grandmothers.
“She is the one who passed down to us her culture with, at its very heart, her culinary traditions,” Scaravella said.
Growing up, Scaravella remembers visiting the market with his nonna every day.
“She stopped at the vegetable shops and bit a peach or tasted a cherry, and if it [was] good she bought them, otherwise she spit it on the ground with a disgusted expression on her face,“ he said. ”I was amazed that nobody ever complained about it but after all, everybody there knew her.”
This experience led him to believe that his grandmother had been the repository of his family culture and identity.
“I found out that, like her, millions of grandmothers all over the world pass down their heritage to their grandchildren,” he said.
Being of Italian heritage, when the restaurant first opened, several Italian grandmothers from different Italian regions would cook their own special dishes on a rotating schedule.
When people from different cultures visited the cozy outlet and turned up to get a taste of authentic Italy, Scaravella decided to extend his winning formula to include women from across the globe, and thus, the “Nonnas of the World,” initiative was born in July 2015.
“It just seemed to make sense to celebrate every culture,” he told The Epoch Times.
Enoteca Maria now has two kitchens: one for the Italian nonnas, and another one that is used by ladies from other countries such as Peru, Trinidad, Argentina, Japan, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, and more. Around 30 women from different nationalities rotate through the kitchen.
These grandmothers, often emerge from the open kitchen of the restaurant and interact with diners.
“They have a great time and I think it’s really valuable for everybody,” Scaravella said.
When considering hiring someone to cook at his restaurant, Scaravella said he knows right away if the person is passionate about their food and culture. Together, they then work out a menu and discuss the ingredients that would be needed. For those ingredients that are hard to source, the women get them by themselves and are then reimbursed by the restaurant. They then schedule a day that the ladies can cook.
Currently, the restaurant is only open three days a week: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Although it’s usually packed, the nonnas don’t seem fazed.
“These ladies can cook in a commercial environment,” said Scaravella, who is always looking for new cultures to represent. He’s been approached many times by people who would like to franchise his idea.
“In fact,” he said, “it has of course been franchised without my permission. There’s a place in London that is starting to do Italian grandmothers and a lot of different people that see the value in the idea, and they’re running with it, and that’s fine.”
Scaravella enjoys what he does, and his customers relish the element of nostalgia.
“They love the idea of having these ladies in the kitchen and they love the food,” he said.
