Rosemary and Bitter Oranges: Growing Up in a Tuscan Kitchen

`Rosemary and Bitter Oranges' is a memoir of a contemporary writer's childhood, mostly around the age of eight years old, in the house of her grandparents (Nonna and Nonno), parents, and two siblings. The house is that of a pre-World War II upper middle class family of Livorno, in Tuscany, near the Tyrrhean seacoast. The time is the late 1950s, when the family has restored some of its lost wealth and position to the grandfather while father is a lieutenant and teacher in the nearby Italian naval academy.The central character in the child's life is neither Mamma nor Nonna, but the cook and housekeeper, Emilia, who fits in every way the stereotype of a middle-aged Italian housekeeper. The first and most fascinating culinary memory in the story is the difference between the cuisine of the household eaten at the luncheon and dinner tables, and the cuisine that the housekeeper makes for herself and eats in the kitchen. The family's meal is described as almost entirely white, as if to avoid a mismatch with the custom Belgian white linen on the table. In contrast, Emilia's meals are a riot of reds and greens, and represent a major discovery for eight year old Patrizia.Like Gennaro Contaldo's stories of his Campagnia childhood in the cookbook `Passione', and unlike some adult and second hand impressions of Italy, the descriptions of impressions, experiences, and memories are so strong, you can practically smell the starch in the linen and feel the polished brass and the cool tiles in the courtyard. There may be much metaphor in saying this, but it gives one the sense of how vivid and genuine the word pictures come across to the reader.Unlike Patricia Volk's memoir `Stuffed' and Ruth Reichl's first memoir volume, `Tender at the Bone', there is not a very large cast of well painted characters filling these pages. All the aunts and uncles and grandparents and parents and siblings fill pretty much the roles expected of them for the little girl of the author's memories. Since this is a memoir of a culinary writer, it has, like Reichl's two volumes, a number of recipes within each chapter which are more like photographs used to illustrate the narrative rather than a serious source of culinary material. My most interesting find was the recipe for Emilia's marinara sauce which is almost identical to Mario Batali's simple sauce published in all his books, which includes carrots to sweeten the tart tomatoes. This is perfectly fitting, as Mario acquired his authentic Italian cuisine in Emilia-Romagna, just a few miles from the border with Toscana (Tuscany).Another fascinating resonance with Mario Batali's is the description of Emilia at the great central open-air market in central Livorno. Batali constantly states that every Italian housewife believes it is her god given right to get the very best piece of meat or vegetable available that day. Judging from Ms. Chen's description of Emilia's tactics at the meat counter, this rather benign Batali picture doesn't even

Always on the lookout for eloquent voices on Italian food and life, I noticed a new release entitled "Rosemary and Bitter Oranges" by Patrizia Chen. Subtitled "Growing Up in a Tuscan Kitchen," the book piqued my interest on several levels. Rosemary and bitter oranges are strong ingredients, impossible for a cook to ignore. On the cover, a sepia snapshot of a pigtailed girl in a proper '50s cotton dress and sensible shoes smiled sweetly in a sun-dappled garden. The name Patrizia is certainly Italian, I thought, but "Chen" sounds Chinese. I was curious.Patrizia was born just a few years after the end of WWII and grew up in a stately peach-colored home on Via Roma in the heart of Livorno, Tuscany's major port. Only a few years earlier, the large home had, of necessity, been abandoned by her family and had endured the abuse of occupying German soldiers. Patrizia lived with her parents, grandparents, brother, two sisters, and the family cook Emilia. The tension that existed between the culinary dictums of the patriarch Nonno GianPaolo and the talents of the cook Emilia play a central theme of the story and mirror Patrizia's personal journey from a well-bred Italian convent schoolgirl to an international journalist married to a Chinese American living in Manhattan. Of her grandfather's table, Patrizia recalls, "The food was invariably white?uniformly white?and bland. Many souffleés, lots of sformati (timbales), paste al gratin, and beautiful fish?maybe a merluzzo (a small Mediterranean cod), steamed to perfection, with a whisper of extra-virgin olive oil. Food was judged by the same standard as fashion: spiciness was as vulgar as a skintight dress."Of Emilia's kitchen, she recalls, "One day as I passed through the kitchen after playing in the garden, my senses were suddenly awakened, stirred by a vivid aroma that I had never experienced at the table with my family. Emilia was eating the meal she had prepared for herself. It was an explosion of colors: vermillion tomatoes, green basilico and parsley, and contrasting black pepper dots. And the smell! Pungent, strong, and exotic enough to stop me, and my seven-year-old nose, in my tracks."After Emilia shares a sample with Patrizia, both lives are changed. Emilia teaches Patrizia to cook, and a special bond develops. "Now I knew that life?real life?happened behind the kitchen doors and not in the subdued, elegant atmosphere of my grandparents' dining room."Seasoning the story are recollections of chickpea pancakes, sugar-coated doughnuts, chocolate ricotta and other comforting childhood snacks. Recipes for the signature Livorno dish cacciucco (seafood soup), minestrone, semolina gnocchi, chicken stew, coffee zabione and more are woven into the text. And black-and-white family photographs take us immediately back to postwar Italy.Strong support characters are important to any good narrative and Patrizia supplies them. Her Mamma's bitter orange marmelade production becomes worthy of a minor opera. Her Nonna

I loved this book I could not stop reading it even when I was very busy finishing a deadline work... It is so naturaly and beautifuly written... Parizia Chen will go far and I am sure all her books will be read with such a pleasure.Thanks for this delicious treat... with all my cogratulations to Patrizia Chen.Virginia C Corm.

The author, Patrizia Chen, shares her mesmerizing Tuscan childhood during the 1950's with us, and immediately the reader is immersed in a glorious world of food, family and treasured traditions. I thank her for allowing us to be transported into her culinary world, and her rich family history. The words "taste", "smell" and "savor" will forever hold a new meaning in my heart. Through her eloquent and captivating language each page has a distinct taste and a unique spiciness. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who wants to laugh, cry and dream. And the family recipe's she shares are fantastic! So easy to make!