WHO is Marcella? La Marcella is named after my own mamma, the mother of my sister and me, born and raised in the beautiful Italy. She is the precious wife of her ‘Angelo’, our dad.
WHY Marcella? Because Marcella is the love, passion, caring, energy, and sun in our life. She is, and she has always been, the strong, positive pillar supporting our little family. Last but not least, she is a fantastic Italian cook! She got her cooking inspiration and ideas since she was a small child from another amazing cook, her mother Lucia. Nonna Lucia was able to teach her all the basic knowledge about Italian traditional cuisine from the South of Italy, Lecce (“the Florence of the South”). With passion and creativity, Marcella kept on trying and experimenting and refining recipes for us in the family, well, since ever, actually. I still remember the weekly routine of reading and commenting on one of the most popular Italian’s traditional magazine with her and my sister.
WHEN did it all start? The idea of the blog La Marcella came to my mind a few years ago when I first discovered what a ‘food blog’ was … such a strange concept for people like us used to cook for passion and fun, for family and friends. Yes, friends, as for Italians enjoying food, good food, is a part of our social life we cannot miss. We love cooking for friends, eating out with friends, commenting and sharing recipes about food with friends. This is, actually, one of the few topics any Italian can talk about without the risk of getting into a fight (let’s forget politics!).
Food, like music or sport, connects people, and it worked in our house for years, having my mum creating from scratch an amazing full dinner for ten people with very little notice! It was simple and so good that friends tended to come again and again, always to us, as the door was always open for them!
WHY this blog? This blog is my way to let other people outside Italy enjoy my mum Marcella’s knowledge, recipes, passion for the traditional Italian food. The leitmotivs of all her recipes are the flavor from the South of Italy (where she comes from, and where I grew up) together with the simplicity of ingredients.
I know, the world is already full of chefs, cooking blogs, shows on television, magazines!! Isn’t that too much? Well, maybe yes, perhaps not. Why? Because this blog is meant for people like you who want to learn about Italian traditional cooking with the tips to adapt recipes with the ingredients found locally.
Additionally, this blog will allow people from all over the world to comment and share their own experiences about a particular recipe. Isn’t this great?
“Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality. Dalai Lama”