This work should remind us all of what we are working for in FIERI...
The Joy of Growing Up Italian
I was well into adulthood before I realized that I was an American. Of course, I had been born in America
and had lived there all of my life, but somehow it never occurred to me that just being a citizen of the
United States meant I was an American. Americans were people who ate peanut butter and jelly on
mushy white bread that came out of plastic packages. ME?? I was Italian.
For me ... as I am sure for most second-generation Italian-American children who grew up in the 40s or
50s, there was a definite distinction drawn between US and THEM. We were Italians. Everybody else –
the Irish, German, Polish, Jewish – they were the "MED-E-GONES." There were no hard feelings, just –
well – we were sure ours was the better way. For instance, we had a bread man, a coal man, an ice
man, a fruit and vegetable man, a watermelon man, and a fish man; we even had a man who sharpened
knives and scissors who came right to our homes, or at least right outside our homes. They were the
many peddlers who plied the Italian neighborhoods. We would wait for their call, their yell, their
individual distinctive sound. We knew them all, they knew us. Americans went to the stores for most of
their foods – what a waste.
Truly, I pitied their loss. They never knew the pleasure of waking up every morning to find a hot, crisp
loaf of Italian bread waiting behind the screen door. And instead of being able to climb on back of the
peddler's truck a couple of times a week just to hitch a ride, most of my "MED-E- GONE" friends had to
be satisfied going to the A&P. When it came to food, it always amazed me that my American friends or
classmates only ate turkey on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Or rather, that they only ate turkey, stuffing,
mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Now we Italians – we also had turkey, stuffing, mashed
potatoes and cranberry sauce, but – only after we had finished the antipasto, soup, lasagna, meatballs,
salad and whatever else Grandma thought might be appropriate for that particular holiday. This turkey
was usually accompanied by a roast of some kind (just in case somebody walked in who didn't like
turkey) and was followed by an assortment of fruits, nuts, pastries, cakes and, of course, homemade
cookies. No holiday was complete without some home baking, none of that store-bought stuff for us.
This is where you learned to eat a seven-course meal between Noon and 4:00 p.m, how to handle hot
chestnuts and put peach wedges in red wine. I truly believe Italians live a romance with food.
Speaking of food – Sunday was truly the big day of the week. That was the day you'd wake up to the
smell of garlic and onions frying in olive oil. As you laid in bed, you could hear the hiss as tomatoes were
dropped into the pan. Sunday we always had gravy (the "MED-E-GONES" called it "sauce") and
macaroni (they called it "pasta"). Sunday would not be Sunday without going to Mass. Of course, you
couldn't eat before Mass because you had to fast before receiving Communion. But, the good part was
we knew that when we got home, we'd find hot meatballs frying and nothing tastes better than newly-
fried meatballs and crisp bread dipped in a pot of gravy.
There was another difference between US and THEM. We had gardens, not just flower gardens, but
huge gardens where we grew tomatoes, tomatoes, and more tomatoes. We ate them, cooked them,
jarred them. Of course, we also grew peppers, basil, lettuce and squash. Everybody had a grapevine
and a fig tree, and in the fall everyone made homemade wine, lots of it. Of course, those gardens thrived
so because we also had something else it seemed our American friends didn't seem to have. We had a
Grandfather. It's not they didn't have grandfathers, it's just that they didn't live in the same house, or
nearby. They visited their grandfathers. We ate with ours, and God forbid we didn't see him at least once
a week. I can still remember my Grandfather telling me how he came to America as a young man "on
the boat." How the family lived in a rented tenement on Thompson St. in New York's "Little Italy" and
struggled to make ends meet; how he decided he didn't want his children, four sons and five daughters,
to grow up in that environment. All of this, of course, in his own version of Napolitano/English which I
soon learned to understand quite well.
So, when he saved enough, and I could never figure out how, he bought two houses in New Jersey. The
house in Hoboken and the house at Long Branch at the Jersey shore served as the family headquarters
for the next 40 years. I remember how he hated to leave, would rather sit by the window and watch his
garden grow and when he did leave for some special occasion, had to return as quickly as possible.
After all, "Nobody's watching the house." I also remember the holiday when all the relatives would
gather at my Grandfather's house and there'd be tables full of food and homemade wine and music.
Women in the kitchen, men in the living room, and kids, kids everywhere. I have a lot of cousins, first
and second. And my Grandfather, his fine moustache trimmed, would sit in the middle of it all surveying
his domain, proud of his family and how well his children had done.
He had achieved his goal in coming to America and to New Jersey and knew his children and their
children were achieving the same goals that were available to them in this country because they were
Italian Americans with that strong Italian work ethic. When my Grandfather died years ago at the age of
89, things began to change... Slowly at first. Family gatherings were fewer and something seemed to be
missing, although when we did get together, I always had the feeling he was there somehow. It was
understandable, of course, everyone now had families of their own and grandchildren of their
own.
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