The Italian
Festival
by Jerry Guarino
The annual feast of San
Gennaro is held every September in New York. It
brings together thousands of Italian Americans
and others to sample fine food, wines and Italian
culture. Angela Migliore traveled to the festival
to enter one of the cooking competitions with her
specialty, lasagna.
The judges sampled lasagnas
from twenty entrants, many of whom were chefs in
New York Italian restaurants. You couldn’t
find a better sample of Italian cooking anywhere.
Angela was just a girl out of college, with no
professional cooking experience. The judges took
their time (over an hour) tasting all the
lasagnas. When they finished, one of them came to
the podium.
“There is something
special about Miss Migliore’s lasagna. It is
traditional, but it has some undefinable
ingredient that makes it stand out. It’s
bold, but not abrasive. Fully formed yet easy to
cut with a fork. The pork and other meats sit in
your mouth a little, allowing the savoring to
continue. You don’t want to put it down. We
must have the recipe.”
The judges conferred and
made their selection, pinning a blue ribbon on
Angela Migliore’s sweater. Congratulations
Miss. Your lasagna is the best of the festival
this year. We can’t give a reason why your
lasagna stood out from the rest of the
competition. It’s was just the best. The
first-place prize is a trip to Italy for you and
a friend.
“Thank you. It’s
an honor to present my recipe here. Since I was a
little girl, my parents and grandparents told me
about this festival and this recipe came from my
grandmother who was born in Napoli. They brought
me to the festival many times and I sampled great
food from so many cooks. I never thought my
cooking would compare. I’m very humble.”
A reporter from The Italian
News wondered too. He tried the lasagna. It was
good, very good, but not the best she had tasted.
“My grandmother’s lasagna is better
than this.” The reporter took samples from
the other contestants and brought them home for
examination.
Her colleagues at the paper
sampled all the lasagnas, a blind taste test and
awarded points for taste, appearance and
satisfaction. In the end, Angela’s lasagna
came in third, behind a grandmother from Long
Island and a chef from the city.
Meanwhile, Angela and her
grandmother were visiting Napoli, where her
family was from, on that prize trip. “Noni,
your recipe won. Why didn’t you ever enter
it at The Feast of San Gennaro?”
“Because my name is
Maria Mariani.”
“I don’t
understand Noni.”
“Piccola Mia. I’ll
explain it to you someday.”
The reporter was about to
publish her findings, but could not understand
how Angela’s entry won. “Maybe there is
some divine intervention going on here. Maybe
Angela is blessed from above.” Then it hit
her!
ANGELA is an anagram for
LASAGNA and MIGLIORE means BEST in Italian.
The
Italian Festival by Jerry Guarino
Copyright July, 2023 – All Rights Reserved
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