This book contains many of the recipes from Maierato that my mamma and many other Maieratani learned from their mothers and prepared for their families over the years.

After World War II many Italians from the town of Maierato in Calabria Italy set sail for the American East Coast, in hope of finding work to provide for a better life for their families, as Southern Italy had been quite impoverished at the time. In America the Maieratani prospered and raised their families with the goals that their children would be far more educated and not have to endure in their adult lives the hardships that they themselves had endured in Maierato. They brought many traditions and customs to America. These customs and traditions were centered on family and food played a major role. Recorded on these pages are many of the recipes from Maierato that my mamma and many other Maieratani learned from their mothers and prepared for their families over the years.

Phil Scolieri is a business Executive raised in an Italian immigrant home surrounded by the sights and smells of his mamma’s unique southern Italian (Calabria) peasant cooking. Eleonora (Mamma) Scolieri and all the Italian mammas have been making these dishes since the days they first arrived from the old country. This book represents and evokes for Phil and all those that were raised like him those wonderful memories.