Preface

My mother grew up on a farm in the Midwest during the Great Depression. I think she was haunted all of her life about never quite having enough. She wasn’t necessarily frugal, but she never wasted a thing. All the extra fruits and vegetables from our garden were put up in cans. Every empty jar was reused. Leftovers found a place of honor on the next day’s table.

I inherited this tendency, it seems. I hate throwing away anything that can be used again, whether it is food, the odd screw or nail, or products that can be recycled. I humbly submit that I am an expert at creating something from nothing, whether it is a craft project or a dinner made with bits of leftovers and an egg.

This attitude was reinforced when I moved to Tuscany; I felt as if I were reborn into the mentality of no waste. Here, so many people still remember the dire poverty of the times before, during, and just after World War II. My friends and neighbors were not impressed with my jars of jam in summer; rather, they raised their eyebrows at the sight of any fruit left on the ground. Any conversation about the traditional dishes here eventually turns into stories and remembrances of how precious each bread crumb was in the past.

Living in Tuscany has also helped me understand how simple dishes have earned a permanent place in today’s cuisine by their reliance on fresh and seasonal local ingredients, foods foraged from the land, and inexpensive cuts of meat. These are the tenets for good food in hard times. I hope they will serve you as well.