Nonnas dish out more than just food

Express Tribune

14 hours ago

We adore our grandmothers. Despite their periodic crabbiness or quirks, we give them gifts and endearments, and love their waned and wispy presence in our photos of our special occasions. We love them to share their stories, their recipes, their tips, tricks and hacks.
The story of the film Nonnas on Netflix, which is about a handful of grandmothers, shows us that grandmothers are more or less the same, all over the world. Some live with us, some live nearby and some at a distance. They all need love, attention and care. They may have solid opinions, might have become stubborn and undiplomatic as seniors, but when they call their kids, the first questions they are asked is, 'Is everything okay?' Somehow the question should be allowed to move up a little in the conversation and not start the conversation. Even though younger family almost always expects seniors to call in a problematic situation, as it is assumed that they fell, broke a bone or two or lost something, but it is not always like that. It could be an
accomplishment or two that they might want to share.
The film Nonnas is inspired by a real-life story of a man called Jody Scaravella, who after losing his mother, opened a restaurant called Enoteca Maria on Staten Island, New York in 2007. Two decades later, the restaurant is still there, up and running. Directed by Stephen Chbosky and written by Liz Maccie, Nonnas is all about accomplishments of grandmothers. Old and rusty they may have become, but they are a treasure trove of ideas and experiences, [recipes in this particular case] that can be tapped into.
In the film, Joe (Vince Vaughn) who works in a warehouse, loses his mother and misses her so much that he finds comfort in creating her recipes or what his grandmother or nonna cooked for them when he was a little boy. Must have been that all over the world, the generation of grandmothers mostly weren't keen on writing recipes down, because they just knew them in their heads. My aunt, when she was alive and cooking, would randomly throw some spices in a bowl, using a spoon or her fingers, shake them around and smell them, and then chuck them in the bubbling pot. Today as she rests in heaven, she remains the epitome of culinary expertise in our family. It is said that she never told anyone a recipe truly, she always skipped at least one ingredient that was the secret to the flavour she achieved. Sadly, she took her secret ingredients to the grave.
Apologies for digressing, Joe had no record of recipes but he tried to recreate the recipes of the food his mother and grandmother created, as a way of honouring them. He believed that food is love and vice versa. On a trip to Staten Island, he stumbles on a restaurant for sale, and becomes fixated with the idea of buying that restaurant and getting random grandmothers to cook their family recipes there, just like his own late grandmother, since he couldn't hire chefs anyway with his limited funds. His friends discouraged him but he knew he had to try this out. This way he would honour his mother and his grandmother, who he named the restaurant after. To cook at Enoteca Maria, he advertises for grandmothers on Craigslist.
Joe's idea was novel, a motley crew of nonnas turned up. Each of them belonged to different Italian regions and cooked their special recipes from there. 'Grief is transformed into a haven, one spoonful at a time,' 'food with family family and friends will heal you,' are lines from the film that resonates universally.
Joe works hard at his business, the nonnas too, against all odds. They support each other, settle down with each other after initial issues. Vince Vaughn as Joe is ably supported by a strong ensemble of veteran actors that includes Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, and Talia Shire, who bring in charm and humour to the film.
As the film explores Italian-American culture through food and family, many viewers will appreciate the focus on cultural exchange and the preservation of family recipes. The film also emphasises the importance of holding onto tradition and reviving our ancestors through the things they pass down to us, whether it is culture, inheritance, or food. Like the dishes served by the real grandmothers at Enoteca Maria, or a deep plate of aloo gosht with succulent mutton, and tender potatoes in an aroma of cinnamon and fresh coriander, Nonnas has flavour, warmth and comfort. It is a film you can watch with family and get an endearing time out of it.
We all are connected to our grannies and they to their grannies by delicate threads of sentiments, feelings, curious stories, many of deep knowledge and wisdom, symbolic and traditional. We can remember and honour them through that treasure they have left for us. Their way of making biryani, eggs, or tea, it is pure, unbeatable, and undeniably present in our DNA. Maybe that is why when we miss someone who has passed on, we can heal ourselves through our connections to the past and each other. Often, when I miss my dad who left me a few years ago for his heavenly abode, I take a walk around Saddar, which was his happy place, where he lived in a flat above Ruby Jewellers, in the 50s. It heals.
Be warned that the film features stunning and mouth-watering visuals of Italian cuisine. So be ready for lots of food porn that we are all unashamedly addicted to. You can almost smell the aroma of garlic sizzling in olive oil, fresh basil, and sun-ripened tomatoes, platters of handmade tagliatelle, ribbons of pasta perfectly al dente, coated in a slow-simmered Bolognese sauce — deep, meaty, and rich with herbs, margherita pizza sliding onto the table, its blistered, wood-fired crust puffed and charred at the edges, bubbling with mozzarella di bufala, crushed San Marzano tomatoes, and glistening green basil leaves, steaming bowl of risotto ai funghi, creamy and infused with earthy porcini mushrooms and a drizzle of truffle oil, each spoonful melting on the tongue with buttery richness!
You might find it cheesy in the broadest sense of the word, cliché-ridden, formulaic and a tad predictable which is a given for films such as this one, but it connects, feeds, heals, comforts and titillates (the comforting and heartwarming experience it offers, settles well with us Pakistanis, most of all, as we love family, food, traditions and culture.