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Express Tribune
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Nonnas dish out more than just food
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.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
"It's magic": A sheep's head like nonna used to make
'My grandmother used to make that, and I was terrorized as a young child sitting at the table, seeing this big head—these big black eyes staring at me. It's not something that you ever forget.' That's Jody 'Joe' Scaravella describing capuzzelle di agnello, a traditional sheep's head dish, during a video interview. Scaravella is the owner of Enoteca Maria, the real-life Staten Island restaurant that inspired the new Netflix comedy 'Nonnas,' released last week. In 'Nonnas,' Vince Vaughn stars as a fictionalized Scaravella, who opens a restaurant that centers the food and lives of matriarchs. These women, often overlooked, are the kind of unsung culinary heroes who raised families with grit and grace, transforming humble ingredients into nourishing meals. In the film, a crew of Italian nonnas — played by Lorraine Bracco, Susan Sarandon, Talia Shire and Brenda Vaccaro — step into the kitchen, just like the real-life grandmothers who cook at Enoteca Maria every weekend. One of the film's funniest scenes features Roberta (Bracco) preparing capuzzelle, much to the horror of her fellow cooks. The enormous sheep's head stuns the kitchen, sparking gags due to its smell and sheer presence. But Roberta anchors the moment with something deeper: 'Capuzzelle is my identity,' she says. Her mother, raised in a poor Italian village, believed fiercely in using the whole animal —nothing wasted. The dish is rooted in cucina povera, or 'poor kitchen,' a tradition of resourceful, heart-forward cooking that stretches across Italy. Often cooked with breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs and wine, capuzzelle was (and is) a staple in many Italian and Italian-American homes. Scaravella says it's still one of the restaurant's most popular dishes. Why? Sometimes, he suspects, it's the novelty. But more often, it's something else. 'One day, a young guy came in and ordered it. He was sitting by himself,' Scaravella recalls. 'I asked him why, and he said, 'My dad used to love this. I just lost him. I wanted to get to know him better through the things he loved.' And that's magic.' At Enoteca Maria, food becomes a form of reverence. For those grieving, eating a beloved dish can become a bridge to memory. A spoonful, a smell — it can be enough to bring someone back to you, if only for a moment. Scaravella sees that magic at play every day. Capuzzelle, in particular, carries layers of meaning: respect for the animal, gratitude for survival and love made visible. 'It's a poverty-driven dish from Southern Italy,' he explains. 'Sometimes, people just didn't have enough money to buy a good cut of meat. So these throwaways were all offal that you were able to get for pennies and then feed your family.' He's drawn to dishes like this, born from necessity and made from the heart. So many cultures 'all use the same animals,' he says, 'but just prepare them with different spices.' That deep, connective power is central to both 'Nonnas' and Enoteca Maria. 'These ladies are the fabric that holds society together,' Scaravella says. 'They pass culture forward. When my grandmother passed away, my family fractured in some way, because every Sunday, we would get together and celebrate. So now this person is gone and somebody else in the family has to pick up that torch and carry it. And it's not an easy lift.' Scaravella founded the restaurant in grief, but it quickly became something bigger. He published a cookbook. He launched 'Nonnas in Training,' a series of cooking classes taught by grandmothers from around the world. They started with Italian grandmothers, but Scarvella soon realized it was about all matriarchs, whom he refers to as the 'original couriers' of a culture's cuisine. Now, each weekend, the restaurant features two new guest chefs: one recent pairing brought Oxana from Ukraine, who made potato dumplings and beef goulash, and Yumi from Japan, who served yakitori and eggplant dengaku. Enoteca Maria recently celebrated its 18th anniversary. Scaravella is already dreaming of what's next: a sequel film, another book, more ways to share the stories behind the recipes. He's often struck by just how deeply the restaurant resonates. 'There was this one moment,' he says, 'when a customer came over to me, looked me in the eye, and said, 'This is very important. Because this is real.' And the hairs on my neck stood up.' Watching 'Nonnas' has been surreal for him. 'The second time I saw it, my eyes filled up with tears,' he says. 'At the premiere, my girl kept passing me tissues. They just nailed it.' So while capuzzelle resonates for some, perhaps watching the movie will also make you wistful about your own family's favorite dishes — a savory, heady aroma that immediately brings you back to childhood family gatherings. And that's what it's all about. Nonnas is now streaming on Netflix
