SIAMO UNA FAMIGLIA
Ciao Cugini!
A Funke Family Connection Makes Pasta More Magical
Kirsten Keppel’s relatives in Abruzzo: “Nonna Elena,” Eugenia, Francesca Antenucci, and Roberto Capezzali taking a break from pasta-making.
While I knew the discussion of “Funke” with director Gab Taraboulsy would be fun and fulfilling, I never anticipated how the evening would echo the words of another famous Italian film director, Federico Fellini: “Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” It felt like magic to see Zoom squares and realize the people I love were all in the same Zoom room for one night. One name caused my heart to pound faster. My cousin Cristina and her 16-year-old son and budding pastaio, Stefano Cella de Dan, called from L’Aquila — at 2:00 a.m. local time.
“‘Food was second only to religion,’ my mother reminds me, especially when we share airspace with an artichoke, pasta, veal dish, or zeppole.”
Stefano plays tennis and lobs balls high like waves for his team, Tennis Club Area Sport. He also carries on the tradition of making pasta by hand, as he is growing up seeing four generations of his family do so every Christmas. When I was in L’Aquila in 2012, Stefano’s great-grandmother unknotted the mystery of gnocchi-making by placing my thumb in the middle of the cushion before folding the little dumplings. Turns out it’s not just how you knead, but also how you knot the dough for this nubby, chubby cousin of every other pasta. At age 43 and 4,505 miles on the other side of the Atlantic, I learned in Abruzzo a sleight-of-hand trick I had missed kneading dough with my great-aunts on flourstrewn formica tables in the Italian-American kitchens of Watervliet, New York.
“Food was second only to religion,” my mother reminds me, especially when we share airspace with an artichoke, pasta, veal dish, or zeppole. Seeing Stefano and Cristina with AMHS members and guests gave new depth to our motto, “Siamo una famiglia.” My smile increased in wattage once I knew family members on both sides of the sea were sharing this event in real time. A few generations ago, we would all have lived in the same village. Now the village is global, but thanks to technology like WhatsApp and Zoom, we come full circle via the virtual village to share experiences and create new bonds.
Generations after our ancestors emigrated from Italy to the United States, food and stories still connect us over the ocean. Cristina is the granddaughter of my grandfather’s first cousin, “Nonna Elena,” who celebrated her 98th birthday this May. Elena’s mother and my great-grandfather were sister and brother. Both immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century with five siblings. Several settled in Philadelphia. Others moved to upstate New York. Elena’s mother married and returned to Italy, where four generations of her descendants now live. Food is love in Italian families, and connection to food creates a common bond among people of many cultures. Handmade food holds the energy and emotion of those who make it. According to
Merriam-Webster.com, the word “emotion” comes from the Middle French émouvoir, “to stir up,” and from the Latin emovere, “to remove, displace,” from e + movere “to move.” 1 Emotion means “energy in motion.” 1 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emotion And what energy! I love seeing our next-gen pastaio use his hands to send the ball back over the net and measure double zero flour in the kitchen. “He could be the one who carries on our stories,” I tell his mother; “You never know.” My relatives in L’Aquila say that when they hear me speaking, they hear our family. When I look at them, I see our family. I love knowing that whether as AMHS videographer or cousin, I am passing on stories to the next generation. Who knows what technology will allow a hundred years from now? Cent’anni! ❚
Stefano Cella de Dan, a budding pastaio.