Mary Melfi e la ricchezza del ‘paese della miseria’
Mots-clés :
Memoir, Return, Conversation, Food, IdentityRésumé
The Italian-Canadian writer Mary Melfi is the author of a memoir entitled Italy Revisited: Conversations with My Mother. Published in Italy in 2012, this work represents an anthropological fresco of unexpected depth and richness. It presents conversations between a mother who emigrated to Canada, and a daughter who wants to know her own origins and the story of life in a village of Southern Italy. It brings back a disappeared world set in the context of emigrants searching for their own identity. The writer devotes many chapters to the culinary traditions of her home country. Homemade Bread, Pasta and Beans, the Pork Festival, the Olive Harvest, Tomatoes, Ricotta, the Wine Festival, Homemade Pasta, Easter Bread, Chicory and Biscuits are the titles of the chapters devoted to food, its value and the sense of nostalgia that always accompanies a bygone time now lost forever.