Rediscovering my heritage

All my grandparents were Italian, my parents were called the "fist generation" since they were the children of immigrates. My fathers parents came from the north of Italy near Turin and Piacenza and my mothers parents from the same town about an hour south of Naples called Trendenara. As for food, I now realize how lucky I was having an Italian heritage, we ate really well. My grandfather Angelo Acccarino made his own wine from the grapes he grew that he brought from his hometown in Italy. We all drank wine (diluted with club soda or ginger ale) from a really young age. His wife and my grandmother, Christina Paolino Accarino spent her life in the kitchen, she loved to cook mostly from the fresh vegetables from Angelo's garden. I am convinced that Jim married me after he ate my grandmother Christina's cooking, ask him, he'll admit it. Pietro Conti and Florence Zanazzi Conti my fathers parents owned a Italian delicatessen in Bensonhurst Brooklyn so of course I had been exposed to the best that was imported from Italy from cheeses to meats to any speciality item you could imagine. I just found out my father would make the mozzarella for his parents store. Grandma Florence always made fresh pasta for holidays, it was too good to be true. Here in Senigallia there are a ton of restaurants but except for one that serves "kabobs" there is only Italian food. Jim and I have now samples about 6 different restaurants and I seriously do not know why anyone would want anything but Italian food. Anyone who knows me knows that food shopping in a supermarket is the last thing in a long list of domestic chores I do not enjoy. I am finding that going from small speciality shop to a farmers market I can deal with. Even better I love having the time to actually make something only bought hours before it is cooked. I am relearning and rediscovering my heritage, and if your Italian, food is a big part of it.