A taste of Italy
Local family shares generations-old recipes
The smells of fresh pasta, basil, pies and other Italian fare emanate from the Di Lorenzo household most nights — no matter who is at the dinner table or not. h Although Daniela Di Lorenzo’s four children are all in their 20s and living on their own, she still makes homemade meals, complete with dessert, nearly every day for herself and her husband, Carlo, reminiscent of their native land of Italy. h Sometimes lucky neighbors get leftovers — or her oldest or youngest child, who live nearby, will stop by for dinner with friends. (They, too, are sent home with to-go containers.) h “It’s just what we do,” said Daniela Di Lorenzo, 57, of New Albany. “We bake every day. We eat pasta every day.”
Now, she wants to bring those smells and her favorite Italian recipes, many of which have been passed down from generations of her and her husband’s families, to the homes of others.
With the help of two of her daughters — and the rest of the family as tastetesters — Di Lorenzo self-published “The Pasta of Columbus, Pursuit of Happiness” last month and is selling copies to raise money for the New Albany Food Pantry.
A pandemic project, the cookbook was born out of the boredom the shutdown brought the Di Lorenzo family and the fact that the eldest daughter, Cristina, 26, moved back in with her parents for 18 months during that time.
(The Di Lorenzo children are Mario, 28, Cristina, Francesca, 24, and Valentina, 20.)
“I came home in April 2020, and moved back to Chicago in October of 2021,” said Cristina, who works as an auditor. “I truly thought I’d be home for a week and a half, but it turned into an amazing year and a half.”
Once she realized she’d be back in central Ohio longer than expected, she began helping her mother more and more in the kitchen.
Then, the pair began experimenting — Cristina with her pasta shapes and Daniela with pizza crusts.
Cristina recalled with laughter the one day her mother made her sample eight different pizzas in between her work calls.
Her older brother Mario and younger sister Valentina (Francesca is a professional tennis player in Florida) would come over regularly to try the foods, too.
“It became a fun way to pass the time,” Cristina said, adding that they’d curate special menus for weekend dinners.
Then the mother-daughter duo took their pandemic culinary efforts to a new level when Cristina received a pasta maker for Christmas and the family decided to make Italian food gift baskets for friends.
“We were calling our aunts and grandmas (in Italy),” Cristina continued. “I was learning what my mom’s favorite recipes were and we were going up the generations. I had eaten my grandparents’ food but maybe not my great-grandparents’ food. There are stories that come with each dish.”
The family started the Instagram page @pastaofcolumbus at the beginning of the year to document their food adventures.
When it became apparent that Cristina would be moving back to Chicago, the family brainstormed how they might commemorate this special time in the kitchen and a cookbook seemed like a great way to do that.
The publication features 173 beloved recipes — with about half savory and the other sweet — ranging from gnocchi di ricotta to the Nutella-filled Occhi di Bue (Eye of the Cow cookies) to Lasagne alla Bolognese with “pink sauce,” Daniela’s most-requested dish by family and friends.
The book also details seven different pasta dough recipes (including a glutenfree version), tips for making pizza crust and advice on how to best preserve basil.
Roughly 85% of the recipes come from grandparents and great-grandparents, said Valentina, an Ohio State University student.
“They’re generational,” Valentina said. “We had a hard time getting them on paper, because no one knew the measurements. They’d say, ‘Add just a little bit of butter’ or I’d ask how long should I stir it and they’d tell me, ‘Until it looks right.’”
Valentina and Cristina edited the cookbook several times — and along with their mother, they tested and retested dishes — to make sure recipes got written down correctly.
Still, there are instances in the publication where phrases such as “tons of Parmesan” or a “small glass of” are used.
Daniela said there is plenty of room for experimentation and interpretation in the recipes for people to find what they like.
“This is not the Bible of cookbooks,” said Daniela, who, like her husband grew up in Salerno, Italy, near Naples, before the couple moved to the United States in 1991. “We gave you what real carbonara is, but if you don’t like eggs, change it.”
However, she whispers with a chuckle, “Don’t call that carbonara, then.”
Other recipes in the book come from friends or other Italian chefs she’s more recently befriended on Instagram.
Daniela said she included “Pursuit of Happiness” in the title, because that’s what cooking is for her: the process of figuring out how to make delicious food for the ones she loves, and at times, even strangers.
“Food is storytelling,” Daniela said. “It’s building relationships. Try to do the journey and try to do it with someone else.”
Cristina said that she’s grateful for the time she and her mother got to spend in aprons, stirring pots and mixing dough during the pandemic. Not only does the family now have a recorded edible history of their family tree of sorts, but they’re also able to share these beloved Italian traditions with others.
Plus, now when Cristina gets homesick for her mother’s cooking, she has a cure.
“I do miss it — like those eight pizzas mom made one day — but now I have the cookbook to help,” she said. “I’m excited to have my friends over and cook for them.”
To purchase a copy of “The Pasta of Columbus, Pursuit of Happiness” for $50, visit the @pastaofcolumbus Instagram page or mail a check for $50 to Daniela Di Lorenzo, 5195 Hampsted Village Center Way, New Albany, OH 43054-8331. award@dispatch.com @Allisonaward