A TASTE OF ITALY
Mario Matassa
Italians love to preserve. It seems that every day of the summer just takes them one step closer to the day when the whole family will gather in the back garden for the annual passata fête. It’s a big day on the family culinary calendar, one of those national events that speaks of childhood memories with nonno in the vegetable garden picking the ripest tomatoes, while nonna is at the stove hovering over a cauldron of gently simmering tomato sauce, mamma is diligently peeling a mountain of tomatoes with her closest friends, and papà is stood by a smouldering grill with a glass of wine in one hand and a spatula in the other.