Isn’t it amazing how a taste of something can bring you back to the past? One minute you are sitting enjoying a sweet treat at the end of a pizza and pasta dinner and in the next moment you are an eight year old child sitting in the Italian hall enjoying the same sweet treat with your Pap-Pap. It has been so long since you had that particular taste that you forgot that it even existed. In that same moment that you are tasting this long-forgotten delight, moments in your life you had also forgotten come flooding back – now full of emotion because they had been forgotten for so long.

When I was young, visiting my grandparents in Western Pennsylvania, on those occasions that we went out to eat it was usually either to Santoni’s or the Italian hall. My grandparents lived in a very small town in the hills so there really wasn’t a lot of choice when it came to dining out. However, dining options were ethnically diverse – the towns were full of immigrant families from all over Europe. Of course, there were lots of Italians. But there were also Poles, French, Greeks and Germans - it was kind of like a much scaled down version of New York City – all different ethnic groups living in their own neighborhoods, close to one another, sharing the foods of their home countries. Each of these immigrant groups had their “halls” - little gathering places where they served the foods of the various Mother countries, where people came to eat, relax and socialize. Whenever we went to the Italian hall or Santoni’s, one of the mom and pop Italian restaurants in town, my Pap would always order me Spumoni for dessert.

Spumoni is an Italian Ice cream treat that originates in Naples. However as I have learned, most Italian immigrants to America have been from the South of Italy. Therefore, most of what we think of as “Italian food” in America is mostly Southern Italian cuisine that has been adapted to the American kitchen. Then these dishes are served in all the Italian restaurants with perhaps some regional favorites from the owner’s family. Spumoni is no different – it is Napoletan however, it can be found in many Italian restaurants throughout North America. It usually is comprised of three different ice cream flavors – Pistachio, Chocolate and Strawberry that is swirled with maraschino cherries and pistachios and laced with rum. Many times it has layers of whipped cream as well. It is sweet and delicious – a symphony of flavors in the mouth. It was not recently, having had it as an adult again that I realized what that characteristic flavor was – the rum!

Recently I was having dinner at an Italian restaurant and while checking out the menu, I notice that they have Spumoni, a dessert I hadn’t thought about in years and I just had to have it, in honor of all those wonderful dinners spent with my Grandparents.  It was incredible to taste it again after such a long time The presentation was beautiful – the three layers lay out on the plate, big cherries poking out of it, sprinkled with powdered sugar! The taste was even better, during the first bite, everything about being at the Italian hall came back to me all these years later. Immediately I was brought back to that childhood feeling of being safe, secure, full belly, no worries too big to handle and I was again fascinated at how a taste can really bring you back in time. I am what I like to call a "professional foodie" so I understand how a taste or smell can take you back to a place you associate with that sensory perception, but it had been a long time since I had thought about Santoni’s or the Italian hall, and in that moment, it was all there like yesterday – the sights, the sounds, the smells, my grandparents, everything. I am really looking forward to unlocking other sensory triggers that I know are buried in there somewhere. Ah, the power of food!

Jenn DiPiazza

For more on Jenn DiPiazza visit her blog at:  www.leftoverqueen.com

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