The Italian Daughter’s Cookbook
Author Cathy Coluccio Fazzolari
Photographer Daniel Paterna

Had this been fictionalized, and if it had taken place in my house in the 1970s,my mother and especially my grandmother, knowing I was creatively inclined, would have suggested that I help Mrs. Coluccio create a cookbook.

It would have made a good story back in the day in Brooklyn and would have been proposed to me something like: “Daniel, now that you’re in art school, why don’t you help Mrs. Coluccio’s daughter make a book? You’d make her family so happy.”

Although Cathy and I grew up just blocks apart, we had never met until 2019. She was raised by a mother who, like mine, taught her the value of a humble, daily way of life. Little did either of us know then the impact our respective families’ heritage would have on us.

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