Lets keep our tasty Italian traditions alive

Green for Nonno’s garden, white for the tablecloth that Nonna whips out on “good occasions only” and red for the sauce and pig days that fill the shed with good food and even better company. That’s not really what the Italian flag symbolises, but for Italian-Australians living in Harvey, Waroona and Brunswick, or “little Italy” as the region is sometimes dubbed, I bet it’s not far off. Since the wave of Italian migration into the region after World War II, migrant families have vowed to keep their traditions alive. Many still make their own tomato sauce, homemade Italian sausages and other delicacies such as melanzane or preserved eggplant. In summer the shed is full of sauce bottles and in winter, sausages hang from the roof while wide-eyed grandchildren wait for them to dry. Trying to track down original recipes can be challenging. There often isn’t a written guide on how to replicate the secrets cradled by Nonna and Nonno. The craft is passed on through the family and kept alive in a quest to protect our culture. It’s important that my generation steps up and learns the recipes and traditions to ensure they are not forgotten. It’s our turn to accept the baton and carry on. We can’t afford to lose the traditions our ancestors, who were generational thinkers, fought so hard to protect. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty — the feast will be worth it in the end.