On May 18th my grandma Elda Cristini turned 102. I’ve been lucky to spend a lot of time with her over the last year, but this birthday felt special as I recently beat a cancer diagnosis, and she a nasty Covid infection. There was a lot to celebrate together as it was also the first time I had been able to see her in person since she had received the finished version of Heart-Shaped Tomatoes, the cookbook I wrote about her.
To mark the occasion, I decided to interview Elda and ask her about cooking and what it means to her. As always, she didn’t disappoint.
I thought about including subtitles but decided not to. I love the way my grandma speaks English and feel like her grasp of the language never fails to allow her to get her point across if you’re listening closely. So listen closely! I think she has some beautiful thoughts to share.
My good friend Andrew Meriwether, an incredibly talented audio producer, created the script. Here’s a link to his website.
Heart-Shaped Tomatoes © Dimitri Staszewski and Madelyn Wigle