Nonna Elda Cooks
Nonna Elda is not your average cooking influencer.She doesn’t own a potato peeler, and her system of measurement involves espresso spoons. Although she has sometimes imagined what her life might have been if she hadn’t grown up in the shadow of WWII, if she had been allowed to go to school instead of working the farm, if she hadn’t been married off as a teenager…she never imagined becoming famous for her cooking at the age of 82. Now she gets recognized in the grocery store, and she is delighted.
Nonna was born during the war, the seventh child of twelve on the family farm in the Ciociaria region, south of Rome. The term “la ciociaria” refers to a kind of footwear that the shepherds used for lack of better shoes. The people from the region speak a distinct dialect and have their own culinary traditions, which Nonna learned as a child from her own grandmother Laura, and that I have been learning from her since I was a child myself.
Nonna came to Canada with her husband and children in the 1960’s, and worked in various factories, and later in a seniors’ home as a caretaker. Providing for her family on a limited income meant making the most of every dollar at the grocery store and planning ahead. Canning tomatoes, growing her own produce, raising chickens in the backyard in the middle of Toronto, Nonna did whatever she had to, to make sure her cantina was stocked with delicious homemade food for her family, friends and neighbours (because there’s always space at Nonna’s table for someone with a good appetite).
It is her hope that she can teach other people to feel more confident in working with their families to create delicious meals and memories together, even if they’re on a budget. It’s never too early, or too late, to start learning how to feed yourself and those you love.
Nonna Elda Cooks 