Review of Crazy in the Kitchen: Foods, Feuds, and Forgiveness in an Italian American Family (Paperback)

I felt compelled to write this after reading the other reviews because I believe that a book should be judged in accordance with it's own intentions and not by what other people think it should have been. This book is not the typical happy-family-eating-meatballs memoir, nor is it a light, breezy, funny foodie memoir. It is an exquisitely-written, ultimately loving remembrance of a family in pain. It contains great insights into the Italian immigrants' experience-- and a sober, unromanticized look at "The "Old Country" conditions from which many fled in the early 20th century. This book is highly recommended for people struggling with their own family's past, anybody who appreciates beautiful prose and memoir/autobiography, or Italian Americans wanting to explore that part of their past. Ms. DeSalvo uses food as metaphor to great effect in conveying the texture of the immigrant family's experience.

Product Description
During Louise DeSalvo's childhood in 1950s New Jersey, the kitchen becomes the site for fierce generational battle. Louise's step-grandmother insists on recreating the domestic habits of her Southern Italian peasant upbringing, clashing with Louise's convenience-food-loving mother; Louise, meanwhile, dreams of cooking perfect fresh pasta in her own kitchen. But as Louise grows up to indulge in amazing food and travels to Italy herself, she arrives at a fuller and more compassionate picture of her own roots. And, in the process, she reveals that our image of the bounteous Italian American kitchen may exist in part to mask a sometimes painful history.

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