KarunaNews Story

Grandma's cooking is what you'll get at Enoteca Maria. The Staten Island, New York, restaurant invites and employs real grandmothers from countries around the globe to cook their family recipes. When he began the restaurant 16 years ago, naming it in honor of his late mother, Joe Scaravella shared the culinary skills of Italian "nonnas," like his own. He has since expanded to feature other cultures, including recipes from Puerto Rico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Greece, and Hong Kong. "Coming off a very divisive period in history, it really helps to bring down those barriers in the same way music and art does," he said. "It helps you engage with another culture without even realizing it, so that your personal biases, whatever they may be, are not in the forefront anymore." Anyone can submit a family recipe to the virtual "Nonnas of the World Book," made up of entries from the public.