Elodia takes us to an era when the old timers, those born in Italy but living in America, grew figs in their backyards and made wine in their basements, a time when her mother made pasta by hand on the kitchen table and picked fresh herbs from the kitchen garden to create traditional, aromatic, and moth-watering meals.

Here you will find her tips on how to cook a rich man's dish on a poor man's pocket, and her time-saving shortcuts for making traditional Italian fare quickly, so that you can enjoy the taste of the Old World while keeping up with the fast pace of the New. Elodia shares her secrets here, including her wisdom about the hand of the cook, the crucial ingredient treasured in Old Italy that makes the difference between passable food preparation and truly great cooking.

There are surprises here for the health conscious, too. The cuisine that her parents brought with them from the Old Country was centered around fresh fruits and vegetables that grew in their region of southern Italy, and around the abundant seafood available there. It is no wonder that the Mediterranean diet that her family has enjoyed for generations is now rapidly becoming famous for its ability to sustain good health!