About our 'familia'

I grew up Italian in New York. Which for me means food was and always will be an important part of my life. I learned to cook alongside the greatest cooks I knew — my mom, nanny and gran-gran. Never following recipes, always adding a little of this a little of that mixed with a whole lot of love resulted in a whole lot of flavor. Fresh basil, tomatoes, zucchini and mint were always overruning our patio gardens.

Growing up Italian, also meant big Sunday dinners where the WHOLE family gathered to eat macaroni with meatballs, sausage and brasciole in gravy. It took years for me learn to interchange “sauce” for gravy and “pasta” for macaroni. I still happliy mispronounce words like mozzarella (moza-dell); basil/basilico (ba-zil-lee-go); cavatelli (gavadeal), and calamari(ga-la-ma).

Now a Dad living in Florida, I wanted to share this experience with my daughter. Sundays are still the day our family gathers for a dinner albeit with a twist. Inspired by Iron Chef, Chopped and Top Chef, three generations of our family gather in the kitchen to prepare competing dishes that are plated, photographed, judged and ultimately enjoyed!

For almost two years we have posted our ‘foodfights’ on this blog. Additionally, we started posting “Leftover Makeovers” for the budget conscious and a new feature “Family Meals Worth Fightin’ For” is our way of honoring traditional family favorites.

Hope you enjoy reading this blog and consider challenging your family to a day of fun away from the TV, creating memories and enjoying a home cooked meal.

–– Jim

Jim - Visioneer for a Fortune 100 company and publisher of Our Family Foodfight.

Cassie – 8th-grader currently enrolled in a pre-med program and enjoys fencing.

“Nana” the matriarch of our family and self-proclaimed culinista, publishes – Foodalogue a blog about food & travel.