I have always loved spaghetti. I ask for spaghetti at least once a week for dinner. When I was 2, I would help my father, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco, in the kitchen. I learned how to make spaghetti with his help. I was his assistant. My father learned how to cook from his grandma, Nina. He is now teaching me some of the recipes he learned from his grandma, so the recipes don't end with my father. I was with my father during the day while my mom worked and then my mom would come home and my dad would go to school. He would make beautiful dishes at school and bring them home for us to eat. We were very lucky. When I was around 5, I got a chef’s outfit to look like a real chef, and I was really happy and motivated to learn more recipes. I started to make meals on my own. I learned different recipes from different countries. I learned how to bake from my mom. I am truly grateful to my parents for teaching me wonderful things as a young child. When my dad was still a chef, I would go to his work and see how passionate he was about cooking. Spaghetti is said to have been invented in China. In Italy, pasta was made from hard wheat and shaped into long strands. The tomato sauce of the pasta appeared for the first time in 1790. Since then wonderful food has been created and many recipes are passed down from generation to generation like my great grandma's garlic spaghetti. This one does not have tomatoes at all, just lots of garlic, breadcrumbs, and parsley. 

– Sophia Salmeri

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant