92 years ago, my 8 year old great-grandfather and his parents boarded a boat crowded with fellow Italians trying to make it to America. They settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts and brought  very little with them.  When they made it to the states, they had to work hard. They were poor and worked whatever jobs they could get. However, what they brought with them was Italian culture. In Italy, they value food as one of the highest parts of their culture, and my family took that with them. My family loved to cook, and that has remained true to this day. Almost all Italian dishes contain a tomato based red sauce. The recipe for the sauce that was brought over from Italy has stayed in my family and is cooked at every family function. Every member of the family who can hold a pan knows how to make “the sauce.” Walking in to my aunt’s house and smelling the salt pork being sauteed as my aunts and grandmother all crowded in the kitchen is one of my earliest memories. Another memory from my childhood is waking up early on a Sunday morning and helping my dad prepare the sauce that took all day to be ready. My sisters and I would wait for when my dad was not looking to sneak dunks of fresh bread in the pot for a taste. The sauce is a staple of my Italian culture and I hope that I, one day, will be able to teach my children how to make it. 

– MC

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more