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Barbara Morini grew up in a small town in northern Italy, then lived for years in Rome and Milan. So when she emigrated here in 2016, she found Jersey Italian food to be quite…well, foreign. Case in point: spaghetti and meatballs. Whoever heard of such a thing? And when people started asking her about the Feast of the Seven Fishes, traditionally se...

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Light’s Bakery & Coffeeshop is in new hands, passing the reins over to a new owner, keeping the long-time staple bakery in Elmira (NY) going. Finding someone in the community to keep the business going was important to the previous owner. “It’s just the right time for her to retire,” Former Assistant Manager Jodi Skroskznik said, adding, “Everythin...

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The concept of going to a bar, and the definition of the bar itself, is very different in Italy from that held in any Anglo-Saxon or Northern European country. A bar in Italy‘s a place for refreshments, where one can have a quick breakfast in the morning, usually consisting of a coffee or cappuccino (strictly drunk in the AM) and a croissant. Throu...

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A pair of college buddies from Italy have taken their love for a Mexican staple, the humble avocado, and grown it into a burgeoning restaurant empire in the Big Apple. Alessandro Biggi and Francesco Brachetti, who had never even tried the fruit (yes, fruit) when they met nearly two decades ago at a university in Milan, recently opened their fourth...

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The Saint, elected symbol of love and protector of lovers, comes from Terni. The Christian martyr, according to legend, helped two young newlyweds celebrate their wedding by giving them a rather large sum of money. In fact, the feast of St. Valentine as we know it today was probably born to Christianise the ancient pagan festival of lupercalia (lin...

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Penna’s Italian Market (545 North Bethlehem Pike, Spring House) was named one of the “25 Essential Hoagie Shops” in the Philadelphia region in the February 2023 issue of Philadelphia Magazine. It was the only hoagie shop in Montgomery County to make the list. The article is behind a paywall, so you will have to spend a few bucks to learn about all...

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The recovery of tourism after the pandemic has boosted the Italian food industry, which has become Italy's top single asset to the tune of a record 580 billion euros in the last year despite the energy crisis linked to the war in Ukraine, farmers' group Coldiretti said in a report out Friday.  The report, titled 'Food and tourism, Italy Winning', w...

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Fan-favorite chef Giada De Laurentiis is exiting Food Network for Amazon Studios after two decades with the cooking channel. Giada's first show, Everyday Italian, premiered on Food Network in 2003. She has since starred in many other television shows, most notably Giada at Home, Giada in Italy, Giada Entertains, Giada's Holiday Handbook, and Simply...

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Here's a reminder for pastry lovers: Bruno's Bakery, the new spot on West Main Street, has taken pastry to a new level for Valentine's Day. The Settepani family opened Bruno's Italian Bake Shop and Gelateria at356 W. Main St. in mid-November. And an adjacent seasonal gelato shop is set to open sometime in spring 2023. But now is the time to sample...

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High-profile chef Michael Scelfo is adding another restaurant to his growing Boston empire. Josephine, an Italian restaurant dedicated to pizzas, Roman street snacks, and recipes from Scelfo’s Italian American upbringing, is opening inside Somerville’s Cambria Hotel, at 515 Somerville Avenue, this spring. Plenty of Boston-area chefs are not happy a...

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