Mangia!

Fresh from their journey to the farms and kitchens of southern Italy, Chef Silvio Suppa and author Anthony Riccio shared their food and travel knowledge last week at the Cheshire Public Library. 

The pair worked together to create the cookbook  titled "Cooking with Chef Silvio: Stories and Authentic Recipes from Campania."

The duo took a trip back to Suppa's hometown of Benevento and visited the family farm "Sant' Agata de' Gotito"  to uncover the social history of the famous cuisine. 

Riccio told residents he had been working on a book to document the stories of elderly Italian women in Connecticut when Suppa approached him about the cook book.  Together, the two went to Campania to discover more recipes and catch up with some of Suppa’s relatives.

Using photos from their trip in a slide show, Riccio and Suppa talked about the history of the region's cuisine and the funny encounters they had along the way. 

Residents were impressed by Riccio’s pictures of the Italian landscape and the Mediterranean dishes Suppa has created based on old family recipes.

Suppa said he learned to cook from his grandmother while he was a boy and stayed with her while she created the region's dishes in her kitchen. He said the book came from his desire to go back to his hometown to explore the local recipes. Suppa recalled the days when he would help his grandmother make home-made chicken noodle soup - down to catching the live chicken in their backyard. 

He said in his family, the Italian cooking tradition took an unexpected turn.  Instead of the cooking skills being passed form grandmother to granddaughter, they went from grandmother to grandson. 

Suppa moved to the United States when he was 20 but frequently visits his family in Italy.  For 25 years he ran Del Monaco's on New Haven's Wooster Street. For the past 10 years he has owned Cafe Allegre in Madison and for five years he's operated the Woodwinds Banquet facility in Branford.

Riccio lives in Westbrook and grew up in New Haven. He is also author of "The Italian American Experience in New Haven" as well as “Boston's North End: Images and Recollections of an Italian-American Neighborhood.” He will soon release  “Farms, Factories, and Families: Italian-American Women of Connecticut.”