Here's a delightful YouTube channel I stumbled upon recently — "Pasta Grannies." It's run by Vicky Bennison, a former international development specialist turned travel and food writer. For the Pasta Grannies project, Bennison travels across Italy, interviewing real-life grandmothers and home cooks who share recipes, pasta-making techniques, and traditions. She describes the project this way:
"I'm finding and filming women who still make pasta by hand — a tradition that is disappearing in Italy. Along the way, I also meet producers, people and delicious non pasta food, so I share those too."
She uploads a new video each week, full of information about various regions and towns in Italy, along with delightful interviews and demonstrations by amazing home cooks. Here's the latest video, featuring Nunzia and Daniela, who live in Liguria and share a nutty pasta called lazarene that's only found in their village of Vendone. The nutty flavor comes from the chestnut flour that's in the dough, and the hazelnuts that are in the sauce.
If you want to see more videos, check out the Pasta Grannies YouTube site. And if you want more recipes, Bennison has also published a couple of cookbooks featuring recipes from the Pasta Grannies she's met across Italy. For this cookbook, each recipe includes a QR code that connects directly to that Pasta Granny's YouTube video. It's a cool concept, and I really hope that the Grannies are getting a share of the profits.
