Episode 24: Traditions
The Concettina Died podcast is dedicated to all the Zazas, LoBassos, Vicarels, and Catullos, and to everyone we knew on the East Side, and especially to three beloved family members who are no longer with us: Mama, Martha, and Palma.
—Marco Zaza, 2021
As the holiday season approaches, I start to reminisce about my childhood and how my parents celebrated the important fall and winter holidays.
Although we always celebrated Thanksgiving, for Mama and Papa, who came to the United States from Italy, where no such holiday existed, it was more of a festive day for family gathering and huge meals simply because they could do it. The Pilgrims were not a part of the festivities. Turkey was not a common food in southern Italy and Mama had no intention of roasting such an animal. Instead, we had pasta with meat sauce, followed by roasted capons, oven-roasted potatoes, salad, and then fruit and nuts.
When my sister Martha got married, the Thanksgiving holiday moved to her home, where, thanks to her sister-in-law’s recipes, we were introduced to turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes (buttered and covered with brown sugar and marshmallows!) and a wonderful new dessert, pumpkin pie! Eventually, the festivities moved to our home, where the “American” traditional foods continued to be served. In recent years we have been celebrating at our daughter and son-in-law’s home. Stephanie, who inherited Aunt Martha’s and her mother’s cooking and baking skills, and Joe, who rapidly embraced our familial traditions, never disappoint as hosts.
Christmas for my parents was a different story from Thanksgiving. In Italy, the Nativity was celebrated by building a large crèche, surrounded by a village, filling a stocking with fruit and nuts and having wonderful elaborate meals on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day. Our family continued those traditions in America, except the crèche was smaller and a Christmas tree was added. Christmas Eve dinner was meatless; Mama made fish soup made with whiting (merlutzi in Italian), fried calamari, tiny sardines which were fried weeks before and then pickled in vinegar, parsley and garlic, and broiled eel (capitone) topped with olive oil and bay leaves. Fritti—pockets of Mama’s homemade dough stuffed with mozzarella cheese mixed with beaten eggs, parsley and grated Parmesan, or stuffed with a mixture of onion and tomatoes laced with Italian herbs—were gently fried, then served with orange salad and a mixed green salad. We all waited anxiously for Mama to bring out the taralli, her wonderful crispy, wine and fennel flavored bread sticks shaped like pretzels, boiled and then baked until they were golden brown. These we ate with salad, fennel celery, or chunks of provolone cheese, and we also dunked them in wine. Fortunately, the recipe was passed down to my sisters, and eventually to me. I still make them to this day.
With slight variations, Marie and I have continued the Christmas Eve tradition, serving fish soup, or calamari sauce over spaghetti, Mama’s recipe for “fritti,” substituting shrimp scampi for eel, and baked fish instead of pickled sardines. Taralli, orange salad, friut and nuts are still part of the feast, followed by trays of delectable cookies from old recipes passed down from Martha, sweet taralli from Marie’s mother (and Marie’s favorites), and Peach Melba, which over the years has also become traditional.
Mama and Papa are gone, as are sisters Martha and Palma, and many other loved members of our families. But the traditions of these holidays are still with us, and every year as we celebrate the actual holidays, we also celebrate the wonderful memories associated with these traditions.
The Zaza siblings: Nick, Martha, Palma, Jerry, Marco; Youngstown, Ohio, 1997
Corrado & Mary LoBasso and Pasqualina & Gaetano Zaza, 1966
Rosa, Ilareone, and Angela Bellapianta, and David Zaza, New York City, 2019
Palma, Jerry, and Nick Zaza, c. 1940
Tarrales
Marie LoBasso, Queens NY, 1953
Jerry, Joyce, Marie, and Marco Zaza, in front of Trattoria Za-Za, Firenze, 2007
Linda and Diane Vicarel, 1963
Antonio Bellapianta, Molfetta, late 1940s
Palma, Joe, Jim, and Cindy Frank, c. 1964
Jerry and Marco Zaza with their families in Italy, 2007
Marie Zaza, Joseph Frank, Gaetano & Pasqualina Zaza, and Palma Frank, 1963
Martha, Pasqualina, with children Linda, Cindy, Diane, and Jim, c. 1958
Adrienne Zaza making pierogi, New York City, 2007
Marco Zaza high school graduation picture, 1956
Marco & Marie Zaza making cartadatte, 2019
Marco Zaza, c. 1947
Joe and Diane Vicarel; Albert Street, East Side of Youngstown, Ohio, 1953
Marco Zaza, first communion, 1945
Gaetano and Marco Zaza, c. 1944
Antoinette Rafanelli, Vivienne DeGennaro, & Mary LoBasso, New York, late 1930s
Gaetano and Jerry Zaza, c. 1944
Marie, Mary, Irene, and Corrado LoBasso, New York, c. 1948
Pasqualina and Jerry Zaza, c. 1946
Zaza siblings, Nick, Jerry, Marco, Martha, and Palma, mid 1990s
Diane and Linda Vicarel, 1954
Jerry & Joyce Zaza, 1976
Fritti—filled with egg & cheese or tomato & onion
Jerry Zaza, c. 1947
Ilarione Bellapianta, Marie & Marco Zaza, Molfetta, 2019
Back row: Joe Frank, Palma Zaza Frank (holding Cindy Frank), Joe Vicarel, Martha Zaza Vicarel, Jerry Zaza; front row: Nick Zaza, Linda Vicarel, Jim Frank, Frank LoBasso, Diane Vicarel; Youngstown, Ohio, 1957