Restaurant menus cooked by grandmothers around the world

Cuisine Dining places

Saturday, April 29, 2023 09:03 (GMT+7)
09:03 April 29, 2023

At a restaurant in New York City (USA) operating with a new business model with dishes prepared by grandmothers from many different cultures around the world .

The restaurant has grandmothers as chefs. Photo: Courtesy of Enoteca Maria .

Enoteca Maria is a diner on Staten Island in New York City. Not only does it have a variety of dishes, but it also has a unique culinary tradition. The dishes are prepared by grandmothers who are passionate about cooking. They come from all over the world such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Peru, Japan, Egypt, Hong Kong (China) and many more.

Business ideas

According to Jody Scaravella, owner of Enoteca Maria, the idea was born out of a desire to recreate memories. After losing his Italian-born mother and grandmother, he hoped to ease his grief by recreating the image of Italian women in the kitchen. So he opened the restaurant on St. George Street, naming it after his mother, Maria, in 2007.

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Carefully crafted dishes. Photo: @enteca_maria.

During the first six months of business, the restaurant had almost no revenue because he had no business experience. “At that time, I wanted to try everything and not care about the results,” Scaravella added.

Scaravella soon realized he wasn’t the only one craving the nostalgic, cozy feeling of her cooking. People began flocking to the restaurant to enjoy it. The restaurant is open three days a week, Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. The restaurant only accepts customers until 7:30 p.m.

Difficulties

Scaravella initially hired grandmothers from different parts of Italy, but he gradually realized this was a mistake. “I think you can’t put two women from the same culture in the kitchen at the same time,” he says. “They’re going to get a little jealous and compare. Who’s going to make the best pasta or which sauce is more flavorful? There’s always going to be competition within the same culture.”

As a result, the restaurant has welcomed grandmothers from many cultures. In July 2015, Scaravella brought in his first non-Italian chef, a grandmother from Pakistan.

When they work in the same kitchen, they don’t really know what each other is doing. This also creates culinary diversity for diners. Customers can order different dishes based on who is in the kitchen.

Overall, the idea of a restaurant with grandmothers cooking is simple enough, but the execution is not always easy. Scaravella has to constantly search for ingredients to serve the diverse cuisine. Some foods are even difficult to find.

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A grandmother prepares traditional Piroshki buns. Photo: @enteca_maria.

A Sri Lankan grandmother once didn’t like the restaurant’s curry powder, so Scaravella drove her to New Jersey to buy her own herbs so she could roast and create her own blend. Another grandmother in Greece didn’t care for the cheese Scaravella bought, so she brought her own. Another time, Scaravella took a Japanese grandmother to Brooklyn to get lotus root. But what she wanted was the raw, unprocessed root.

While the herbs, spices, and cooking techniques vary, the grandmothers all tend to use the same meat: organic ground beef from the American brand Trader Joe's.

Multi-generational connection

The dishes are all carefully prepared and meticulously with a variety of cuisines. “People always talk about their mothers and grandmothers who taught them how to cook delicious dishes. It all seems to come back to life,” said Scaravella.

Each dish is full of surprises. It is the diversity in each dish that has kept Enoteca Maria growing. After 18 months of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the restaurant has reopened with many organic products.

A surprise came when a customer wanted to cook with his Nigerian grandmother. Scaravella gave her an apron and the two had a blast. It was a generational bond in the kitchen. This inspired Scaravella to offer free live cooking classes with grandmothers.

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Nonnas of the World products. Photo: Enoteca Maria.

“It is about passing on knowledge from generation to generation. It also emphasizes the cultural harmony coming from many different countries, even without the same language,” he said.

Cultural Connection Project

Scaravella even says it's not a restaurant anymore. It's a project, and the food is just a sideline. Customers come in and pay for the food, which he uses to keep the project going. He also sells merchandise called Nonnas of the World and shares recipes on the restaurant's own website.

It could be said that the power of food connects people in the same way that music and art do. The project allows you to interact with another culture without even realizing it. Your personal biases, whatever they may be, become irrelevant.

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