Patrizia, Italian middle school teacher

[pat_]

Hi everyone,
I teach English in Middle school in Italy. I'm planning to create a website with my students in which they will present Italian recipes in English. I would love to have suggestions about what would be relevant, interesting to include. .
I also know that some schools have cooking classes, I would LOVE to get in touch with teachers in order to get information about what would be appreciated (which recipes, what type of info would be better to include, ect.).
Any suggestion is welcome,
Pat

 

[taxlady]

Welcome to Discuss Cooking Pat. That sounds like an interesting project.

 

[msmofet]

Welcome to DC.

 

[Andy M.]

Welcome to DC.

 

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum! Glad to hear about your project - keep us informed!

 

[dragnlaw]

Hi Patrizia! Welcome to DC.

Why don't you ask your students what they would like to put out as a recipe?

Or ask them to create a dinner menu and to put together the recipes?
(or a breakfast, lunch, picnic or party menu?)

What ages are they for middle school? Could they be divided into groups? One appetizers, another main, last group dessert.

They could switch groups for the next menu.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Italy has such a diverse culinary landscape, and traditions: rich with meat and dairy in the North, great seafood on the Mediterranean coasts, legumes, and rich ragu from the south, lots of fresh veggies. One suggestion is to assign groups for each region, using hat region's cheeses, and foods from that region. The students could sub-divide into pasta, soups, pizza, and famous recipes from the regions. Include required cooking tools, vessels, and techniques. Include beverages, both adult, and child friendly, and fruits/deserts. That should give them all a good opportunity for family favorites, and variety, and will keep them busy for a while. And don't forget to use both metric, and English measurements. Maybe a bit of history could be given for each recipe, or the official, protected version.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[taxlady]

Chief, I'm curious why you say to have the kids use English as well as metric measurements? Is it because there are many recipes on the internet in English with US units of measure? Most homes in Europe are not likely to have any measuring cups that measure in US units. I don't know if they are able to set their scales to ounces, but since weight isn't used very much in US recipes, that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Chief, I'm curious why you say to have the kids use English as well as metric measurements? Is it because there are many recipes on the internet in English with US units of measure? Most homes in Europe are not likely to have any measuring cups that measure in US units. I don't know if they are able to set their scales to ounces, but since weight isn't used very much in US recipes, that shouldn't be an issue.

If it's a website, it will be read in many places, including the U.S. It would just be easier for some who are used to English measurements, plus teaching the class conversion factors (another math skill).

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[CharlieD]

Benvenuta. I think any recipes the students post would be appreciated. As long as they are detailed.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Start by obtaining the menu from some popular Italian restaurants in New York City, which is where most Italian immigrants entered the United States. You can do this with Google Then come up with the original recipe that they attempted to recreate with American ingredients. You could also try Italian restaurants in New Orleans, another entry point for Italian immigrants.

 

[JonasStax]

I live in Perth, Western Australia.

I am first generation Australia born to Italian immigrants.

Sorry, I don't speak Italian or regional dialects.

I watch a variety of sub-titled Asian TV shows and movies.

I recently watched an Asian TV show where it was mentioned English is a universal language and such many Asians use English as a subject reference.

Metric and weight measurements are universal. Only the USA use imperial and cup measurements.

The electronic scales available in my region are both imperial and metric.

Metric is accurately scalable to the decimal point, measuring in imperial cups, tablespoons, teaspoons are convenient, yet depending on the recipe, not accurately scalable, can cause recipe failure especially when dealing with baking products.

Outside baking, Italians like the Asian region don't measure condiments, they taste, therefore the condiments and ingredients listed in the recipes are approximations.

I have over 150,000 recipes, mainly from USA recipe collections, in my recipe database sorted into categories.

My approach after reading through the recipes would be list the main ingredients then the variations.

Also in the directions, list the main preparation first then under notes list the variations.

For example:

Tiramisu is a coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. It is made with ladyfingers (usually commercial Savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa. The recipe has been adapted for use in many varieties of cakes and other desserts.

I have 90 Tiramisu recipes in the database. Only one is authentic Italian, the others are adapted shortcuts. The authentic Italian, is time consuming, for special occasions. The others are suitable for general use.

The other recommendation is before starting a recipe collection is visit the Ciao Italia website: https://www.ciaoitalia.com/

Mary Ann Esposito is the creator and host of the nationally televised PBS series, Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito and the author of 13 cookbooks. Based in New York, The PBS Show has been running for 30 years and the most authentic Italian recipes outside Italy.

If I recall correctly, there are about 2000 Italian recipes.

Use the website a a guide, it will save hours of work.

regards,

John.

 

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum, John!