Ciao Italia: Plant, Harvest, Cook!

Chef, author, and TV personality Mary Ann Esposito is the creator and host of the nationally televised PBS series Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito™ (www.ciaoitalia.com).

The author of fourteen cookbooks, most recently, Ciao Italia: Plant, Harvest, Cook ! Mary has worked beside world-renowned chefs Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, Jasper White, and countless others. Through Ciao Italia and appearances on other television programs—including The Today Show, Regis and Kelly, QVC, the Food Network, Hallmark Channel, Discovery Channel, Fox, Martha Stewart Radio, RAI International, The Victory Garden and many others—she has shared traditional Italian cooking with audiences around the world through personal appearances and social media platforms.

Many organizations have recognized Mary Ann for her efforts to preserve the traditions surrounding Italian food and culture. In 2013 she received the Order of the Star of Italy Cavaliere from the President of the Italian Republic, as well as the Premio Artusi award for her work promoting Italian food. Johnson and Wales University presented her with the Distinguished Author Award. St. Anselm College conferred an honorary doctorate, and the Italian Trade Commission named her a 2010 Hall of Fame honoree.

The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) honored Mary Ann with the 2009 Lifetime Achievement in the Culinary & Cultural Arts of Italy, as did the National Italian American Foundation. As part of the focus of Ciao Italia, Mary Ann established the Mary Ann Esposito Foundation (www.ciaoitalia.com/foundation), whose goal is to continue fostering the traditions of Italian regional cooking in the United States by providing scholarships for the next generation of chefs.

When not filming Ciao Italia, Mary Ann can be found in Italian kitchens giving hands-on cooking classes all over the “boot.” 

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BOOKLIST REVIEW

Issue: October 15, 2022

Ciao Italia: Plant, Harvest, Cook!. By Mary Ann Esposito

PBS host and veteran cookbook author Esposito, with help from her husband, Guy, offers advice about spring and summer vegetable gardens with 100-plus recipes to match. She starts with an all-important survey of the amount of sun, type of soil, climate, etc. of the land to be gardened, along with her list of top ten gardening mistakes and tips (remember: mulch controls weeds).
Nearly 20 profiles of specific vegetables, divided by spring and summer, create the book’s framework: the cauliflower section, for instance, documents what to look out for while growing (such as buttoning, or premature small heads) followed by a few dishes to savor: roasted cauliflower, cauliflower pizza. For the most part, recipes don’t require specialized equipment or long prep times: beet and fruit Waldorf salad, caponata, fried zucchini balls, fruit salad with sorrel. Lessons Esposito learned from her Neapolitan and Sicilian nonnas’ gardening and cooking habits add a personal touch. Abbondanza!

— Barbara Jacobs