You go around, you see Mexicans, Asians, Middle Eastern folks, all celebrating their heritage. They hold on to the language, the customs, the traditions, the rituals and recipes from their home countries. The Mexicans still have that big emphasis on family and togetherness, and are like old fashioned Italians in their parties and their get togethers.\

But look on the flipside at so many Italians and their families...They've lost their culture, their traditions, their recipes, their sense of identity really. Not all families, but some. And we have to fill the void with banal crap that is almost a mockery of the culture, like The Sopranos.

I was engaged to a woman whose mother was Italian. Her mother's father was Calabrese, her mother's mother Sicilian. The grandfather was an educated man, a respectable man, a teacher. The grandmother came from money. But they held on to a lot of the old time Italian customs, traditions, the recipes, the language. The grandfather could speak multiple languages and held on to the Italian. Their family was VERY much Italian--I was expected to call her mother "Ma" for example. And lots of cooking etc--Using recipes going back decades.

I admired that. My own family, both of my grandfathers (one Napolitan, one Calabrese) grew up speaking Italian. With my Napolitan grandfather, Italian was his first language as his parents couldn't speak English. But over time, through the 40s and 50s, they became Americanized. They tossed aside the traditions, ate American food, didn't teach the language to their kids, didn't uphold even any of the smaller little customs, like tinkling your glass and saying 'Salut' or kissing on the cheek.

I think the same--this death of the culture--can be said for so many Italian families, and it's really sad...Why did it happen? Can what was lost ever be recovered?