48 pages • 1 hour read
From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home
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Symbols & Motifs
Sicily
The island of Sicily at the southern tip of the Italian mainland symbolizes home, family, community, heritage, and belonging. Saro was born and raised in Sicily. His parents, sister, and most of his extended family remain on the island while he moves to Florence to pursue his career as a chef. Although Saro leaves Sicily as a young adult, the island remains central to his identity, and after his death, Tembi fulfills Saro’s dying wish to have his ashes scattered in Sicily. During this first summer visit, Tembi and Zoela forge new connections to Saro’s family and community. These connections grow stronger over the following two summers. Consequently, Sicily becomes a second home for Tembi and Zoela, one that keeps them close to Saro. Croce reinforces these connections by signing her house over to Tembi and Zoela, and by the end of her third summer in Sicily, Tembi feels as though she belongs on the island and refers to Sicily as her “stone inheritance” (279).
Descriptions of Sicily abound in Tembi’s memoir, attesting to its symbolic importance. The descriptions are so numerous and vivid that they transport readers to the island. In Chapter 7, for example, Tembi recounts being drawn to Sicily from the moment her plane landed, saying, “Sicily beckoned with her sapphire blue sea, her rocky arid terrain that, without warning, offered up verdant fields of poppies” (151). Tembi’s descriptions of the sounds of Sicily are equally evocative: “The cicadas had never stopped keeping time. They were a Sicilian symphony” (184). Tembi’s most vivid descriptions of Sicily, however, pertain to the island’s smells, and she describes at length how “the hot air was pregnant with jasmine and eucalyptus” (271). Tembi cherishes Sicily, calling it one of the most peaceful places she has ever known, and the only place where she can still feel close to Saro.
Croce’s House
Croce’s house on Via Gramsci in the Sicilian town of Aliminusa is a symbol of family, heritage, and belonging. The 100-year-old stone house was originally built to keep pigs, chickens, and barrels of olive oil. Saro’s ancestors slept on the wood floorboards of a loft above the animals. The house had electricity by the time Croce married Giuseppe. Running water, a semi-finished bathroom, and ceramic floors were added when Saro was a child. The interior of the house is dark and utilitarian, “a shelter without pretense, just function” (106). The kitchen and dining room on the ground floor are the heart of the home, while the second floor held the two bedrooms.
Almost all of Tembi’s interactions with Croce occur in the kitchen and dining room. Indeed, the kitchen is Croce’s domain. Even when Saro, a chef, was alive, Croce is the only cook of the house. Feeding and sharing meals with her family is an expression of her love, a way to nourish their bodies and minds. After Saro’s death, Tembi feels closest to him “in the presence of his mother, in her home, at her table” (177). By giving Tembi and Zoela her house, Croce is not only embracing them as members of the family, but also signaling that they belong in Aliminusa, which has become their heritage through Saro.
Food
Food is a symbol of love in Tembi’s memoir. Saro woos Tembi with his elaborate meals at Acqua al 2, and his skill in the kitchen is such that Tembi describes the experience as a form of love-making. Tembi also expresses her love for Saro through food. During Saro’s many hospital stays, she brings homecooked meals to his room to spare him from having to eat hospital food, and after Saro returned home to die, Tembi instructs the hospice nurse to take an ice pop out of the freezer every hour in case Saro awakes and is able to eat one. Feeding Saro ice pops is Tembi’s final gift to him, for she states, “I wanted the last sensations on his palate to be soothing, soft, and pleasurable. He deserved that” (3). Tembi takes great care in making the treats, using “freshly squeezed lemonade with a touch of agave” (3) to create “the most inspired ice pops” (3).
Just as Saro and Tembi express their love through food, so too does Croce. A talented home cook, Croce supports the grieving Tembi and Zoela by feeding them dishes only she knows how to make. As Tembi observes, “There were no formal recipes; the ingredients, quantities, and steps were all in her head. I had asked her once to write down a recipe, and it had been like asking her to write down how she breathed or walked” (299). Croce learned how to cook using only local ingredients from her mother, who, in turn, had learned from her mother. Food in Croce’s kitchen thus told a story, “an epic and personal story of an island and a family” (299).
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