This week we discussed the aftermath of the great earthquake and fires of 1906. In the classroom, we watched a short PBS documentary about the Italian American community in San Francisco called Up From the Ashes. We learned about Italian-driven economic activity at Fisherman’s Wharf and in North Beach around the turn of the century, the devastation Italian Americans faced after the earthquake, and how Amadeo Giannini’s Bank of Italy, which eventually became Bank of America, helped Italians and Italian Americans survive and thrive after a major catastrophe. The most special part of the week was when Mr. Orlando showed Room 213 a photo of his own Sicilian American ancestors, one of whom worked at the original Bank of Italy!
In the kitchen, students made a recipe with roots in ancient Rome, minestrone. They chopped carrots, cauliflower, and summer squash for the soup, snipped fresh herbs, and made jokes about the name of the pasta we used, known as orecchiette (or “little ears”). The vegetables were cooked with onion, garlic, tomatoes, cranberry beans, vegetable stock, and the cooking liquid from the beans. Once the table was set, many chefs chose to top off their soup with a few gratings of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. Mangia!
