Noi siamo figli della stessa terra. We are children of the same land. It's a powerful thing to contemplate.
These last few weeks have brought to light many of the issues we face as a global community, and it hasn’t been easy to watch for most of us. We have been exposed to disgusting racism, and to those who seek to divide and promote assumed differences between people, countries, religions and traditions. But thankfully, we’ve also seen these people make up the few.
The actions of the minority have brought the majority together to say with one voice: enough is enough. We won’t sit by silently and merely hope for the best, talking amongst ourselves about the need for the need for change. Instead, the global community is rallying together, taking to the streets, forcing tough conversations and change. And I know I’m not alone in saying I couldn’t be happier.
While there’s no question we as human beings share more in common with each other than there are differences, this point was brought home again for me the other day when I was speaking with Chef Anita Di Pietro in Irpinia, Italy and Chef Luis Ronzón from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Now you might be thinking, these two places are worlds apart, what could they possibly have in common?
In fact, they have everything in common. As Anita put it so beautifully: noi siamo figli della stessa terra. We are all children of the same land.
For us this simple phrase said it all. Luis, Anita, and I were all emphatically nodding in agreement.
We all breathe the same air, we all share the same blood coursing through our veins, and we are all born on planet Earth. We want the best for our families. And we eat a lot of the same foods. Maybe dishes are prepared differently, but we have more in common than you might first realize.
Hearing Anita and Luis talk about traditions in foods, the importance of food in our culture, and the similarities shared history of food between these two countries helped me realize yet again, in another way, how numerous our similarities are as opposed to our differences.
That’s why Monday, June 8 at 7pm in Italy and 12pm in Mexico City, award-winning Chefs Anita and Luis will be holding an Instagram Live conversation on the importance of food in our culture and how it brings us all together. @luisronzon @anticatrattoriadipietro @theauthenticirpinia
We are all in this fight to build a more beautiful loving world community together. I hope you’ll join us and let us know your thoughts.