Author Event! "Louisiana's Italians, Food, Recipes and Folklore" by Nancy Wilson

Nancy Tregre Wilson, author of a new cookbook titled Louisiana’s Italians, Food, Recipes and Folklore, will discuss it at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 17, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

After decades of collecting stories and recipes from Italian immigrants throughout Louisiana, Nancy Wilson shares her findings in this spirited and multifaceted collection of Italian food and folkways. Undertaken as a way to preserve her children's Italian heritage and inspired by her mother-in-law, a first-generation Italian American, Wilson presents cultural traditions and anecdotes alongside lively personal commentary and historical and cultural facts.

Included here are authentic, user-friendly recipes ranging from Mama's Italian Bread to eggplant casserole, homemade wines, olive salads, codfish balls, osso bucco, St. Joseph's Day breadcrumbs, biscotti, and more. Wilson also includes a glossary and an illustrated how-to for making your own mud oven to bake authentic Italian bread. This volume also includes handy tips and humorous recollections.

Nancy Wilson is president of Louisiana Gourmet Enterprises, Inc., a family-owned business that manufactures Cajun-Creole dinner mixes and specialty gourmet cake and frosting mixes under the Mam Papaul brand name. She has been a teacher for three decades and earned her M.S. in family life and child development from Louisiana State University. Currently she is a Head Start teacher with the St. Charles Parish School Board. She lives in Hahnville.

Inspired by the stories of her Italian American mother-in-law, Angelina Culotta, Mrs. Wilson undertook Louisiana’s Italians, Food, Recipes, and Folkways 30 years ago as a way to preserve Mrs. Culotta’s ethnic and religious pride for future generations. She was so inspired by collecting and documenting original Italian recipes, stories, and traditions for this book that she built a mud oven in order to bake her own authentic Italian bread at home.

 In addition to her interest in Louisiana's cultural history, Mrs. Wilson’s personal interests include cooking and baking, heirloom sewing, collecting antique linens and lace, and writing for preschool children. Her other books include St. Charles Parish, A Brief Look at the Past, Mam Papaul’s Country Creole Basket, and Now You’re Cooking Louisiana Style.

Mrs. Wilson earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics education in 1964 at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and her master of science degree in family life and child development at Louisiana State University in 1967. She has taught home economics at the high-school level and has been a kindergarten and Head Start teacher.