Coming of
Age!
I got married on The Mary’s 21st
birthday on 24th March 1979!
I was living in Italy and missed my family and
friends very much. My life had always
been unconventional and my wedding was no different. None of my family were
there and I was leaving Italy as soon as the wedding was over; without my
husband but with my new name!
For nearly two years I had immersed myself in
Italian culture, food and language with gusto and dedication to la mia nuova famiglia. At the age of 21 I returned to Glasgow on a
mission to educate my Gorbals ‘village’ about good food and healthy eating.
Going from the calmness and tranquillity of Deliceto back to the chaos of my
home town created feelings of excitement and apprehension but it was
exhilarating to be back all the same.
As soon as my mum set eyes on me she said;
“Oh hen, what’s happened to you? We need to get you sorted; you look like a
wee, fat, married, tally wummin!”
Hitting the streets of Glasgow at nearly twelve and
a half stone I began to think maybe the Mediterranean lifestyle hadn’t suit me after
all. There’s nothing like an honest Glesca ‘telling off’ to bring you back to
reality and give you incentive to bolt, like a rocket, towards a bowl of salad. Albeit iceberg and large, beefsteak,
tasteless tomatoes with tinned, Heinz coleslaw and potato salad!
Finding authentic Italian food in Glasgow nearly 40
years ago was limited and although they were very good; for the average punter they
seemed quite posh, and a tad expensive.
Even a trip to the local Chinese was viewed as a ‘treat’. Before I got married when I was asked on a
date my places of choice were Rogano or L’Ariosto and I honestly don’t remember
one dish I had in either of these places. Well maybe the oysters but to tell you
the God’s honest, they gave me the boak, although I do love them now!
The choice of ‘Italian’ restaurants in Glasgow
today are immeasurable and although you can find authentic, fresh cuisine, with
a homemade essence, a lot of places have bastardised dishes out of recognition
to please a popular, hipster, transient and contemporary audience of taste
deprived, indifferent food photographers.
In fact, some of it fails to represents the roots
of an Italian kitchen in any shape or form.
The best plates of Pasta in town are still,*** Eusebi’s,
Sarti’s, La Lanterna, Mediterraneo, Tarantino, The Italian at Redstones
(Uddingston) and, of course, Guy’s in merchant City.
In my humble Opinion of course!
Next week I’m hoping to add one to my list. Me and
The Mary heading to the Scottish/Italian TwentyOne in Hamilton. Owned by Tony
Almiento and his family. They are said
to use the best, locally sourced, Scottish produce to prepare dishes with and
Italian Flair. I like them already as they’re not claiming absolute, Italian
aptitude and authenticity so it leaves room for displays of cosmopolitan panache!
Billed on their website as being, modern
and stylish with a relaxed atmosphere they profess to offer a very low key
professional service.
This should suit me and The Mary to a tee because
we both hate the pretentious, over attentive, patronising, bullshit we’re
sometimes confronted with in corporate, deluded ‘diners’ and overrated ‘cafes’. What they lack in expertise and good food
they try to make up for with uniforms and contrived ambience. All we are interested in is good food at an
honest price with a bit of sincere service and a warm, friendly atmosphere.
I’ll let you know how it goes next week!
Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government are
pricing family owned businesses out of town and these are the places we love
because they care about us, the customer. Staff are part of the family and they
know how to make us feel welcome without pretension. Places like previously
mentioned *** and I’ll add Kastriot’s in Baillieston as a great example this
are good people, passionate about food, at a reasonable prices, who treat
customers like friends and seem to actually want to see again.
The City is being taken over by corporate
monstrosities who expect staff to behave like robots and stick to a script
which is both impersonal and insults both the punter and the pallet, in equal
measure. It’s getting to the point
whereby food is secondary to the experience.
We are now paying over the odds for dishes, such as toasted cheese, to
simply update a photo to Instagram in order to say;
“Look where we are?
On the Rooftop of a concrete Lego structure!
Eating a snack!”
Let’s get a grip and make Glasgow’s food miles
better again by supporting family owned, independent businesses and give power
back to the individual before we are swamped and absorbed into a quagmire of
tasteless, expensive appetisers which might diminish our reverence and
reputation for good food once and for all!
In the end; what we accept is what we deserve!
See you the next time!
Me and The Mary
Mx
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