This 84-Year-Old Grandmother Serves Comfort and Community

Through Livestreamed Cooking ClassesNonna Nerina makes a small well in a pile of finely milled flour and expertly cracks in an egg. Her audience—five strangers watching from their own kitchens—copy her movements. In the past month, she and granddaughter Chiara Nicolanti’s cooking classes made the leap from an offline experience to online streaming—and it’s been their best revenue month yet. “We’re eating a lot of pasta,” says Chiara. From their small village in Italy, she and her grandmother invite people from all over the world into their kitchen to learn to make pasta from scratch. One of Email List my first memories is of sneaking in the stairs to the kitchen to hear and smell her cooking pasta. The intimate format, taught over Google Hangouts and hosting just a few students per class, facilitates bonds across borders. Most come for the cooking skills, Chiara says, but the connections people can make, even in isolation, are equally important. “At the end of the experience,” says Chiara, “I usually leave the cameras on, so people can have dinner with someone else.” Reclaiming her roots and rekindling old recipes Connection is at the heart of Nonna Live, and it was Chiara’s desire to reconnect with her cultural roots that became the catalyst for the business. Chiara grew up in Palombara Sabina, a small village situated 40 minutes northeast of Rome.

“I spent all my childhood next to my grandmother,” she says. “One of my first memories is of sneaking in the stairs to the kitchen to hear and smell her cooking pasta.” At 18, Chiara left home to pursue a career as a stage actor and travelled around the world. But when she became pregnant with her first child, she gave up acting and returned home. There, she discovered that her grandmother had been lonely since losing her husband a few years prior. So, as she had done many times as a child, Chiara bonded with her grandmother over food. “She showed me a world that was dying,” she says, “a world made of a community of women and handmade techniques.” Nonna Nerina makes pasta the traditional way—and shares her skills with the world. (Maria Saggese) Chiara started sharing Nonna Nerina’s story and cooking techniques through a blog before being approached to join Airbnb Experiences, a marketplace of activities hosted by locals around the world. In the past three years, Nonna Nerina’s classes have attracted travellers to an area that previously had not seen much tourism. Groups of up to 20 people would arrive by train to the village, take a walking tour, and learn authentic Italian cooking from the best: an 84-year-old grandmother raised on making things from scratch. Nonna Nerina, the heart and heritage of Nonna Live, was born before the Second World War and spent her childhood working in the fields that surrounded her small village.

She learned to read, but the majority of her education happened through working long, hard hours. But she has only fond memories of her early life. “When people ask her about her childhood, she says, ‘The war was outside my door, but inside was peace, always,’” Chiara says. Of the war, Nerina recalls her father’s singing voice—something she remembers more clearly than the sound of the bombs. Every grandma thinks that her pasta is the best in the world, obviously. Nonna Nerina exclusively uses Old World techniques to make pasta, and has passed these skills down to her granddaughter. “In Italy, every region has its own way to make pasta,” says Chiara. “And every grandma thinks that her pasta is the best in the world, obviously.” Support independent businesses like Nonna Live Get handpicked product recommendations, direct to your inbox Email address Email address Thanks for subscribing You'll start receiving handpicked product recommendations soon! The friend turned business partner who shared a vision Two and a half years ago, Chiara and Nonna Nerina hosted Brent Freeman at one of their in-person cooking experiences.

_________________
Phone Number