THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603070215
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK YOUNG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Anyone who asks ``What's cooking?'' in Linda Spruill's class should be prepared for a long answer. That's because Spruill teaches a class called Careers Through Culinary Arts II at Tallwood High School.
On a recent afternoon the class of 30 students and their speaker for the afternoon, Mario Minervini, exchanged more than recipes. Minervini, a member of the Sons of Italy, served up large helpings of everything Italian from its culture, to its history, to its contributions to American life.
There was even time to reflect on the value of family togetherness. And of course, there was abundant commentary on the glories of Italian cuisine.
The occasion was a program on international cuisine and culture undertaken annually for the past four years by Spruill's Tallwood classes.
The students study the customs and cooking of foreign countries and then break into small groups to show what they've learned. At the completion of the program they prepare a full meal and present everything they have learned about the country of their choice.
The exercise helps students ``understand and feel different dimensions of the cultures,'' of the countries, said Spruill.
This year the study portion of the project for the first time included live presentations by representatives of several countries including Hungary, Germany, Panama, Italy, Cuba, Spain and Trinidad.
Just prior to Minervini's discussion, Tallwood guidance counselor Randy Lawrence and friend Julie Chambers, originally from Panama, treated the class to a meal of carimanola, a dish made from beef and yucca root. Other presentations the same day came from Hungarian exchange student Matthew Dobos, who cooked and spoke about the political situation in his country, and John and Carol Joseph, the parents of a Tallwood student, who showed a video on Trinidad's ``Carnival.'' They dressed in traditional costumes and spoke about the food of the country they had left in the 1970s.
Tallwood Spanish teachers made presentations Thursday and Friday on the food and cultures of Cuba and Spain.
Minervini also gave a crash course on the relationship between Italian history, geography and the diet of his homeland. He explained that each large community in Italy was politically and socially self-contained. For that reason each developed its own distinct traditions of food, cooking, wine and even the use of the language. If there's spinach in a recipe, it must be from Florence, he explained. Pesto says it's from Genoa, Christopher Columbus' hometown.
In addition to touching on the contributions of great Italians such as Galileo and Marconi, Minervini expounded on the way of life in the village of Molfetta where he grew up and the customs he preserved in his own, American family. The bread his mother prepared for her family was baked in a huge oven that served the whole village.
In the home he made in America, the immigrant and his bride were careful to reserve time for an honored tradition. At least one meal a day was attended by the whole family in the Minervini household. Around the table the parents not only shared the events of the day, but imparted some of their values to the children.
``What the school teaches is important,'' Minervini explained, ``but my children are a reflection of me. Only through the family can they learn who they are.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Tallwood High student Ellaine Parker, right, helps Mario Minervini
prepare his presentation on Italian culture and food.
by CNB