Mary Contini

‘So, dear Francesca, here in these pages is that heritage of your family that was handed down to me by word of mouth, with humour and love. Treasure it; it's more precious than jewels.'

These are some of the opening lines to Mary Contini's fabulous book, Dear Francesca. It is a labour of love for her daughter but its writing was also a journey, one that Mary felt she had to make. Mary's father died eight years ago and her grief was intense. The writing of this book was cathartic, helping her through the grieving process and at the same time, documenting the family's history and traditions for future
generations. It truly is a a cookbook with love.

Mary is well known to many as joint owner of Edinburgh's famous delicatessen, Valvona & Crolla and also the author of the successful children's cookbooks, Easy Peasy and Easy Peasy Sweetie Pie. We caught up with her on a recent trip down south to talk about Dear Francesca and just about everything else. To start with Mary is full of Italian exuberance and we skipped over many subjects, all food related of course, with much laughter and fun.

Dear Francesca is a deeply moving account of two Italian families, who immigrated from their remote mountain village in southern Italy. They arrived in Scotland with little to their names but a huge sense of family values, a passion for food and a natural instinct to live healthily and eat well. Mary is the third generation of Crollas and has delved into her family's history to bring the reader a picture of the past, intertwined with some delicious recipes that have been passed down through the years.

At the outset of the project Mary had no more than ten pieces of paper to work from as most of the stories she had been told were by word of mouth. So she took each story one at a time, worked on it and then went back to the person to whom it was most closely related to, to check its authenticity.

In fact as time progressed, the news of Mary's project spread and she soon found new sources of information, sometimes in unexpected quarters. As an example, Mary was at a party and talking about the village she grew up in. A woman told her the story of the day an Italian woman (Mary's grandmother) arrived in the village, wearing a red petticoat.

At the outset, Mary wanted to have photographs for every recipe and she was shocked to learn when the publisher came back to her that she was only allowed twenty. In the end, they decided to have no pictures of food but to use images of the family to bring the story to life. These sepia tinted photographs are endearing in their simplicity, with Mary keeping a measured balance that both families were equally represented.

The book took two years to come to fruition and once the research was complete, Mary spent three months writing it up. A good deal of time was spent checking recipes, as they had never been written down before. Strangers tested them but Mary found the process tricky. Mary says ‘You know what it should taste like but it is difficult to translate it.' They all need very few ingredients and it is the quality that is vital to the end results.

‘Raw ingredients are very important to Italian cooking. Once you have learned how to do the basics, you should never use a recipe book again.' Dear Francesca gives you all these recipes and more.

Upbringing
Mary was brought up in Cockenzie, a small fishing village in Scotland. She feels that the Italians who lived in the city had a more integrated lifestyle with the Scots. But Mary's father kept his family close. The girls weren't allowed to play with their Scottish friends, nor visit their homes. It was a very sheltered upbringing, ‘Very much inside an immigrant's home. Yet surprisingly they didn't speak Italian at home because ‘My father wanted us to integrate.' He was keen for them to have a good education. It was a strange mixture.

Valvona & Crolla
When Mary fell in love with Philip Contini, Mary's father thought she was taking a step backwards. Even as his girls grew up, he was ruling the roost and wanting to protect his children. It wasn't until after Francesca's birth that Mary started to work in the shop on Saturdays but this soon grew into a full time occupation. Philip took over from his uncle eighteen years ago and the shop now has a reputation countrywide. They have made it into a specialist shop, where they hold cooking demonstrations and Philip develops the excellent wine list. Uncle Vic who used to run it,
believed in ‘Buy them cheap, sell them cheaper.' But he did sell lemon grass not that the Scots knew what to do with it. He used to say, ‘It's a thing of the future.'

Fruit and vegetables are imported from Milan. Mary says ‘They understand the Neapolitan mentality.' Three local farmers also supply them, which means they can enjoy two harvests of some vegetables. The Italian fave broad bean is ready in March, while its Scottish cousin crops at the end of September. All cheese and smoked salmon are sourced locally. They like to use small producers as they get to know them personally and they know that they can comment and the producer will listen. Many of the products in the shop have their own story to tell. The olive oil that they sell is from the Zyw family, whom Elizabeth David mentioned in Italian Food in 1955.

Mary backs the slow food movement, saying that, ‘The movement is bringing back the confidence in small producers to stay small and resist the temptation of selling out.' The fat cheques come only once.

The bakery
The Continis have just opened a new wholesale bakery, which will supply their café and shop. Up to now, they had been buying bread from another Italian family but it closed down last year. Initially, the Continis baked bread in the café once it had closed down for the day, the bakers would arrive and work through the night. This proved to be a lot of work so they are now the owners of a gleaming state of the art bakery and supply organic bread to restaurants and shops in the area. Next year they intend to start making their own pasta again.

The café
Over Mary's watchful eye, the café serves simple food. The cooks have been there a long time and with continual tasting and buying the right ingredients, it is a huge success. They look to their customers and as they return, they know they are getting it right. As Mary says, ‘There's nothing wrong with offering simple food. There's no need to disguise it.'
It is not open in the evenings although they have a three-week run during the Edinburgh Festival when it's party time. They also cater for corporate events and private functions.

Farmers' Markets
Mary believes that the small shops are suffering on Farmers' Market days, which is something that local councils must be aware of. They must nurture the small shops as well and not knock them out. Valvona & Crolla sell their bread at the Farmers' Market once a month.

Scottish Food
Mary feels that Scottish food is not promoted enough. ‘Scottish food is so good in quality terms.' Many Scottish recipes are being revived but Mary draws the line at haggis ravioli.

Mary was in a television series, Scotland's Larder, with Derek Cooper. She did her shopping at a Farmers' Market and then cooked it. She travelled to Shetland where she found the produce so fantastic and the locals had a real attitude to their produce. They understood it. She found that, ‘As you come away from the small towns into big cities, our knowledge of food and understanding of how it's been produced is so diluted.'

Eating as a family
Mary gauges that more people are cooking today but that in many cases,
we are not sitting down as families to eat and chat over the day's events. With hectic lives, many families eat independently and at different times. Mary campaigns avidly to improve children's diets.

Olivia, Mary's younger daughter, used to be a very fussy eater and Mary makes a point of cooking and eating with her. She believes that palate training is all important, knowing what good food tastes like. ‘We have a misconception that children don't know what good food tastes like. They won't notice if it's burnt.' But of course they do. Mary heard a theory that if you feed a baby, between the ages of six to nine months, as many tastes as possible, they will record those tastes. Even if they spit them out, it stimulates the palate. Also if you feed a child with a certain food three times, 99% of the time, they will learn to like it, by subliminally taking it on board.

Mary reckons that there is still a strong message in Easy Peasy, which will be coming out in paperback next year. There is still a need for children learning to cook early on and develop a love of food.

Mary visits her true home in Italy four times a year and catches up with all the gossip and eats the way she wants to eat. She feels that she has the best of both worlds but with a lot of hard work in between. But she clearly loves it. And of course, she is under pressure to write a book entitled Dear Olivia for her younger daughter. Watch this space.

To visit Valvona & Crolla's website, click here.

ISBN 0091881765

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