Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories and Recipes from the Great Depression »

CLARA CANNUCCIARI is 94 years old and lives in Skaneateles, New York. Her grandson, CHRISTOPHER CANNUCCIARI, is a filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn. His latest film is New Brooklyn.

YouTube® sensation Clara Cannucciari shares her treasured recipes and commonsense wisdom in a heartwarming remembrance of the Great Depression

Clara Cannucciari is a 94 year-old internet sensation. Her YouTube® Great Depression Cooking videos have an army of devoted followers. In Clara’s Kitchen, she gives readers words of wisdom to buck up America’s spirits, recipes to keep the wolf from the door, and tells her story of growing up during the Great Depression with a tight-knit family and a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” philosophy of living. In between recipes for pasta with peas, eggplant parmesan, chocolate covered biscotti, and other treats Clara gives readers practical advice on cooking nourishing meals for less. Using lessons she learned during the Great Depression, she writes, for instance, about how to conserve electricity when cooking and how you can stretch a pot of pasta with a handful of lentils. She reminisces about her youth and writes with love about her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Clara’s Kitchen takes readers back to a simpler, if not more difficult time, and gives everyone what they need right now: hope for the future and a nice dish of warm pasta from everyone’s favorite grandmother, Clara Cannuciari, a woman who knows what’s really important in life.

Library Journal

Inspired by the realization that we often rely on our elders for family history, anecdotes, and, in this case, recipes that have long been a part of family culture, the author's grandson and coauthor began filming his 93-year-old grandmother, Clara, and posted the footage on YouTube. Some 350,000 views and 13,000 subscribers later, it only seemed logical to translate her stories and recipes into print. But this slim volume is more than a cookbook. Cannucciari is a master of adapting to circumstances, both in her cooking and in her philosophy of life, so her book provides a valuable portrait of life during the Great Depression and how people "made do" with what they had. Her recipes run the gamut from ridiculously simple (hand-squeezed lemonade, garlic bread, stale ham sandwich) to more interesting and flavorful dishes (Drunken Chuck's minestrone, biscotti, and, of course, plenty of pasta dishes). VERDICT While not an essential purchase, this offers an entertaining picture of Italian culture combined with a useful history of the Great Depression. Cooking instructions are easy to follow, and fans of Cannucciari's YouTube videos will want this.—Elizabeth Rogers, Tech Services, CEF Lib. Syst., Plattsburgh, NY