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Each region of Italy has its own ways of preparing food
for feast days and holidays and, whenever possible, these
traditions were kept.
 In Edmonton, regional societies
sprang up and continued some of these traditions. Families sought out farmers who
could provide fresh pork for sausage making and lambs for
roasting. Grapes were imported for wine making.
Women competed to produce the best possible versions of
recipes handed down from mother to daughter. There
were special Easter breads, a whole range of baked goods for
Christmas involving honey, almonds, liqueurs and other
mouth-watering ingredients, as well as the baccala [salt
cod], which is the basis of the Christmas Eve meal when meat
is not eaten.
The post-war wave of immigration brought families in
sufficient numbers to create a demand for imported foods
from Italy. Both Edmonton and Calgary developed
specialized Italian grocery stores that catered not only to
the immediate community but all lovers of Italian
food. While in the 1950s, Italian food was considered
"smelly," by the late 1960s and early 1970s,
everyone was beginning to love things Italian. The
Italian Centre Shop begun by Frank Spinelli became the
purveyor of these goods. In Alberta, the appointment
of Giovanni Bincoletto as the first Vice Consul from Italy
added momentum to this trend. Vino novello festivals
(particularly the one at Lake Louise), visiting chefs from
Italy and a range of other activities promoted Italian
goods.
There was a critical mass of buildings and neighbourhoods
to give Edmonton's inner city an Italian flavour. The
procession to Santa Maria Goretti in June and the social
activities around that day as well as the Giovanni Caboto
Festival drew hundreds of people to the area. While
the majority of Italian-Canadians no longer resided in the
inner city, they came in to shop, to go to church, to
celebrate weddings and baptisms, and to grieve at funerals
at the church. The church, for many, is still the
heart of the community. Calgary, even though it has the
population to warrant a "Little Italy," lacks this.
Perhaps, the movement of families to the suburbs happened too
soon before a "Little Italy" could solidify.
The love of the land and gardening was another aspect of
cultural life from the homela nd that was preserved.
While the growing conditions were markedly different from
Italy, keen gardeners viewed it as a challenge. In
inner-city neighbourhoods in Edmonton and Calgary in the
1950s through 1970s, an Italian household was recognizable
by the luxuriant garden with its six and seven-foot high
poles on which climbed runner beans. Rows and rows of
vegetables-romaine lettuce and radicchio, zucchini and cucumbers, fava
beans, exotic peppers and eggplant, peas and potatoes as
well as prize tomatoes (the pear-shaped Roma tomatoes were a
favourite) gave the impression of an earthly
paradise. These formed little green oases in an urban
landscape. While few Italians in Alberta became market
gardeners, the desire for fresh produce motivated them to
seek sources directly on the farm and to frequent the city
market. In Edmonton, they also stimulated the Hole
family to open up their fields to Italians who would come
and pick peas and beans.
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Heritage Community Foundation Presents
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