Nonna online: learn to make pasta from a grandmother in Rome
Nonna Nerina is a savvy grandmother who teaches groups of tourists how to make pasta in her home near Rome. Her popular workshops through Airbnb are currently on hold, but grandma isn’t: she is offering her pasta lessons online.
Ahead of time, nonna emails you a shopping list and an overview of the cooking utensils you need to have at home to take part in the cooking class. Is the cooking class about to begin? Put your iPad in the kitchen and prepare for messy fingers, because there will be kneading, rolling, cutting and chatting—lots of chatting. Leave that to nonna Nerina, says her granddaughter Nicolanti, who films the pasta lessons. ‘The first lesson was actually supposed to last an hour, but Grandma was busy for two hours,’ she says. ‘She just kept going; she didn’t wait for me, so it was absolute chaos, but I think that’s exactly what people like: a real Italian grandmother.’
Sweet, but no pushover
Nonna Nerina is very sweet and adorable, by the way, but far from foolish, because she charges $50 for her cooking lessons. You can sign up through the website her granddaughter created: Nonnalive.com. Coming up on the menu: ravioli with sage butter sauce, gnocchi with pesto, lasagna and fettuccine, all following tried-and-tested family recipes. The lessons are held in the evening, at around 7:00 or 10:00 p.m., so people in America can join in too. Look forward to a beautiful plate of homemade pasta—with matching wine, because Grandma also emails you her wine tips in advance.
