A new cookbook from a first-generation Italian American family is capturing holiday traditions that have shaped their home — and their community — for more than five decades. The Butcher’s Daughter: Stories and Over 100 Family Recipes from Altomonte’s Italian Market offers a look into the Grispino family’s Christmas kitchen, highlighting time-honored dishes such as the Feast of the Seven Fishes seafood salad, struffoli honeyballs, maccarruni a mano handmade pasta, sauces and other recipes rooted in Calabrian heritage.
Part cookbook and part family narrative, the project reflects the legacy of co-author Franca “Nonna” Grispino, who immigrated to the United States from Calabria and helped build one of Greater Philadelphia’s most well-known Italian food destinations. Her daughter and co-author, Maria Teresa Grispino Nappi, hopes the book will connect future generations to the traditions she grew up with.
