There is a scene in the
first Rocky movie where the fighter in training runs down the middle of the 9th
Street Italian Market in Philadelphia, and one of the fruit vendors throws him
an orange. I thought about that recently as I walked down 9th St.,
that was 37 years ago and not much has changed, In fact, not much has changed
since my grandmother, an Italian immigrant, shopped here over 50 years ago.
The market, in the heart
of South Philly, was actually formed in the late1800’s, as masses of Italian
laborers migrated from Italy to work in the shipyards and factories along the
Delaware River. Sadly, most, if not all, of those jobs are gone now, but the market of vendors, who sell produce from wooden carts on wheels, and line the street in front of butcher shops, bakery's, cheese and spice merchants, remains as vibrant
as ever. While many other immigrant nationalities have joined the ranks now,
its roots remain Italian. This is still a neighborhood where pasta sauce is simply
known only as “gravy”!
My
grandmother, Rose, worked in one of the area factories that manufactured men’s
pants, trousers, as they were called then, and did most of her grocery shopping
on 9th St. before heading home. As she would say,
“acquistare prodotti freschi, cucinare prodotti freschi”, meaning; buy fresh
produce, cook fresh produce, and she did, every day. Grandmom was born in
Palermo, Italy where marketing was done on a daily basis. And on a recent trip
to Tuscany, I discovered that this is an age-old practice that continues there
today.
She
was a rather large woman, my Grandmother, and could usually handle the bags of peppers, onions,
eggplants and fresh sausage (when her budget allowed) in a canvas sack that she
carried on the bus to New Jersey. On days that her stamina would exceed her
10-hour shifts, she would walk a little further down 9th St. and get
fresh, crusty bread at Sarcones Bakery, which would eventually get stuffed with fried
peppers, onions and eggplants.
As
one of the many grandchildren who would sometimes spend weekends with her, the
best days for us would be when she would stop by Di Bruno’s Brothers Cheese
Shop and buy a wedge of Locatelli Romano Cheese, a sharp form of parmesan that
has a salty bite. She would grate it into small, fluffy mounds, and we would scramble
over who would get to eat the last tiny piece that was too small for her to use.
To this day, I can’t eat chicken soup without it.

On
Sunday’s, the day our parents would come to gather us up; we would stand at her
apron and roll meatballs to go with the pasta, veal cutlets, sausage, and
antipasti that would soon fill the dining room table. Chianti and orange soda
were the beverages of choice. The meal would end when my mother and aunts would
put out the cannolis and cookies from Isgro’s Bakery, along with an ample
arrangement of fresh fruit; all bought in the Italian Market, carried in canvas,
on a bus to New Jersey.
It
was the sites, the sounds, the smells of 9th street that brought
these memories back to me on a recent winter day. The aroma of garlic sautéing
in olive oil from restaurants, the warming scent of bread coming from bakeries,
and the waft of hickory-filled smoke coming from wood burning in large metal
drums along the street, helps keeps the atmosphere of this historic area in a magic
type of time capsule. I can’t see it ever changing.
As
I walked back to my car, I saw an old women standing at the bus stop with a bag
of groceries in each hand. When she set them down momentarily to pull her
collar up against the wind….I thought, oh, I hope she has grandchildren waiting
for her.
Yo YaYa,
ReplyDeleteI just read all of your stories. I loved all of them!!! I just said to Jimmy that I wished I could of met your Mom and Grandmother. I think that some of our Lancaster trips or YaYa kitchen table talk meetings would be entertaining stories!!
LOL I tought what happens in Lancaster stays in Lancaster! I will come up with some YaYa conversations that are printable. Glad you like them!
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! Yes this is true what happens in Lancaster stays in Lancaster! Especially the one that Aunt Joanie went! Do we have any day trips that are printable?!?
ReplyDeleteI will have to think hard about this!!!
ReplyDelete