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Little Italy -- where the "Old Country" meets the "New World"

© Sonia Michaels

When the flood of immigrants passed through Ellis Island into the United States during the last century, many of these new Americans arrived speaking Italian. Italian Immigrants also passed through many other portals, into many other countries, and set about building new homes, and new communities that retained the original flavor of their homeland, while still allowing them to be part of the "melting pot" or cultural mosaic to which they now belonged. Of course, they weren't the only culture to do this -- the Jews, the Chinese, the Irish, and countless other ethnic, religious, and cultural groups had, and have, thriving communities around the world. But the Italian-American community seems to have become a part of the North American "pop culture" in a way that few others have -- it has played an important part in the way the rest of the world has come to perceive and understand America. So, this month's column is a tribute to "Little Italies" everywhere -- from the West Coast, on Vancouver's Commercial Drive, to San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, to New York City's Little Italy and Arthur Avenue, and all the Italian-American communities in between.

When I lived in Vancouver, I used to make regular pilgrimages to the stores along Commercial Drive, to pick up my favorite Italian cheeses, meats, pastas, and condiments. When I moved to Seattle, DeLaurenti's in Pike Place Market became my destination of choice for my regular "fix" of abruzzo or casalinga salami, asiago and mascarpone cheese, and olives of all shapes, shades, and sizes. Even when I lived in Kelowna, a medium-sized city in the BC interior, I managed to discover the Mediterranean Market -- one of the best things about the time I spent in that city, in my opinion! Anyway, my point (yes, I do have a point!) is that good Italian or Italian-style foods can be found practically everywhere, even in cities and towns that aren't famous for the size of their Italian communities!

When you get to those communities that are well known for the size of their "Little Italy" neighborhoods, the selection and quality of the available products is even more remarkable. San Francisco's renowned North Beach area has its own website -- http://www.sfnorthbeach.com -- and New York's Little Italy can be found online at http://www.littleitalynyc.com . Also in New York, the Italian businesses along Arthur Avenue in the Bronx -- Arthur Avenue Caterers among them -- contain a great selection of goods and services for the "Italo- phile." (Arthur Avenue advertises itself as New York's "real" Little Italy --but I'm not qualified to comment on that!)