Feeding the Neighborhood

“My parents sort of took in every “latchkey” kid in our town (and the next town). Every Friday, one by one they'd stumble in and watch TV with my dad, waiting to eat. Friday was easiest for my mother, because spaghetti goes a long way. She'd make the sauce with; of course, Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, tomato sauce and paste. When my son gets older, if he has any friends like that, I will proudly do as my mother did.”

– Samantha M.

“My mother used to make baked tomatoes with mozzarella for late night snacks after I'd come home from a date. I'd share all the crazy details of my night with her. Just one bite of a baked tomato makes me think of my mom. Now, I'm the mom, and I see how wise she was to create an event over something simple like that. It was a great way to get me to share at an age when everything seemed so private in my life.”

– Susan R.

“One night at my uncle’s house, everyone was in the kitchen helping with dinner. There was always so much chopping, dashing from the fridge to the sink to the stove, passing veggies to one another, all in perfect unison. That's when we noticed that my 82-year-old full-blooded Italian grandmother was opening up Tuttorosso cans! CANS! The room was quiet; I think from shock that she would even consider using canned tomatoes! This is the same woman that taught us fresh was the only way to go. My extremely old-school and very vocal about it grandmother was smiling when she said it was fresh and one of the very few foods in a can that she would ever consider using in her meals because of how delicious it tastes. ‘That's real tomatoes in there, no junk,’ she boasted and that was good enough for us!”

– Kimberly S.