Back in 2014, documentarian and cookbook writer Vicky Bennison launched Pasta Grannies: an award-winning Youtube series which shows grandmothers across Italy demonstrating how they make a specific pasta dish. The fusion of travel, cooking and the grandmothers’ fascinating backstories proved to be a hit: the channel now has more than one million subscribers tuning in for episodes that are as comforting as a cheesy wodge of homemade lasagna.
“I always say viewers come from the pasta and stay for the grannies,” Bennison tells Broadsheet. “They’re a warm hug in an uncertain world … and there’s something very mesmerising about pasta being made.”
There was just one drawback to watching 80-year-old Rosetta from Ormea prepare alpine lasagne with leeks and mushrooms, or best friends Gabriella, Morena and Emilia make tagliatelle with wild asparagus they foraged in the countryside outside Assisi: you couldn’t actually eat the pasta they’ve made. Until now.
Pasta Grannies has collaborated with La Tua Pasta to create two pasta products inspired by the Italian grandmothers featured in the series.
“We started with the question: if you don’t have your own nonna to make pasta, who would be the best pasta producers to make it for you?” Bennison says. She opted for La Tua Pasta, a London-based, Italian-founded artisan pastificio – or pasta workshop – that supplies Italian delis, stores and restaurants across London.
In coming up with the pasta products, Bennison – who has also published three cookbooks, including Eat Everything: Pasta and Beyond: For the Good Life, published this month – wanted to reflect the north and south of Italy. Representing the south is the fresh orecchiette (“little ears” in Italian) – “one of Puglia’s most famous shapes” – chosen because “it’s an adaptable pasta and it looks lovely when it’s cooked and mixed in a sauce”. La Tua Pasta’s version is made the traditional way, with only semolina flour and water. They’re designed to have bite and texture, with a shape that can catch and hold a range of sauces.
As for the north, Bennison looked through the Pasta Grannies archive and found 76 variations of filled pasta, out of more than 500 recipes. Together, Bennison and La Tua Pasta created ravioloni (a larger version of ravioli) with stracciatella, zucchini and lemon. “They’re rich and delicious,” Bennison says. “The ravioloni with the flecks of lemon zest brightening the stracciatella and zucchini are summery, rich but not heavy. You think ‘they are huge’ and then find yourself eating five. Maybe that’s just me … ”
So what’s next for Pasta Grannies? Bennison hints that fans might soon be able to visit the places she travels to for the series. “Real-life pasta is part of an experiment to see how people want to interact with us, and each other. I’d love to engage with our fans not just through social media platforms, and do things that are a little more hands-on. We’d love to do Pasta Grannies tours.”
The Pasta Grannies x La Tua Pasta range is available on the La Tua Pasta website, Eataly London and a range of independent retail stores and delis including Salvino in Camden, Jay’s Budgens and Nourished Communities in Blackstock, Upper Street, Blackhorse and St James Street. There will also be a taste sampling at Eataly on Wednesday, September 9 from 5pm–9pm.
