Depression Era Cooking, With a Smile

At left: The lovely Clara Canucciari. Image via greatdepressioncooking.com

I read a great article in the NY Daily News today on Clara Cannucciari, a 93-year old grandmother and YouTube sensation. Her gimmick? Cooking the meals that her family made to survive during the Great Depression. 

Ms. Cannucciari is charm personified. She's as comfortable relating cheap cooking tips as she is revealing snippets of her hardscrabble history--and she does so without the slightest hint of "you kids these days" grumpiness. Maybe it's because her grandson is the man behind the camera, but I suspect that she is a truly lovely woman, motivated by a sincere desire to help others. The way she ends her shows seems to indicate that this is the case: "Thanks for listening," she says, smiling at the viewer. "And God bless you."  

I think I love her. 

You can read the article here and you can watch her cooking show (there are seven episodes so far) here. Apparently, a DVD is in the works (or at least, that's what her website says). You can bet I'll be buying it.