Massimo Galeano, own owns an Italian restaurant in Manhattan, just couldn't seem to replicate the delicate and light tortellini that his Mama used to make in Bologna, Italy. The solution? He flys Mama into town several times a year for six week streches to prepare the pasta for lucky diners at Gradisca, on 13th St.
It's a mother-son story, of course, but I was caught by the NYT reporter's catgorization of this process: "In a scenario that seems to have come straight out of an Italian sitcom, or maybe a marathon therapy session with Dr. Freud, Mr. Galenao flies his family matriarch to New York..."
OK, can we have one article on a mother and son relationship that does not include a reference to Dr. Freud? It's a sweet story, but instead of turning it into the inevitable "mammismo" (that's "Mama's Boy" in Italian) schtick, could they maybe spin it as bringing in some family expertise? If a daughter called on their father for help into a business in which he had years of experience and special talent, would we be calling up the spector of Electra instead of Oedipus?
Just sayin'....
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