"Joe's Biscotti Recipe" is offered as an active and dispersed monument to my father. Recipe cards with my father's prized biscotti recipe will be available at the exhibition. He took great pride in cooking for his friends and family. It connected him to his Italian heritage and allowed him to express his love for those around him. This August 2009 marks the five year anniversary of my father's passing.

Recipes are powerful tools of connection to culture and history. My father’s side
of the family immigrated to New York City from Sicily with his grandparents. His
parents grew up in Little Italy here and we still have relatives in Brooklyn, while
others have migrated to Boston and others to Los Angeles. Having recently
made the Carroll Gardens/Red Hook area of Brooklyn my home, I find myself
reconnecting with my Italian-American heritage. And it’s mostly through the
homemade food that’s in part familiar yet distinctive to each particular bakery
or deli or restaurant.

In addition to being an offering, I would like "Joe's Biscotti Recipe" to also act as a catalyst for the reciprocal exchange of meaningful recipes. *If you wish to post your own recipes that connect to people and/or places that are no longer with you physically, please visit www.joesbiscottirecipe.com. As an online cookbook, the site will serve to give form to the recipes that connect us to our social histories.

- Amanda Curreri