When my grandfather passed away in April of 2003
at the age of 90 years old, I knew the world had lost a
one-of a kind personality who came from a generation of
immigrants that knew hardship, but embraced life with
unequaled strength. I kept wishing that I could preserve
his wisdom, advice, and experience in a jar. Then
whenever I needed his perspective on life, I could simply
open up the jar and get the answer. Well…
Grandad’s Gravy™ is our attempt to capture and
preserve his love for life, his humor, and the wisdom he
obtained through 90 years of life experience. Below you
will find an explanation of expressions he used which are
featured on our products:“Enough
already…Just eat!”
Everything in our family surrounded the kitchen table...
the food, the people, the conversation. One would not
think about walking into Grandad’s house without
immediately sitting at the table to eat. It would have
been offensive. And it didn't matter if you had already
eaten, the first order of business was always sitting
down to eat.
“You gotta eat!”
Grandad would never allow you to even think of skipping a
meal. If you ever tried to imply that you were too busy
to eat, Grandad would present his infalliblie argument:
"You gotta eat!" Well... he was always right.
“Eat it, or wear it!”
This expression was one that was usually saved for the
kids. If you were a picky eater, forget it! You were out
of luck. You sat at the table until your plate was clean.
The threat was not a simple "to bed without
dinner," it was a bit more emphatic.
“Bari… the flower of
Italy!”
While we are all fond of where we are from, Grandad
always enjoyed invoking provincial rivalry between
regions of Italy. He would always remind his Sicilian
friends that Bari was the "fleur d'Italia."
“Salute... To
Health!”
Grandad often said, if you have your health, you have
everything. Isn’t that the truth. For a man who saw
much hardship in his life, he always knew that a healthy
day was a happy one.
