On a drizzly Friday morning I made the trip out to Thornbury to bottle passata with Teresa and Angela, who established Mangia Mangia to introduce and reconnect people with traditional family methods of preparing and preserving food. The morning began with the most delectable almond biscuits (Maria’s Pasta di Mandorla) and a stove top espresso. With an enormous pot filled with dozens of bottles of passata on the boil we could relax and enjoy lunch, which included home made sun dried tomatoes, marinated olives and salami. I couldn’t possibly hope to recreate this banquet (in my shoe box kitchen) in its entirety but I will be making some chili oil to spoon over pasta. In their cookbook, Mangia Mangia, Teresa and Angela have collected their own family recipes for preparing and preserving food and have illustrated them with family photographs, which capture the warmth and generosity these women exude.