Mary Ann Esposito (born August 3, 1942) is an American
chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...
, cookbook writer, and the television host of ''Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito'', which started in 1989 and is the longest-running television cooking program in America.
Esposito has published over a dozen
cookbook
A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.
Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food.
Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...
s.
Personal life
Esposito was raised in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
.
Her mother was a
dietitian
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...
.
Her grandmothers, both professional chefs, moved to the United States from Italy in the 1890s. Her paternal grandmother, from
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, owned a
butcher shop
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...
in
Fairport, New York
Fairport is a village located in the Town of Perinton, which is part of Monroe County, New York, United States. Fairport is a suburb east of Rochester. It is also known as the "Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal". In 2005, it was named as one of th ...
, and her maternal grandmother lived in Buffalo, where she owned a
boarding house. The latter grandmother was from
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, and continued the traditions of her Italian household within the boarding house. The boarding house was the only house in the neighborhood that had a
bathtub
A bathtub, also known simply as a bath or tub, is a container for holding water in which a person or animal may bathe. Most modern bathtubs are made of thermoformed acrylic, porcelain-enameled steel or cast iron, or fiberglass-reinforced poly ...
, and on Friday nights she would offer neighbors a bath and dinner for a
quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25.
Quarter or quarters may refer to:
Places
* Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town
Placenames
* Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland
* Le Quartier, a settlement ...
. While her grandmothers provided traditional Italian food, Esposito desired to eat standard foods like other children:
Wonder Bread
Wonder Bread is a brand of sliced bread which originated in the United States in 1921 and was one of the first to be sold pre-sliced nationwide in 1930. The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States.
History
The Taggart Bak ...
and
iceberg lettuce
Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...
.
Esposito, who never intended to pursue a career in cooking, learned to cook from her family. Her grandmothers made bread every day, with Esposito helping to make upwards of 20 loaves of bread a day,
canning
Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although u ...
vegetables and fruits, and helping to prepare ingredients for meals. Eventually, Esposito attended college, where she would graduate with a teaching degree and become an
elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
teacher.
In 1979, her mother sent her a
pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...
maker, and despite a lack of interest in cooking as an adult, Esposito taught herself how to make pasta
dough
Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening ag ...
. The following year, she and her husband Guy
visited Italy for the first time, visiting his cousins. While in Italy, Esposito started attending a cooking class. She began learning the history of Italian cooking, region by region, and traveling to the country twice a year for cooking lessons. At the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...
she took classes to learn how to speak
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
. By 1985, she had joined the history master's program at the university, writing her
thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
about
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
cooking.
Career
Esposito started teaching cooking through the
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...
's Division of
Continuing Education
Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United ...
. In the mid-1980s, she submitted a proposal for a cooking show to
New Hampshire Public Television
New Hampshire PBS (NHPBS), known as New Hampshire Public Television (NHPTV) prior to October 1, 2017, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member network serving the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is operated by New Hampshire Public Broadcast ...
. The show was delayed production because of the small size of the television station; however, upon moving to a larger station, a
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
was taped. The pilot was a test to not only gauge viewer reception, but, to also see how Esposito would be on camera. On the hottest day of the year in the region, the television crew came to Esposito's home in
Durham, New Hampshire
Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 15,490 at the 2020 census, up from 14,638 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 Census figures. Retrieved March 23, 2011. D ...
, and the pilot was taped. Upon airing, the pilot received great reception and the longest-running television cooking show was born.
Esposito has published over a dozen cooking books about Italian cooking and entertaining. Her 1997 book, ''What You Knead'', about
breadmaking
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made food ...
, was awarded best in category by the
International Cookbook Revue
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
and was named one of ''
Food & Wine
''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...
'' magazine's top cookbooks of 1997.
She makes over forty public appearances a year nationally
and has appeared on the ''
Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'', ''
Regis and Kathie Lee
''Live with Kelly and Mark'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American Broadcast syndication, syndicated breakfast television, morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show ...
'',
QVC
QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Pen ...
, the
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
,
Martha Stewart Living Radio
Martha Stewart Living Radio was a 24-hour satellite radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 110 produced by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The station aired a variety of programming hosted by the company's team of experts, covering topi ...
, and other programs.
She contributed to ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''
and ''
New Hampshire Home''.
''Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito''
''Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito,'' is a thirty-minute
cooking show
A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a studio set, or at the host's personal home. Ty ...
produced for
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
by Esposito's own Mary Esposito Productions, and taped at New Hampshire Public Television. The show features Esposito's recipes and cooking tips, and visits from guest chefs. She also explores the history of Italian cooking and food.
Through the show, Esposito seeks to help her viewers learn about new recipes that are "doable, authentic, and good."
When deciding what to feature on the show, Esposito has four standards: she must like to eat the food, the ingredients should be easy to find, the recipe should be something unique and new to the viewer, and should be manageable by the kitchen staff. Every episode has twenty volunteers who work on the show. An entire season of shows, generally about thirty-two episodes, can be taped within two weeks during the summer, with two to three shows being taped a day.
All of the food is made from scratch in the studio, with each dish being prepared in numerous batches and at different recipe stages. This allows Esposito to execute an entire recipe in a matter of minutes that might take hours to complete. All of the recipes are planned by Esposito and the kitchen staff. Volunteers gather all the pertinent ingredients from local markets and go to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
for specialty foods if unavailable locally.
Recipes are prepared the day of the show. ''Ciao Italia'' is not scripted. The studio set is loosely based on Esposito's home kitchen. The view out the window of the set is painted to appear as the view of the
Oyster River, which is seen from her home kitchen. To prepare for shows, Esposito researches and tests recipes outside the studio.
Restaurant
In 2020, Esposito opened a restaurant, also named "Ciao Italia".
[ She stated, “I’ve been asked to do a Ciao Italia restaurant many times over the years, and I’ve always said no,” but agreed to open one in her longtime hometown of Durham.] Ownership and business model quickly pivoted, the very next year, 2021, to a wine bar owned by the Clark Family. Esposito is no longer mentioned on the website.
Recognitions
A scholarship foundation named after and maintained by Esposito awards scholarships for students seeking financial aid
Student financial aid in the United States is funding that is available exclusively to students attending a post-secondary educational institution in the United States. This funding is used to assist in covering the many costs incurred in the p ...
to study culinary arts
Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...
. Esposito was awarded an honorary degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
from St. Anselm College. She has received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Culinary and Cultural Arts of Italy by the Order Sons of Italy in America
The Order Sons of Italy in America ( it, Ordine Figli d’Italia in America, OSIA) is the largest and the oldest Italian American Benefit society, fraternal organization in the United States. A similar organization exists in Canada.
It has more ...
. She is in the Hall of Fame for the Italian Trade Commission.
On June 2, 2013, a knighthood was bestowed upon her by the President of the Italian Republic
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
under the title ''Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia'' ( Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy).[Staff (undated)]
"Esposito Sig.ra Mary Ann"
(in Italian). Office of the President of the Italian Republic
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
. Retrieved September 25, 2016. She was one of 160 people worldwide to receive this honor in 2013, and the only American.
Esposito was honored in 2004 with the Advancement in Career award by her alma mater Daemen College
Daemen University is a private university in Amherst, New York and Brooklyn, New York. Formerly Daemen College and Rosary Hill College, the now-nondenominational school was founded by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1947.
As of fall 2020, 2,536 s ...
.
Publications
* ''Celebrations Italian Style: Recipes and Menus for Special Occasions and Seasons of the Year''. Hearst Books: New York (1995). . Morrow Cookbooks: New York (1991). .
* ''Bringing Italy Home''. .
* ''Family Classics: More than 200 Treasured Recipes from 3 Generations of Italian Cooks''. St. Martin's Press: New York (2011). .
* ''Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen''. St. Martin's Press: New York (2009). .
* ''Tuscany: Traditional Recipes from One of Italy's Most Famous Regions''. St. Martin's Press: New York (2003). .
* ''Umbria: Recipes and Reflections from the Heart of Italy''. St. Martin's Press: New York (2002). .
* ''CPronto!: 30-Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen''. St. Martin's Press: New York (2005). .
* ''Slow and Easy: Casseroles, Braises, Lasagne, and Stews from an Italian Kitchen''. St. Martin's Press: New York (2007). .
*''Mangia Pasta!: Easy-To-Make Recipes for Company and Every Day''. Morrow Cookbooks: New York (1998). .
* ''Nella Cucina: More Italian Cooking from the Host of Cucina Italiana''. Morrow Cookbooks: New York (1993). .
* ''What You Knead''. Morrow Cookbooks: New York (1997). .
See also
* List of chefs
:''Only those subjects who are notable enough for their own articles should be included here. That may include chefs who have articles in other languages on Wikipedia which have not as yet been translated into English.''
This article is a list of ...
* List of Italian Americans
* List of people from Buffalo, New York
A list of people who are from or have lived in Buffalo, New York. Individuals are listed in alphabetical order by last name in each category. Residents of Buffalo are commonly referred to as ''Buffalonians''.
Architects
*Louise Blanchard Bethun ...
* List of people from New Hampshire
The following are people who were born, raised, or who gained significant prominence for living in U.S. state of New Hampshire:
Aeronautics and aviation
* Jay C. Buckey (born 1956), astronaut
* Michael Durant (born 1961), pilot – native
...
* List of University of New Hampshire alumni
* Lists of writers
The following are lists of writers:
Alphabetical indices
A – B – C – D –
E – F –
G – H –
I – J –
K – L –
M – N –
O – P ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Mary Ann
1942 births
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American educators
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American educators
21st-century American women writers
American cookbook writers
American television chefs
American television hosts
American writers of Italian descent
People of Sicilian descent
People of Campanian descent
Educators from New York (state)
Living people
PBS people
Television personalities from Buffalo, New York
People from Durham, New Hampshire
Recipients of Italian civil awards and decorations
University of New Hampshire alumni
University of New Hampshire faculty
Women cookbook writers
Writers from New Hampshire
Writers from Buffalo, New York
American women chefs
American women non-fiction writers
American women television presenters
20th-century American women educators
21st-century American women educators
American women academics
Chefs from New Hampshire