Mary Taylor Simeti is an American author specializing in

Sicilian cuisine Sicilian cuisine is the style of cooking on the island of Sicily. It shows traces of all cultures that have existed on the island of Sicily over the last two millennia. Although its cuisine has much in common with Italian cuisine, Sicilian food a ...

and its history. She is a former regular contributor to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and to the ''

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''.

Biography

Mary Taylor Simeti was born in 1941 in New York City. She is the daughter of

Francis Henry Taylor Francis Henry Taylor (1903–1957) was a distinguished American museum director and curator, who served as the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for fifteen years. He was born in Philadelphia, and started his career as a curator at the ...

, then director of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. In 1962 she graduated from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

with a major in history. She travelled to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

to work with social activist

Danilo Dolci Danilo Dolci (June 28, 1924 – December 30, 1997) was an Italian social activist, sociologist, popular educator and poet. He is best known for his opposition to poverty, social exclusion and the Mafia in Sicily, and is considered to be one of the ...

. In Sicily she met her future husband, Antonio Simeti, professor of agricultural economics at the

University of Palermo The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its ...

. Together they restored the Simetis' farm near

Alcamo Alcamo (; scn, Àrcamu, italic=no) is the fourth-largest town and commune of the Province of Trapani, Sicily, with a population of 44.925 inhabitants. It is on the borderline with the Metropolitan City of Palermo at a distance of about 50 kilo ...

where they produce organic olive oil and wine.

Books

* “On Persephone’s Island. A Sicilian Journal“, Alfred Knopf, 1986, . * “Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food“, Alfred Knopf, 1989, . British edition: “Sicilian Food: Recipes from Italy's Abundant Isle“, Grub Street Cookery, 2009, . * “Bitter Almonds: Recollections and Recipes of a Sicilian Girlhood”, written with Maria Grammatico. Morrow, 1994, . Italian version: “Mandorle amare”, Flaccovio Editore, 2004, . * “Travels With a Medieval Queen. The Journey of a Sicilian Princess to Reclaim Her Father's Crown“, Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001, . * “Fumo e arrosto: Escursioni nel paesaggio letterario e gastronomico della Sicilia”, Flaccovio Editore 2008 * “Sicilian Summer: An Adventure in Cooking with My Grandsons“, Silverwood Books, 2017, .

References

External links

*
Website of the Simeti-Taylor Organic Farm in Sicily

BBC Food Programme."My Food Hero: Dan Saladino meets Mary Taylor Simeti"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simeti, Mary Taylor 1941 births Living people Women food writers American food writers Radcliffe College alumni People from Alcamo Historians of Sicily