American Italian Cultural Society shares spaghetti, food traditions

CREST HILL – For Italians, food “is our culture, a way of life,” said Sam Governale, past president and spaghetti dinner coordinator for American Italian Cultural Society,

So, in the early 1990s, when the society wanted to raise money to buy a building, members decided to host a series of monthly spaghetti dinners “because these ladies could make spaghetti much better than anyone else,” Governale said.

Those spaghetti dinners proved so successful – rapidly climbing from 200 to 1,500 dinners served every second Thursday of the month – that even after the society owned the building, it continued hosting spaghetti dinners. The next one is Thursday.

“Last month we made enough for 1,400,” Governale said, assuming a snow day would bring reduced sales, “and we ran out.”

However, devising that original recipe was tricky. These women, Governale said, cooked the old-fashioned way, by taste and measuring ingredients with their hands, not with cups and spoons.

“I had to stop these ladies and put their hands in some sort of measuring device to get an idea,” Governale said. “Of course, everyone’s hands are different, but I finally came up with something that was measurable.”

And that recipe, Governale said, has not changed.

“But there’s probably 21 secret recipes in there,” he added.

They prepare all components of the meal “fresh out of the pot” as people wait; pasta is not cooked the previous day and reheated, Governale said. He does offer a meatless sauce, but most customers want meat. Taste-testing still is part of the cooking process.

“There can be difference in tomato sauces,” Governale said. “Some seasons may be dry and some seasons may be wet. We may need to add more ingredients to make it the way I like it.”

However, the society’s spaghetti dinners are not its only food-related events. Another is the annual St. Joseph Table, always in March. This fundraiser, based on a similar Sicilian event, Governale said, offers a variety of traditional, no-meat, dishes. The meatless slant is not because of Lenten abstinence.

“The reason for no meat is because the people [in Sicily] couldn’t afford it,” Governale said.

Menu items may include smelt, sardines, frittatas, fava beans, roasted potatoes, baked onions, stewed zucchini, roasted potatoes, green beans almondine, eggplant Parmesan, variety of breads and pastries and polenta, Governale said.

“My mother refused to eat corn or polenta,” Governale said, smiling at the memory. “[She felt] corn was meant to feed animals, not people.”

Attendance is limited. After a monetary donation, patrons receive a multicourse feast valued at $50, Governale said. Proceeds then are donated to pre-selected, financially needy people.

Governale recalled how one St. Joseph Table event helped six local families. Sometimes, recipients prefer to remain anonymous and Governale’s only contact with them is to slip the money under the door.

One family, Governale learned as he stepped into the house, had sold nearly all of their furniture – except for a telephone table displaying a non-working telephone – and had a few canned goods in the cupboard.

“We were able to give them $100 a month in food for six months,” Governale said.

If You Go

What: Monthly spaghetti dinner
When: 11a.m. to 7 p.m. March 13
Where: American Italian Cultural Club, 1918 Donmaur Drive, Crest Hill
Cost: $8 a dinner ($4 for children ages 12 and younger), dine-in or carry out
Call: 815-725-7450

Know more: According to its website, www.americanitalian.org, the American Italian Cultural Society is a nonprofit organization established in 1988 and dedicated to preserving and continuing Italian culture and traditions.

It also supports local students with a successful scholarship program. Monies raised at the American Italian Cultural Society are donated to the local community and to those in need.