“Get out of your comfort zone. Eat what is local,” said Esposito.
Esposito has applied that same way of thinking to her show, “Ciao Italia,” which takes PBS viewers into her kitchen where she highlights regional Italian cuisine and flavors.
She recently spoke to The Boston Globe about the misconceptions Americans have about Italian food, bad olive oil and fake San Marzano tomatoes, and her hopes for her legacy.
Q: “Ciao Italia” has been on the air for over 30 years. Why do you think the show has been able to last for as long it has?
Esposito: I’ve had a relationship with my audience for over 30 years. It’s a loyal audience. When I started, people would refer to people like me as “a pioneer” in the cooking genre on television. It’s not scripted, and I’ve delved into regional Italian cooking rather than focusing on mainstream Italian-American dishes.
Having spent a lot of time in Italy, you realize there is no such thing as “Italian food.” I said that on my first televised program. There is only regional food. And that has been the mission and premise of Ciao Italia all these years.
How do you think the landscape of Italian food in America changed since you started “Ciao Italia” in 1989?
People are much more aware of what real Italian ingredients are. Let’s take Parmesan as an example. People use to go to the store and think they’d find parmesan in a box or container in the canned food aisle. They thought that was cheese. Now, through travel and exposure on TV or places like Instagram, people are becoming more aware of what real food is all about. On my show, I take you to the factory to show you where Parmesan cheese actually comes from, and talk about the kind, how to use it, how to store it, and how you respect it.
At her home in New Hampshire, Esposito baked this focaccia bread with broccoli rabe, spring onions and cherry tomatoes. Lane Turner/Globe Staff
What’s one ingredient or dish you think Americans still don’t fully appreciate when it comes to authentic Italian cooking?
Tomatoes. Most people are fooled when they think they are buying San Marzano tomatoes. I did an entire episode on this. San Marzano is a type of plum tomato, but not every plum tomato is a San Marzano. And the reason for that is because San tomatoes can only come from one place and that is San Marzano, which is in the region of Campania. You can only use these tomatoes if you are in Italy or if you get them canned with the letters on the front that say “DOP” [which means “Denominazione di Origine Protetta,” or “Protected Designation of Origin”] and has the European seal. That will tell you it’s authentic. I’ve often said, we can come close to what the flavor is of the dish we’re trying to make from Italy. But we will never duplicate it. Another example is olive oil. You have to be a detective when looking at a bottle to understand if it’s good olive oil.
What’s your go-to olive oil?
It’s like asking what my favorite wine is. I can’t answer that. I tell people to buy three bottles of olive oil and try each one: one from the northern part of Italy, one from the central region, and one from the south. The northern olive oil will be lighter in taste and color. The central region is going to be more intense in flavor. But when you get one from the South, like Sicily or Puglia, is where you’ll get a really dense, dark green, peppery-tasting olive oil.
In 2020, the Ciao Italia restaurant opened in your hometown of Durham, N.H. At the time of the opening, you had said in interviews that you had been asked to open a restaurant many times, but you always said no. Why?
The work on my show is my number one priority. I’m of the thinking that you cannot do those two things and give them your full attention. If I had a restaurant, I’d want to be there the whole time to make sure that every dish that came out of the kitchen had my stamp of approval.
What happened to your involvement in the restaurant?
I was approached and asked if I would lend my name and if I would consult on the menu development. I said I would. And then the pandemic came, and like so many restaurants, it did not survive. [The restaurant closed in January 2024.]
Are there any classic Italian dishes you personally don’t love but feel obligated to teach?
There are, and one is a bollito [misto]. It’s a bunch of stewed animal organs and is very popular in places like Modena, Italy. But it’s not something that I like.
Esposito’s latest cookbook, “Plant, Harvest, Cook!,” used produce from her own garden. Lane Turner/Globe Staff
You’re going to Uncorking the Future, Rhode Island PBS’s and The Public’s Radio’s fundraiser, at the end of this month. What should people expect while you’re there?
I’ll be talking to people about our years of experience producing our show right in Rhode Island, highlighting many Providence restaurants and chefs. I’ll have copies my books, “Ciao Italia: Plant, Harvest, Cook!” and “Ciao Italia: My Lifelong Food Adventures in Italy,” and signing them as well.
You live in New Hampshire. When you’re not cooking at home, where are you going to eat? I’m guessing you’re not pining for Italian food, which you’ve mastered at home.
I definitely do not go out for Italian food. I recently had Turkish food at Anatolia in Somersworth, a little town in New Hampshire. The chef is directly from Turkey and the mezze came with this lavash bread that I could live on. It was outstanding. This bread was very puffy, huge, and they do a beautiful mezze with hummus and baba ghanoush. I like things like that. I love Thai food, Greek food, which is close to home.
But it’s tough in New Hampshire, which is so conservative when it comes to eating. They’re still in the pot roast mentality.
You’re always on the move. But what haven’t you done that you’ve always wanted to do?
I haven’t lived in Italy longer than a month. And I would love to do an entire season of “Ciao Italia” while traveling all over Italy, and stay there for a year.
Mary Ann Esposito in her home in Durham, New Hampshire.Lane Turner/Globe Staff
You’ve had the longest running cooking show in television history. But what do you want your legacy to be?
I want people to know that cooking can bring great joy, and I’ve always wanted people to really open up their eyes and their palates to what regional Italian food is all about. I wanted people to know what the real food of Italy is and the joy that food brings Italians.
Food is something that is a unifying factor in our lives. It’s why you spend three hours at the table talking about food. And why, when you go to the market and you want to buy pears, the vendor says, well, what are you going to do with the pear? And you get into this discussion of how you’re going to use it. We have none of that in this country. We don’t have that reverence for food. We don’t know where our food comes from. And we don’t take the time to really enjoy food.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.