The Food Seen
Linda Pugliese, Handmade Pasta Photographer
On today’s episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Linda Pugliese grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, surrounded by sailboats, shorelines, and crabs smothered in Old Bay seasoning. Though her last name is from the Puglia region of Italy, Linda hadn’t returned until later in life, reconnecting with a family that welcomed her with love and pasta. Infatuation is almost too weak a word for how intrigued, and enamored, Linda was by the different shapes and methods of handmade pasta. Linda watch videos of grandmas on YouTube making cavatelli, a small shell of sorts, though her homemade version is made with a semolina dough, elongated to resemble a shelled pea pod. In a trip to Emilia-Romagna, she learned variations of tortellini and tortelloni, the origins of tagliatelle, and the importance of using bright yellow egg yolks. Sometimes something as simple as how to make pasta is hard to put in words, it’s a feeling, but thankfully, Linda is also a wonderful self-taught photographer, capturing the processes, and stories, behind each attempt, and luckily, we get to follow along her journey, via lindapugliese.tumblr.com.