Marcella Hazan Recipe Notebooks
name: label: Author
content: Hazan, Marcella (1924-04-15-2013-09-29)
label: Names
content: Child, Julia, 1912-2004
label: Donor
content: Hazan, Giuliano, 1958-
label: Donor
content: Hazan, Victor
topic: label: Topic
content: Cooking
label: Topic
content: Cooking, Italian
label: Topic
content: Food
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Victor Hazan and Giuliano Hazan, December 6, 2023.
creator: label: Author
content: Hazan, Marcella (1924-04-15-2013-09-29)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Marcella Hazan Recipe Notebooks
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection consists of 26 handwritten recipe notebooks of Marcella Hazan, chef and author of Italian cooking.
bioghist: label: Biographical
content: Marcella Hazan (née Polini), was a tremendously influential cookbook author and culinary educator of regional Italian cooking traditions in the United States and United Kingdom. She is widely known for her six cookbooks on the cuisines of Italy, published between 1973 and 2004, which introduced American and British cooks to a wide range of ingredients, culinary techniques, and regional recipes at a time when Italian food for many in the U.S. leaned toward canned spaghetti and frozen pizza. What Julia Child did for French cooking in the United States, Marcella Hazan did for Italian cooking. Nevertheless, Hazan's name and legacy are lesser known by many Americans. Her story is deserving of preservation and integration into broad histories of culture, cuisine, education, women entrepreneurs, immigration, disability, and consumption in the twentieth-century United States.

Marcella's life in food was shaped by the fresh ingredients and simplified, efficient approaches to cooking and eating typical in the fishing village of Cesenatico, Italy, where she was born in 1924 and spent her early years. An accident at age 7 when her family was visiting Alexandria, Egypt, left her with limited use of her right arm for the rest of her life, a fact that would influence the design and use of her kitchens, but not her impact in the culinary world. During World War II, her family retreated to an inland farmhouse to escape the German occupation. They survived despite Facist takeovers of neighboring villages. Their return to Cesenatico in 1945 was also a return to the familiar foodscape of the sea and garden plants that had also survived the war. Marcella earned two doctorates in the sciences and became an elementary school teacher. She met Victor Hazan, who had left Italy with his family, Sephardic Jews, in 1939, ahead of the occupation. They moved to New York and established businesses there. 

After marrying in 1955, Victor and Marcella returned to New York where Marcella struggled with learning English and finding appropriate ingredients to prepare meals from her Italian homeland. She enrolled in a Chinese cooking class and when the instructor abruptly left for China, the other students convinced Marcella to teach them Italian cooking. She opened a small cooking school in her home apartment in 1969 and attracted the praise and attention of New York Times food editor Craig Claiborne in the 1970s. Hazan published her first cookbook, The Classic Italian Cookbook, in 1973. From this surprising beginning, Marcella became a much-sought-after cooking teacher and cookbook author, active in the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy. 

Hazan's cookbooks introduced American and British readers to the structure of the traditional Italian meal and to ingredients, dishes, and techniques largely unknown outside of Italy, such as balsamic vinegar, pesto, and the procedures for making fresh pasta. Unlike other chefs and authors of her day, Hazan rejected many high-tech shortcuts for chopping and mixing, insisting on manual techniques and stovetop cooking that demanded the cook's constant attention. In 1998, Marcella and Victor moved from Italy to Longboat Key, Florida, due to Marcella's declining health. She designed the kitchen in their Florida condominium to suit her cooking practices and tastes and continued to cook and write from her Florida home. Hazan died in Longboat Key, Florida, in 2013. She was the recipient of numerous awards, including the International Association of Culinary Professionals Lifetime Achievement Award (2004); Cavaliere della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana Award (2003); James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award (2000); and others.

Victor and Marcella had one son, Giuliano Hazan (b.1958). Marcella Hazan died on September 29, 2013.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: .75 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1970s-1990s
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1604
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Notebooks
label: Type
content: Recipes
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection is unprocessed.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Notebooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Recipes
scopecontent: label: Content Description
content: Collection consists of 26 handwritten recipe notebooks of Marcella Hazan, chef and author of Italian cooking.  Also includes one letter to Marcella Hazan from Julia Child, July 31, 1973. The recipe notebooks are in Italian.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: Related materials were donated to the Division of Work and Industry. See accession 2023.0019.

Lasagna pan, 2023.0119.01

Zabaglione pot, 2023.0119.02

Cutting board, 2023.0119.03

Fregola/couscous sleeve, 2023.0119.04

Piadina Maker, 2023.0119.05

Mezzaluna, 2023.0119.06 

Hand grater, 2023.0119.07

Passatelli press, 2023.0119.08

Pasta tool, 2023.0119.09

Fish Scaler, 2023.0119.10

Cheese knife, 2023.0119.11

Patsa comb, 2023.0119.12a

Pasta comb tool, 2023.0119.12b

Mattarello Sleeve, 2023.0119.13b

Mattarello, 2023.0119.13a

Truffle slicer, 2023.0119.14

Risotto spoon, 2023.0119.15

Lasagna spatula, 2023.0119.16

Pasta knife, 2023.0119.17

Apron, 2023.0119.18