We recently connected with Marisa Mariella and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Marisa, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I was well into my teen years before I noticed that not everyone had a fig tree in their front yard. Standing much taller than me, our family’s fig tree took centre stage, right among the roses, snapdragons, and free-growing parsley…Italian parsley, not that curly stuff. Of course.

While my friends had pools and sandboxes in their backyards, my childhood backyard featured an impeccable vibrant garden showcasing 5-foot tomato plants with rows of shiny plump purple eggplants and crisp glossy green peppers. Zucchini plants with their exuberant sunny yellow blossoms hid behind the forest of string beans that grew so tall that mamma regularly used a ladder to harvest their bounty. Bouquets of Swiss chard and escarole with their lush broad leaves claimed their own real estate. Fragrant basil and bushy Italian parsley lined the garden’s front perimeter while sprawling prickly cucumber vines clung to the chainlink property fence to create a natural backdrop. Like an arranged orchestra seating, each plant occupied its optimal space in the garden, carefully assigned by the gifted maestro, my papà.

Without ever having to explain with words, my parents taught my sister and me that food was more than just something to eat. It was at the core of a family-centered value system that their respective families undoubtedly had instilled in them growing up in Calabria. How fortunate for us! Most of my childhood memories are filled with sensory-rich experiences. Walking home from school, I often detected the scent of mamma’s fresh tomato sauce wafting from our kitchen window from blocks away. Her tomatoes had been harvested from our luscious garden the summer prior, cleaned, canned, and stored in our cantina or freezer. Made simply with Italian extra-virgin olive oiI, garden-fresh basil, her own dried oregano, and only a fraction of a garlic clove, her tomato sauce was not only perfect for any pasta shape but it was also truly worthy of “scarpetta”. Who needs a fork when you can use a few fingers to tear off a chunk of crusty Calabrese bread and glide it across the plate, sopping up any extra sauce? Mamma taught us that chicken soup always began with fresh chicken parts, never from a can or powdery cubes. Breadcrumbs came from day-old bread and nuts were purchased in the shell. True to the Southern Italian kitchen, there was neither butter nor shortening but my mamma made the best cookies and cakes with fresh lemon juice, Sambuca liqueur, or wild anise seeds handpicked from the mountains of La Sila. My morning breakfast consisted of a large mug of sweetened hot milk decorated with a splash of espresso, ideal for dunking one of the many delicious homemade traditional Donnicese baked goods. Lightly sweetened yeast doughs like “fresine” or “taralli” or cake-like “pastette” or “filuni” rotated throughout my mother’s weekly baking. Celebrations featured a bounty of tastes, textures, smells, and colors! Family picnics included steamy hot lasagna for lunch and thick juicy steaks for the dinner BBQ. Even funerals presented opportunities to share many of our soul-soothing foods.

While the outdoor garden pointed to my parents’ passion for freshness, our basement cantina presented the colorful fruits of their labour, literally. Like the fig tree, I learned that not all homes had a cantina; if they did, it wasn’t stocked like ours. The tidy rows of colourful mason jars looked like a rainbow! Golden peaches bathing in their own juices and sweet syrup, fire-truck red juicy tomatoes, vibrant green pickled cucumbers, black and green brined olives, and firey orange and red roasted red peppers were just some of the preserved foods. Depending on the time of year, freshly curing meats hang from the ceiling like stalactites waiting for their time to be stored. Homemade “salsiccie”, “soppressate”, “capocolli”, and “prosciutti” were lovingly and tenderly cared for during winter months and lent a distinct aroma to the air. Bunches of little red cherry-like tomatoes, cradled by a weave of butcher’s twine, hung strategically by the window so that even in December, a fresh garden tomato salad was just steps away. If the refrigerator ever seemed bare, I knew that an impressive feast of delectable charcuterie ingredients lay waiting for their grand première at any time.

As I matured, I began to understand how immigration to Canada must have tested my parents’ commitment to culture and traditions. Assimilation would have been so much easier. Instead, they remained fiercely proud of their homeland while growing forever grateful to the country that provided a brighter future. Their journey incorporated food on every level… to nourish and soothe, to unite and celebrate, to heal and console, to keep them connected to their roots, and to ultimately express the love that sustained their spirit. Whether it was a simple dinner ready for when papà arrived home from work, a celebratory feast to mark religious holidays, or a gathering with all my dear like-minded relatives, I grew up knowing the power of food.

I am blessed to have been born into a family and married into another family where faith, family, friends, and food were a priority. In reality, food took the top priority. It made the other 3 things more fun! Having lost both my parents, my beautiful mamma just before Christmas, I feel their presence in my own vegetable garden and in my humble cantina. And yes, during the winter months, my husband and I, along with our children and partners, will make the “soppressate” and “capicolli” that will later hang like stalactites in our cantina. The older I get, the more I see how the puzzle pieces find their proper place, securing a familiar yet unique scene.

And just as my parents nurtured that fig tree to thrive in the middle of our front yard, ensuring that it had the best environment to grow, they provided life lessons that continue to guide me today.

Marisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My passion for cooking has always played an integral part in my professional and personal life. An educator for over 35 years and a mother of 4, I believe that while good food is needed to nourish the body, it is even more important to feed the mind, heart, and soul. Having seen firsthand how the kitchen becomes the perfect classroom to nurture self-care, confidence, and community, I am eager to share my recipes, stories from my childhood, and passion for connecting with others. Through food, I promote diversity, inclusion, and mental wellness via cooking classes, live streams, and wellness workshops. As the host and producer of my award-winning cooking series, my recipes are deeply rooted in my Italian heritage but I also love incorporating all cuisines to bring family and friends together. Often featured on CHCH Morninglive with over one million viewers, I enjoy building rapport with viewers and my social media followers. I am especially excited about launching my own private-label Marisa’s Easy Kitchen® food products to support both new and experienced bakers. My first cookbook is in the works.

Other points of interest:
– Marisa is the host and community producer for Marisa’s Easy Kitchen®, now in its fifth season. Having earned the Top Viewers Award for two consecutive years, her down-to-earth approach with food helps others to build confidence, promote self-care, and strengthen relationships. She also earned the “Outstanding On-Air Performance Award”. She has had two other successful series (promoting diversity and mental wellness) through a local specialty channel of 130 000 subscribers.

– Marisa leads interactive and engaging online and in-person cooking and baking classes, offering step-by-step help to build confidence and creativity in the kitchen. Personable and passionate, she promotes the principles of positive psychology to promote wellness through cooking and baking.

– Marisa’s catering brings delicious and elegant cooking to home parties where she often engages with the guests, tantalizing them with fresh aromas and flavours.

– Many of Marisa’s recipes have earned distinctions such as Top Home Chef for her tiramisù and Best Peach Pie at the Niagara-on-the-lake Peach Festival

– As vice-chair of the Suicide Prevention Community Council of Hamilton, she works collaboratively to provide hope, help, and healing by way of prevention, intervention, and postvention in her community through various events and programs.

– Recognized locally, provincially, and nationally for her past initiatives on teen mental health, she strives to break stigma and bring awareness to the importance of mental wellness through education and advocacy. Some awards include the Canadian Champion of Mental Health by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health and Jacqui Candlish Award for Excellence in Suicide Prevention Work.

– Committed to promoting diversity and inclusion, she continues to support various organizations for newcomers through presentations and workshops, including her collaboration with the YMCA Cooking for a Cause Program. Her work with newcomer youth has ignited a deeper understanding of the need to break barriers.

– Marisa is also the site coordinator for the Terry Fox Run, attracting hundreds of participants every year in September. Over the span of her career, she welcomed thousands of teen volunteers to charity walks and runs, raising over $80 000.

– Committed to her Italian heritage, she sits on the Donnici Social Club Committee with whom she helps plan monthly events for the community.

– An educator for 35 years, Marisa has been an award-winning classroom teacher, student success teacher, guidance counselor, and Head of Student Services in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

– While she is busy with many endeavors, she is happiest spending time with her husband, four children with their partners, and their funny furry member of the family, Peaches. She keeps a special place in her heart for Boomer who recently passed over the rainbow bridge. On most free days, you’ll find Marisa in her happy place…the kitchen, of course.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In the last 12 years of my career in education, I dedicated my time and energy to suicide prevention, a topic that has long been considered taboo. At that time, I joined the Suicide Prevention Community Council of Hamilton, an organization for which I later became vice-chair. The council provided me with the skills and knowledge to create teen mental health initiatives to help break stigma and bring awareness to the importance of mental wellness through education and advocacy. The timely initiatives earned many provincial and national awards, allowing the information to reach larger audiences, including other school boards.

In retrospect, many of the initiatives included food. While I cannot deny my motherly instinct to feed children, I recognized that sharing a meal with teens was the best motivator to build rapport and promote engagement. Cooking and baking with groups of newcomer youth helped break language barriers and create a sense of belonging in a way that nothing else could. Weekly sessions of my Culinary Club attracted a diverse bunch of students… those whose leadership skills were already emerging and those whose talents were just waiting to be noticed. I loved organizing after-school wellness events with them and for them, as I knew these strategies nurtured their sense of self. Watching their social connectedness grow was one of my greatest rewards. The power of food was undeniable.

Ironically, this same power of food led me back to wellness. After an unexpected medical leave from my beloved teaching career in 2020 as Head of Student Services, my kitchen helped me re-establish my confidence, creativity, and connections with others. Along with the love and support of family and friends, food re-awakened my senses and reminded me of the importance of self-care and self-compassion. While I peeled, chopped, seared, kneaded, and whipped, I found my focus, strength, and inspiration. During those dark painful months, I did not have the energy to change out of my pygamas but recipes gently cajoled me into the kitchen where ingredients and tools set me on a journey back to wellness.

Even before I realized that workplace harassment was insidiously suffocating me, my intuitive self must have been quietly seeking attention. I remember coming across an invitation from my local cable TV channel for program submissions. As a child, I easily bypassed cartoons to watch any cooking show I could find on TV. As a teen, I had no interest in soap operas if Galloping Gourmet were on TV. When I was home alone, I became Julia Child, talking to my imaginary TV audience about how to bake with a cake mix, an occasional purchase by my parents. I am unsure how that childhood dream surfaced during that agonizing and despairing time in my career but it did. And I am grateful for having had enough self-awareness to pay attention to it. So moments before the midnight deadline for the application, Julia Child’s wise words filled my mind:

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking, you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”

I remember that night. With tears streaming down my face and my heart in a million pieces, I hit the submit button. I remember the immediate visceral and overwhelming sense of panic and regret. What did I just do? Suddenly, as if Julia Child herself were speaking, I heard myself saying in a firm voice, “What the hell!” And suddenly, I felt the tiniest spark of pride, never thinking that my dream would ever come true.

Fast forward to the present and I am very proud to say that “Marisa’s Easy Kitchen®” is now entering its fifth season, ranking as the top show. The journey has proven to be not only healing but life-giving! It contributed to pulling me out of a cauldron full of hurtful experiences and pointed to hope. It taught me how to forgive and how to rise above. I’ve met incredible people from my producer to my sponsors and to the viewers whose kind comments and questions create meaningful relationships between us. I am so humbled to have won the Viewers’ Choice Award for two consecutive years and I must say that the recognition is a beautiful reminder of how Marisa’s Easy Kitchen® is about cooking for and with others. It is more than just about the food. It’s about nourishing the body, mind, and spirit. It’s about whipping up fond new memories, feeding our confidence and creativity to try something new, incorporating traditions so that we don’t lose our heritage, and stirring up our courage to try unfamiliar cuisines. Most of all, it’s about connection, not perfection. It’s about celebration, not competition. It’s about building community and expressing love with every meal you share with your family and friends.

Now that I am in my second half of life, it is my goal to encourage others to see cooking and baking as a support to their wellness, in the same way that many turn to yoga, physical activity, or meditation. The kitchen really is the best classroom!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

“Learning to unlearn is the highest form of learning”.

As a former educator, I wish I understood this old Buddhist proverb earlier in life. It may have saved me some deep-seated angst.

When I entered teaching over 35 years ago, I secretly vowed to leave after five years. In my young and inexperienced mind, I could not envision doing the same job for more than five years! But then, as my love for working with teens grew, I learned more and more about myself. I loved the classroom but I noticed that I was happiest when I was creating, not just lessons, but programs! Ideas would bubble up and surface. The most colorful ones earned my attention. I was never that teacher to punch in and punch out so I spent countless hours after school, creating new clubs and initiatives for and with the students.

My self-imposed five-year deadline did play out in a modified way as I sought new roles within the field of teaching. From math and science teacher to guidance counselor to student success teacher to Head of Student Services, my afterschool interests fueled my drive. At some point, I must have abandoned the idea of leaving education. My everchanging roles and transferring to 4 new schools kept me engaged and motivated. Had I arrogantly clung to my immature belief about teaching and not exercised self-awareness, I would not have enjoyed the many blessings in my career.

Added to this incredible journey was another “unlearning” but this experience left me initially broken and barely functioning. Where I believed that retirement would eventually guide me through the final chapter of my career, it was a painful medical leave that abruptly closed the book. I found myself drowning in a situation of workplace harassment that left me with no other choice but to take an early retirement. Yes, there were other options. There are always options. And this was the best option for me at that time.

The day I submitted my notice of retirement, instead of tears of joy, I experienced a sense of loss that words cannot describe. Numbness hit as I struggled with the wave of emotions that crashed over me for the months to come. Somehow, I climbed out of the darkness and despair to discover that my passions for teaching, cooking, and mental health had survived the attack. I often wonder if I would have found this new career path without this experience. And I wish I could report my gratefulness for the lessons that suffering taught me but I am not there. Not yet, anyway. That’s where learning to unlearn helps. Fortunately, with the loving support of my family and friends and the warm invitation of my kitchen, my concerted effort to unlearn opened my heart and mind to the dramatic and exciting changes in the second half of my life.

What exactly did I unlearn? I’ll let *** Julia Child answer…
“To be a good cook you have to have a love of the good, a love of hard work, and a love of creating.”

The older I get, the easier it is to intentionally apply this advice, not just to cooking but to the bigger picture. With more years behind me than in front of me, unlearning has permitted me to ignore whatever gets in the way of the good, hard work, and creating. I can more easily silence my negative mind chatter and abandon my false self. In turn, I feel freer to explore my creativity and more confident to reveal my light. And I am certainly grateful for the light of others!

I suspect that at some point, my life will take another direction. Maybe it will take another five years. Then again, time is irrelevant. I am not in control of it, anyway. But for now, I pray to gain enough wisdom to learn what to unlearn.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://marisamariella.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marisamariella/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marisa.mariella.52
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@marisamariella

Image Credits

Professional photos by @lisa.mariephotography. Other photos by author.