Window Into Italy

Jackson Native Elaine Trigiani Connects Travelers to Italian Food Producers and Wine Makers

- Kathy K. Martin

An extended stay in Sicily for work in 1998 led Mississippi-native Elaine Trigiani to permanently move to Italy. “I was so fascinated with the climate, the sea, the sunny disposition of Sicilians and with olive oil, so pure, versatile, good for you and with intriguing varietal differences.” For these many reasons, she now works to use gastronomy as a window into the culture. “Creating food is an art form linked to culture,” said Trigiani, “so I feel a connection between what I do now and my years growing up in Mississippi.”

Trigiani grew up in Jackson, where her family instilled in her an appreciation for culture and the arts. Her Sicilian-American grandfather founded an architecture studio. Her grandmother was a painter. Her parents were friends with all types of artists and craftsmen. This atmosphere, she said, gave her an appreciation for culture expressed through art.

“My mother also instilled in me a curiosity for foodways, eating and being in a kitchen.” When she was just a little girl she remembers her mother taking her to the farmers’ market on Woodrow Wilson, sending her to the back porch to shell beans, teaching her to bake bread, and making sure she was an open-minded eater.

She attended the University of Notre Dame, the alma mater of both her father and grandfather, and after a brief volunteer job teaching high school in New York City, she moved to Washington, D.C. She received her master’s degree in art history there. After an internship with the National Gallery of Art, where she worked with the curator of Renaissance paintings, she landed a job in the exhibition office, where she organized temporary exhibitions. “I had the great good fortune to work side-by-side with some of the more influential figures in the museum world in both the U.S. and abroad.”