Louise DeSalvo`s memoir isn`t about the great food she ate growing up Italian in the `50s. It`s more about family conflicts and grudges, beleaguered wives married to cruel husbands, kids caught in the middle, and meals that came out of cans. As an adult, DeSalvo visits Italy to recover her roots, particularly the culinary ones that her family was too busy feuding to bother with--and finally, too, finds value in her difficult upbringing. Little did she know, all that strife was fostering the writer and cook she turned out to be.