In Mamas Kitchen was born in the experience of living in New York where a bodega exists within blocks of a Jewish deli which is around the corner from an Italian salumeria which shares space with Chinatown which abuts Soho's gourmet stores. While this speaks of the legendary variety available in New York, it also tells of similarity, for in every bodega, every salumeria is someone shopping for the food that sustains physical life with a recipe that nourishes our hearts.

It is to this similarity that we have dedicated the site. We began as a family affair, determined to get the job done, and have watched a worldwide response. Here are the founders and a few of those who have joined in expressing that similarity. We welcome you all, and hope to add more faces to this page.

Diana Serbe - Editor

Diana is a writer and the creator of In Mamas Kitchen which she says is the happiest thing she has ever done. She is the main editor of material coming to the site. When you send an e-mail, you will reach her desk.

A self-described 'writing fool,' her articles are found throughout the site. You might best enjoy her memories of taking her mother to Ireland - to Dublin and Galway. As you might guess by the name Farrell, they were looking for roots. The article is in two parts. click for part one - Dublin, read and enjoy, then click for part two - Galway. You'll also enjoy the haunting of pumpkin house, a post-modern ghost story for foodies, Valentine's Day, or one day in Ireland. Travel with her to learn about Sicilian cooking and then continue on to be introduced to Jewish cooking. Members may log in to find her articles on the history of tomatoes, chocolate, and pot pies, or a look into insects as human food.

Fredo Viola

Fredo Viola is a music composer. He is multi-talented and works in graphics as well as music. His web site has just been released: fredoviola.com.

If you want to go straight to music and video, click for the hauntingly beautiful the sad song or for an homage to the poetry that, yes, is to be found in urban living, the turn or for the classic Christmas song sung with Nils Christian Fossdal silent night.

Marisa Viola

Marisa is multifaceted. Her talents find their main expression in the language of theater. She has currently performed in New York City in a revival of Arthur Miller's play The American Clock, directed by Austin Pendleton, has directed for Howling Moon Cab Company, and is currently producing "Garden Variety" an evening of short plays expressly written by five tlaented playwrights for 6b garden.  She contributes to In Mamas Kitchen as an editor, a proofreader and a contributor of articles and recipes. Please read her article about her father, the master of comfort food.

Regular Contributors

These are the people who signed up as members, contributed an article or some recipes, and found they couldn't stop. They share a common respect for their individual inheritances; they love to cook, and they love to talk about food. We don't know why, but they all have a sense of humor. Perhaps it's something they ate.

Pat Ciesla

Despite her mother's prediction that everyone would starve to death being around Pat, she learned to cook and is today a gourmet cook. A woman of infinite variety, Pat is exceptionally well-traveled but is also oriented to children and works with kids in 4H clubs.  While living in Italy she started a data base, first to learn the language, and second to learn about Italian cooking. Pursuing this interest she has developed a data base of over 400,000 recipes from around the world. (She collects cook books when she travels). She did learn Italian as well as enough other languages to get her through her travels; french, spanish, Portuguese, german, a little bahasa, swahili, chinese, and vietnamese. She tells us that it is nothing formal but all "street talk". She and her husband have three daughters and eight grandchildren. If you would like more information about Pat, please contact her. She enjoys email visiting with people from around the world. You will see her name on recipes throughout the site.

Roger Manley

Roger lives in a small town in Iowa where he has lived most of his life.  With his wife, Susan, he has "two wonderful kids, Jennifer & Joshua."  Though he always loved to barbecue, it was when he was temporarily forced out of work due to illness that he took over the family kitchen making his family very happy at mealtime.   He tells us that his son-in-law  "loves to try anything I make." Roger can't stop himself from sending recipes - our files are bursting.  Stay tuned - you will see them appear one by one.

Angshuman Das

Angshuman is a new media professional and freelance writer based in Kolkata, India. He earned his Master of Mass Communication degree from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. While living in the Carolinas, where he started cooking with real interest, he also acquired a love of grits. He had, however, started to dabble in the kitchen as a child when he watched his mother cook. He continues to cook and write about food. He runs a blog, "Cooking in Calcutta," at http://cookingincalcutta.blogspot.com., and is writing a series about reverse teaching: he is teaching his mother dishes he learned while traveling. Please read his articles: American dessert a surprise in Indian summer & Mother falls for Mexican food.

Diana McAndrews

Diana was born in New York City, but now resides in Long Island. She is a stay-at-home mom with two children. She is an active volunteer in Girl Scouts, CCD, PTA and community projects. She was the motivation behind the extraordinary learning project for the Nassakeag Elementary School, the story of which is titled 'from our kitchen to theirs.' Please read her other articles: bugs, cooking from scratch, marathon cooking. Also please read her article about her mother, Paolina DeAngelis.

Rushina Munshaw - Ghildiyal

Rushina is a food writer, content developer and consultant based in Mumbai, India who conducts cooking classes and gastronomic tours of Mumbai. She is working on a book on the culinary history of Uttaranchali Cuisine, a relatively unknown and undiscoverd cuisine from the Northern state of Uttaranchal. What fascinates her is the food that is on the plate of everyday Indians. Her passion is researching culinary history, the migration and immigration of cuisines, subcusines, trends, ingredients and their, preferably at the knees of someones mom or grandmom.

Cliff Lowe

You have met Cliff through his humorous articles in "Cliff's Corner." Cliff currently lives in Canada. He grew up in Kentucky, moving to Ohio after serving in the US Army. He worked in the grocery and restaurant business in early years, but went on to complete a degree in Psychology from the Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio and now works as a counselor. His articles have been published in Science Digest, Farmer's Almanac, and other publications. To see the list of his articles, please click on cliff's corner main page.

Margaret E. Walker

Elinoar Moore

Elinoar lives in Israel where she ran a web newsletter that centered on middle eastern cooking. We thank Elinoar for opening our minds and our palates to new vistas. Please read the articles on Middle Eastern cooking. You can find them listed on the main Middle Eastern cooking page. Elinoar has recently started a Hebrew language website. Please click here

Barbara J. Gewirtz, M.S, R.D.

Heidi Becket

Heidi is a Certified Web Developer, Web Engineer, Web Architect and New Media Development Specialist - warranted by the Royal College of Cricklade in Andover. She has been a tireless friend when technical problems overwhelmed us, working into the night simply to help. Seeing the beauty in all things, she is an experimental cook, as well as a lover of music, the arts and languages. Please read her story of coming of age in LA.

Junior Trimmer

Junior Trimmer is an experimental cook. If he thinks about Chinese duck sauce, he will concoct a recipe, and experiment in the kitchen to make duck sauce that is far better than anything that comes in a packet. To honor the vanished way of life that he glimpsed through visits to his grandmother, he has compiled what he calls "The Hillbilly Cookbook." He has contributed many of those recipes to the site, in addition to the contemporary, global recipes that make up his repertoire today. His stories of summers at his grandmother's farm enchant us. Please read at grandmother's farm part one and at grandmother's farm - a day in a boy's life, part two. You will find his recipes all over the site, sometimes in surprising areas. After spending time in New York and New Jersey, Junior lives in Pennsylvania.