Back in the early days of the pandemic, a study was carried out on a sample of about 100 women in their seventies. It showed that the day after they got their first shot against COVID-19:
• 80% of the respondents woke up early to start making ragù, the meat sauce. Of these, the majority made it with pork ribs (tracchiolelle), a minority with ground beef.
• 10% prepared oven-baked pasta. This is the most anxious category because “Dottoré, I have to hurry to turn on the oven.”
• 10% prepared pasta with tomato sauce, for matters of time and practicality. Worthy of note is a linguine dish with olives and capers prepared with tomato paste because “the sauce becomes thick and sticky”.
Finally, Anna, 79 years old, with multiple pathologies, six children, was excluded from the study. She prepared: cannelloni, ziti lardiati, gnocchi, stew with potatoes, potato croquettes and paste cresciute fritters.
“Dottoré, they say that I could die with AstraZeneca. So if today is to be my last lunch, I might as well have a good one…”
Learn more about Worldcrunch’s exclusive Dottoré! series here.
