Our Food, Our Family with Michela Chiappa

Michela Chiappa heads to Snowdonia to meet the Algieri family. Like Michela, they are Welsh-Italian food lovers, and the tale which unfolds as they let her into the secrets of their family cookbook is an unexpected one of love, war, and meatballs. It is the real-life Romeo and Juliet story of Vincenzo Algieri and Betty Evans – two star-crossed lovers who, despite being on opposite sides of a global conflict, found the love of a lifetime against all the odds during World War Two. From different cultures and speaking different languages, Vincenzo and Betty bonded over food - traditional Italian dishes the family still treasure to this day. 75 years after Betty and Vincenzo first met, grandson Huw has some clues of the epic tale the lies within his family history but wants to fill in the blanks. With Michela’s help and cooking up plenty of tasty dishes along the way, they go in search of the missing pieces leading to a pilgrimage to Vincenzo’s homeland in search of the places, recipes, and Italian relatives they never knew. Back in Wales, they arrange a family reunion in their old family Snowdonia farmhouse where they have not gathered together for two decades.

Michela Chiappa is in Cardiff to meet the Aslam family, four generations of food lovers. More than 20 of them gather every Saturday for a family feast. Between joining them to rustle up some of the family's favourite curries, fish dishes, and a keema bolognese, Michela meets 90-year-old head of the family Mohammed who came from Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, in 1958 and went on to open one of Wales' very first Asian restaurants. Alongside wife Sirajunessa, they raised six children, all while running restaurants and grocery shops that imported specialist ingredients and produce from Bangladesh and sold a popular home-made spice blend. Michela attempts to prise the family's secret spice mix from the keeper of the recipe, Mohammed's son Azman, as well as helping grandson Yusuf to master one of his grandmother's specialities to bring along to a special party celebrating his grandparents' 54th wedding anniversary.

Michela Chiappa is in Abercynon for the fascinating and touching story of the Nevins family. 57-year-old food lover Kemi Nevins is mum to three grown-up children, and runs a successful café with her youngest child Patrick. Born in 1962 to Nigerian parents studying medicine in London, at the age of six months Kemi was temporarily fostered by a British family. At the age of six, once her parents had qualified, she was taken back to Lagos, Nigeria to live with them. But she couldn’t settle, and pined to return to her foster family. Kemi returned to the UK and left any traces of her Nigerian life behind. Now her children are adults themselves, they would like to know more about their heritage, but Kemi shows little interest. Can Michela and son Patrick convince Kemi to reconnect to her roots through her love of food?

Michela Chiappa is on Gower to meet and eat with a little-known community of incomers enjoying life on one of the country’s most beautiful coastlines. At the heart of the community are the Blytt-Jordens - three generations of Welsh-Norwegians. They are among several Welsh-Norwegian families settled in the area who have only recently discovered each other. They now regularly gather to chat in their first language and cook up traditional Norwegian delicacies from national pudding tilsorte bondepiker to hot waffles and brown cheese and fermented fish. Michela’s keen to try and taste them all. Her guide is grandmother Sol Blytt-Jorden who was born in Bergen but came to the UK when she was 20. Sol’s son Scott was born and bred in the UK, but now he has children of his own, he’s keen to adopt some of his mother’s Norwegian traditions to pass down the next generation. The problem for Scott, a woods craftsman by trade, is that he’s better with a bandsaw than a whisk. Can Michela and Sol turn him into a star turn in the kitchen by teaching him some delicious Scandinavian dishes?