You know Stanley Tucci as Nigel in "The Devil Wears Prada." He played Nigel again in this year's sequel. Maybe you know him from "Julie & Julia," or from watching him eat his way across Italy on TV. Before all that, he was a kid from Katonah with the biggest lunch in school. That lunch explains a lot.
A Peekskill Baby, a Katonah Kid
Tucci was born in Peekskill on November 11, 1960. He grew up in Katonah, about an hour north of the city. His dad, Stanley Sr., taught art. His mom, Joan, worked as a secretary and a writer.
Both sides of the family were Italian American, with roots in Calabria, the toe of Italy's boot. And in Tucci's words, they were all great cooks. Dinner wasn't just dinner. It was the main event, and everybody had opinions about it.
So Lunch Was Last Night's Dinner
That's where the grocery bag comes in. Tucci almost never bought lunch at school. He told NPR's Fresh Air that he bought it "maybe twice" in 12 years.
Instead he brought leftovers. Veal cutlets from dinner turned into a sandwich on half a loaf of Italian bread. He was 12. Eggplant parm became a sandwich too. As he got older, there was so much food that a lunchbox couldn't hold it. He told the BBC that his sandwiches were simply too big, so a grocery bag it was.
Picture the cafeteria. Everybody else has peanut butter and jelly. One kid unpacks a full Italian dinner from a paper sack. Legend behavior.
His Grandpa Strained Sauce Through Pillowcases
The cooking went deeper than his parents. His grandparents grew vegetables in a big garden out back. When tomato season came, his grandfather made sauce the old way. The tomatoes went into pillowcases and got squeezed until the red juice ran out. The sauce went into bottles and lined the shelves of the basement.
That same basement is where his grandfather made his own wine. Tucci wrote about all of it in his 2021 memoir, "Taste: My Life Through Food." Reading it will make you hungry. Fair warning.
Then It All Went Into a Movie
Tucci went to John Jay High School in Cross River, where his friend Campbell Scott did drama club with him. Then he studied acting at SUNY Purchase, right here in Westchester.
In 1996 he made "Big Night" with his cousin Joseph Tropiano. The two cousins wrote it together, and Tucci co-directed it with his old high school friend Campbell Scott. It's a movie about two Italian brothers trying to save their restaurant with one huge dinner.
The star of that dinner is the timpano. It's a giant drum of pasta, meatballs, salami, eggs and cheese, all baked inside a crust. It came straight from the Tucci family. In 1999 his mom, Joan, co-wrote a cookbook called "Cucina & Famiglia." That book revealed the family's secret timpano recipe.
That Katonah Kitchen Became His Second Career
Today Tucci is almost as famous for food as he is for acting. In 2012 he put out "The Tucci Cookbook," made with his parents, and it includes the timpano. "Taste" became a New York Times bestseller. On CNN, "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy" followed him from region to region, eating everything in sight.
So yes, you can make the timpano at home. Block out a whole day. Maybe two. Call your cousins.
It all goes back to a kid in Katonah, walking into school with a grocery bag full of last night's dinner.
What did your family pack in your lunch? Tell us on Instagram at @the914collective. And for more Westchester stories, subscribe to the free Not Upstate digital magazine at thenineonefour.com.
Want more stories like this?
Sign up free for the Not Upstate Digital Magazine. It's all about the people, places and culture of Westchester and the Hudson Valley.