The army of change travels on its stomach

In diverse East Somerville, though people eat different things, their shared love for food can bring them together - and send a welcoming message to outsiders. That, at any rate, is the philosophy behind “Savoring East Somerville,” an unusual community cookbook that comes out next month.

It’s “breaking bread, and that breaks all barriers,” Fontano says.

Published by East Somerville Main Streets, it highlights about 45 recipes from home and professional cooks to show what the neighborhood’s all about. Recent transplant Mark Teiwes, a photographer known for his portraits of Gloucester fishermen, donated his skills.

Though some consider East Somerville more run-down and dangerous than the rest of the city, “We’ve got a bad rap,” says Fontano, president of ESMS’s board of directors. The working-class neighborhood has always attracted “good, hard-working, honest people.”

For that reason, a community cookbook seems especially appropriate, says ESMS director Carrie Dancy. “This neighborhood’s really homey… [and] recipes are what you share with your friends and family.” She adds, “Would Davis Square have a cookbook?”

Probably not one like this. The siblings who run Broadway Brake contributed an Italian holiday frittata. A neighbor sent in a refried bean dish with a YouTube video to illustrate the flipping technique. The city health-promotion program Shape Up Somerville, is contributing three lighter classics.

That said, gourmands won’t be surprised: They consider East Somerville an underappreciated restaurant destination. Check the Chowhound message board and you’ll see raves for Taco Loco, the old-fashioned ice cream stand Louie’s, and the Italian classic Vinny’s at Night, to name a few.

The recipes are split about 60/40 between restaurateurs and residents - “the Main Streets program is really to support the business district,” Dancy explains - though the categories overlap: Vinny lives across the street; Fontano’s grandmother made her meatballs for a family-owned sub shop.

While Somerville is immigrant-heavy across the board - the 2000 Census found that nearly three of every 10 residents were born outside the US and the percentage is far higher among schoolchildren, according to city statistics - the eastern reaches are particularly so.

“The richness of the neighborhood comes from the fact that everyone’s keeping up their traditions,” Dancy says.

Those traditions pack the shelves at Tony’s Foodland, which offers seven brands of fruit nectar. Sacks of natural wood charcoal sandbag the butcher case. A little boy behind the counter nibbles a chocolate-dipped banana in front of a wall of calling cards.

15 years ago, Tony Pino sold the market to Luis “Tony” Morales, originally from El Salvador. Pino had already started stocking Latino items; now the place is half Central American products, half Brazilian, plus some feta cheese and big bags of shredded mozzarella.

To succeed in the food business, “You’ve got to make them feel like at home,” Morales says.

(Morales is also a candidate for Alderman At-Large; more to come on that.)

To that end, the market keeps track of the differences between Central American and Brazilian clientele, down to a knife’s edge - literally. “The way Mexicans cut their meat is totally different from Brazilian people,” says co-owner Argueta. The store’s Brazilian butcher, Marco, makes separate varieties of sausage.

Though Brazilians came after Salvadorans after Irish and Italians, Fontano thinks people are accepting once they get over their initial shyness.

The Ethiopian restaurant Fasika highlights the neighborhood’s catholicity: owner Befekadu Defar took over an old-timers’ bar but left half of the space the same as before. The kitchen makes chicken fingers for the regulars, though the recipe for Doro Wat chicken Defar gave to Savoring East Somerville lists authentic ingredients such as niter kibe (spiced butter).

He writes, proudly, that Ethiopian spices are the very best ... but if you can’t get them, Somerville’s Indian markets will do just fine.

Some businesses were particularly interested, Dancy says, “because sometimes they don’t know how to reach out to a new customer base.” The cookbook will be sold at participating businesses, Main Streets events and three Somerville Local First member stores in other parts of the city. You can also order it online.

Dancy also hopes the cookbook will familiarize visitors with the local scene. It might make visitors to Maya Sol more comfortable ordering, say, the Salvadoran specialty pupusas instead of familiar burritos, which, come to think of it, once weren’t widespread either.

It’s part of the grand tradition, eating your way towards understanding. “America’s all about being who you are and sharing it,” Fontano says. “Life’s a recipe. It’s all connected.”

You can contact Danielle at somervillescene@gmail.com.

Mark Teiwes photo
Befekadu Defar, owner of Fasika Ethiopian restaurant.