What grandmothers prepare for grandchildren in different countries of the world

Italian photographer Gabriel Galimberti has collected a photo collection of grandma’s recipes from around the world. The travel photographer called his unusual project “In her kitchen”. His archive contains rare dishes and incredible stories from old women from Brazil, Zimbabwe and Peru. And his pictures are whole stories: about love, difficult moments of life and overcoming. 

It all started with the fact that one day, before setting off on another trip, Gabriel’s grandmother prepared him a delicious lunch so that he would not leave home hungry. And the grandson thought: “What if I travel to different countries and ask other grandmothers to cook something tasty for me too?”

Almost 8 years have passed since then, and Gabriel has traveled to more than 60 countries of the world. He visited the most luxurious and unpretentious kitchens of foreign grannies and created a unique cookbook of their recipes.

According to Gabriel, grandmother’s recipes are imbued with incredible care and love, and this is what makes his project truly unique.

Giovanna Stoll, 70 years old, Switzerland

Giovanna is the owner of a large three-storey villa on the lake, with spacious rooms, an exquisite interior, musical instruments and works of art. Giovanna and her husband Ueli are so welcoming that it feels like they’ve known you for a long time, and you immediately feel at home. They have been married for over 40 years and have had many wonderful moments together.

“We traveled a lot around the world, bought our own boat, started singing in the choir,” the couple say. “We’ve never been bored since we got together.”

It took Giovanna a while to decide what to cook. She wanted her recipe to represent her country with dignity. Finally, she settled on a walnut and mountain honey pie, for which she only used fresh produce from the Swiss Alps.

Miraji, 56 years old, Zanzibar

Miraji was born and raised in Zanzibar. She never left the island. Miraji lives in the northern suburbs of the capital in a small house that she shares with her husband and two of her three daughters. She only has one grandson. He spends a little time with her every day after school, helping her with lunch for the family. Her dish, bizarrely called mchuzina mbogamboga, consists of rice, fish, and vegetables in a green mango sauce.

Maria da Peña Vito Barbosa da Silva, 43 years old, Brazil

Despite the fact that she is very young, Maria is already a grandmother! Maria was born 43 years ago in a Brazilian village, but she almost never lived there. She moved with her family to São Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world, when she was 2 years old. The girl’s parents owned a restaurant, where she learned to cook. The family business is no longer there, but Maria still works in the kitchen at one of the most popular restaurants in Villa Madalena, the city’s youngest neighborhood. For the project, Maria chose a dish similar to meat pies – Pastel di carni, which is used in Brazil to eat ice cold beer.

Julia Enaygua, 71 years old, Bolivia 

Julia was born in a small village on the shores of Lake Titicaca. In her family, everyone was and still is fishermen or farmers. In fact, she grew up in the garden and in the field. When she was 25, she got married and moved to La Paz, the city where her husband came from. From that moment on, Yulia’s work changed: from a farmer, she retrained into a vegetable seller. She has a small kiosk in one of the many markets in the city. Every day she wakes up very early, gets on the bus to go to the countryside outside the city, buys huge bags of vegetables from local farmers, returns by bus to the city and, after standing at her counter for the whole day, is in the market until she sells almost all vegetables. Unfortunately, now no one is waiting for her at home, her husband died several years ago, and the children live in another house. However, it’s nice that every weekend the children gather at her house and she treats them and her five grandchildren to keso humacha – a dish made from vegetables and fresh cheese.

Boonloom, 69, Thailand

Six big photos of all her family members keep Boonlum company every time she prepares a new delicacy in her kitchen. The 69-year-old mother of two daughters and the grandmother of a young grandson have spent her entire life in Bangkok and considers herself the best chef in her area. A few years ago, she ran a small street restaurant, of which there are many in Southeast Asia, where people eat simple and quick (but often very tasty) dishes, standing or sitting right on the street. Bunlunm’s signature dish is kai yat sai. Or just a stuffed omelet.

Paola Agnelli, Italy

Paola is Gabriel Galimberti’s mother, and the photographer has an understandable weakness for her kitchen. And she is already a grandmother: Gabriel’s sister gave her a grandson. 

Paola is an elementary school teacher in a small town. Every morning, as she enters class and begins her lesson, she encounters twenty young students, ages six to ten, who look like her own grandchildren. This is why she gives them the same love as her family. Paola is not the best cook. Gabriel’s father always cooked better than her, but there is only one thing he could never do like her: mascarpone, the Tuscan version of the famous tiramisu. 

Normita, 65, Kenya 

Normita lives in a clay and straw hut in a Maasai village in Kenya. There are 250 people living in her village. And Normita herself is the ninth wife of the head of the village and the oldest woman in the settlement. Her kitchen is a small kitchen area on the ground with four stones and a metal grate on top. She lights the fire every morning and keeps it going all day. Cooking food, collecting water from the river and collecting firewood has always been her job. She has 19 adult children and over 40 grandchildren. They all live in the same village. Her dish is called ugali. 

Ugali is very popular in Africa. This dish is part of your daily meal and is at the heart of almost any recipe. It is always eaten along with something else: meat, vegetables, fish.