Questions for Daisy MartinezInterview by Grace Russo Bullaro

Martinez's show, Daisy Cooks! is the first Latin American cooking show in the PBS series and it has been a phenomenal success right from the start. Although a passionate cook from her earliest days, Martinez came late to the party of professional chefs and television celebrity. It was not until her fortieth birthday that she enrolled at the French Culinary Institute to fulfill her life-long dream of learning to be a chef. Previously, her cooking and entertaining talents had been lavished mainly on her family and friends. However, what makes her success topical to American Studies is that the program, which was conceived as being targeted primarily at the Latino market, now shows signs of spilling over into mainstream popularity.

Martinez's ebullience and committed passion for Latin food and culture no doubt are important factors in this achievement. Yet since there have been other attempts in the past to introduce a Latin cooking show on PBS, and they failed, her accomplishment merits closer scrutiny so that we can determine what other forces, besides her charm, may be responsible for such a breakthrough. In this interview Martinez discusses many of the issues that she feels so strongly about: her Latin roots, the concept of pan-Latino identity, the status of the Latino community and its socio-economic progress, the emergence of high-end Latino restaurants, fast food and its effects on Latino youth, and most importantly, the transmission of the Latino heritage to the new generation.

You were born in the US yet you have strong ties to Puerto Rico. I won't ask you to define, because that seems too limiting, but if you had to describe your national-cultural-ethnic identity, what would you say?

I was born in the U.S., here in Brooklyn. I would call myself a Puerto Rican-American. I learned to speak English when I was seven years old. My world began in Spanish. My father came to this country when he was about four, so he was fluent in English. He went to school here. But my mother came here when she was fourteen and naturally, we spent our days with her at home. We lived in my grandmother's house until I was four or five years old. I had no need to learn English because I was surrounded by friends and family who spoke Spanish.

How did you manage in school? By that age you were probably attending nursery school.

When I was five years old and supposed to go to kindergarten, we moved from Brooklyn to Staten Island. We moved too late for me to be registered into the new school. My mother said: "Just leave her at home and she'll go to the first grade." When I went to first grade I couldn't speak a word of English. The first grade teacher, her name was Mrs. Charlen, I will never forget her, was very patient with me and by the end of the first grade I had the highest reading level in the class. My father, who was one of the first Latino firemen in the [New York City] Department, would come home and read the Daily News with me to work on my English skills. Later on he would do the same with my younger brothers; but by that time everybody in the house was speaking English because we spoke it at school all day. However, we did speak Spanish to my mother. She addressed us in Spanish and we responded to her in the same language. I'm fond of saying that everybody in this country came from someplace else. Everyone has gone through the experiences I talk about at one level or another.

Tell us a little about your love affair with food and your introduction into the culinary profession.

In 1998, when I hit the big 4-0, my husband told me he had a surprise for me. I was so curious to know what this big surprise was, I asked him all kinds of questions to figure it out. No clues. Then he took me for dinner at the French Culinary Institute and I thought, "Ooh maybe this is a hint, he's taking me to Paris!" Instead while we were sitting at the table, all of a sudden I saw my idol, Jacques Pepin heading towards us. I almost passed out. I still couldn't figure it out. Then Jacques said: "Daisy, welcome to the FCI. Your husband has enrolled you as a student." I couldn't believe it. It was a dream-come true! From as far back as I could remember I had wanted to train as a professional chef.

And how did you break into the business as a professional after you graduated with first prize for your final project?

I was lucky enough to get a job as a prep-kitchen chef on Lidia Bastianich's "Italian-American Kitchen" television show. That was another thrill for me! In addition, during that same period, I worked as a private chef in New York City and managed a small catering operation named after my final project at the FCI, the "Passionate Palate." Somehow or other I caught the attention of Geoff Drummond, Lidia's producer, and one thing led to another and I ended up with my show, Daisy Cooks!

In your television program you frequently mention the "pan-Latino" identity or the "pan-Latino" cuisine. I'm wondering whether there is such a thing as a pan-Latino identity. How would you define it, given the fact there is so much diversity among all of the different Spanish speaking communities? Each community may encompass many Hispanic nationalities and therefore, cultures. What would be the common denominators besides the obvious one of language?

That's a very good point to make Grace. Despite the immense diversity evident in our cuisine, there is a commonality. We all share three things, our Latino experience is defined by the occupation of the New World by the Spanish, the introduction of the African influence, and finally, the cultural and linguistic elements provided by the indigenous populations that the Spanish found in each region that they colonized. This is the foundation of all Latino cultures. I think that the variations seen from one to the other can be ascribed to the relative proportions of these three forces. For example, Brazil's experience turned out to be very African, but Argentina's, to use another example, very European. Obviously the Spanish language is the common element in most of these countries. Because in some way or another we all share those three components. I like to call them our cultural sofrito.

Hmm, could you explain what that is?

Oh sure, a sofrito is a combination of garlic, onion and tomatoes that is a base for a million Latino dishes. In that respect it's similar to the French mirepoix or the Italian soffritto. It's common throughout Latin American and the Caribbean, whether it be Mexico, El Salvador or Peru. The sofrito mix shows its head everywhere in the Latino world.

What do you believe are the factors that have led to a virtual explosion in the popularity of cuisine in general in the US?

I think generally speaking it's due to the fact that today food, aside from being nutritional, is also entertainment. To some degree this association of food and entertainment has led to an explosion of the whole foody scene. But even way before the FoodTV network started the whole food-entertainment thing, we had the "California experience." Cuisine broke away from the influence of the classic French and Swedish models. We stopped doing 50's style green bean casserole with crunchy onions on top. Then too, before we didn't experience chefs as celebrities in America, but now it is a very different phenomenon. Now food is entertainment; it's visual, it's architectural and chefs are a big deal.

And why it is that?

From my experience Americans became tired. I think in a large way you can really point to someone who was iconic in her own right, Jacqueline Kennedy, who did away with the stuffy traditional Swedish meatballs stuff at the White House and brought in a French chef, Rene Verdon. I think society started to think: "Well she might have something here." Then came the explosion of Nouvelle Cuisine in California and the emphasis on food as an aesthetic experience. People became intrigued by the fact that plating could be akin to painting a picture; or even to architecture. A chef can defy gravity by introducing height into his composition. In short, a plate can be built. Food became entertainment, a theme, even edible art. That's when the true popularity of food began. When America started to put its own spin on food and its presentation with the California Nouvelle Cuisine style, people started to think "Where else can this go?" Another factor that influenced the emergence of the foody movement is that people started to travel more. In the process of doing so they experienced different kinds of food. Italian food was no longer just pizza and spaghetti and meatballs. Now the awareness of regional diversity emerged. Italian food was also beans, ossobuco and cannelloni, for example. People became aware that there were at least twenty different regions with their own style of cooking. There is Tuscany, Rome, Bologna. And most likely we can also attribute this new-found knowledge to the influence of a mentor such as Lidia Bastianich who was really responsible for bringing the diversity of Italian food to the attention of a very receptive audience.

So what you are suggesting is that the American consumer became more sophisticated. But let's get more specific. Why do you think everything Latino is so popular now? Do you have any ideas on what brought this about?

I believe that what makes Latin food so interesting is that it is ethnic but not alien. The ingredients are very much available here in the US. I was in Memphis, Tennessee, in a Vietnamese market doing an interview with a journalist and even there I found culantro, yucca, yautia. What is this doing in Memphis, Tennessee, I asked myself?

Do you think this tremendous popularity has anything to do with the influx of immigrants?

It has everything to do with that. But it's not just numbers. I think there are also many people who are willing to pay good money for high end Latino food. They're going to chefs like Douglas Rodriguez who was a marvel at bringing Latin cuisine to an upscale level and presenting it that way. He is using familiar food and ingredients for us but using high end techniques. Or someone like Ferran Adria

What about Rick Bayless? Lidia has a tremendous respect for him.

Rick is very bright. He has a PhD in anthropology, is very well versed in the history and the culture and subsequently the food of Mexico. But he is not Latino.

Does he therefore have any credibility with Latinos?

My experience has been that a Latino audience will wonder what emotional connection or memory a chef has for a particular genre. I have a memory of this food. The question that the viewer asks implicitly or explicitly is, "Were you eating this as a little kid? What story do you have to share with us?" It is to his credit that he has made it his passion, his life work, his career. But he is not one of us.

Who is his audience?

Rick has a white audience; there is not doubt about it. And you know what, the more power to him because he gets the message out to a lot of people.

When you say "white" do you mean "not Latino?" Because certainly some Latinos are white. They are all different colors.

No, we do not refer to ourselves as whites. I mean Rick's audience is not Hispanic. Still, it's laudable that he has raised the awareness of that public about Mexican food. Now people are paying attention and they are interested in learning more about it. The fact though, is that Rick is involved only with Mexican food. I can understand that here in the U.S., because of the strong the Tex-Mex relationship, people think of Latino food as Tex-Mex food. When they think of Latino food, that's where their mind goes automatically. But Latino food is so much more varied and sophisticated.

Yes, I imagine that it suffers from being a cliche, just as Italian food used to mean spaghetti and meatballs, which is not an Italian dish at all. People tend to think in stereotypes and cliches.

Exactly, but this is what we understand here in the U.S. As we mentioned before, I feel grateful to have a platform from which to address these issues and correct these misconceptions. Whether you want to call it pan-Latino or all-over Latino doesn't matter. The important thing to understand is that our cuisine is as sophisticated as any regional food in Europe.

What will it take to change the perception of the average American, especially if we consider that when we speak of Latin America we are really referring to so many culturally diverse countries?

I'm hoping that Daisy Cooks will have some success in doing that. I try to get that message out in my shows and book, and hopefully I will be able to continue doing that. On the other hand, we have second and third generation Latinos here who are seeking culinary careers and they are establishing high end eating places. We are not just eating at fondas anymore. A fonda is like a Puerto Rican Bistro, or similar to a Mexican cantina. It's home style cooking in a restaurant. Now we have second and third generation Latinos, not only Puerto Ricans but Cubans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Argentineans, who are interested in pursuing culinary careers in the front of the house. Let's face it the back of the house has always been Latino, but now we want to be in the front as well.

Explain what you mean by the back of the house.

It's what you call the kitchen in the restaurant. Who do you think is back there? Puerto Ricans, Ecuadorians, Mexicans and many other Latinos.

How long would you say that it has been that Latinos have been moving to the front of the house? Twenty years?

Oh, I would say it's even more than that. Don't forget that working in a kitchen was never considered to be a glamorous job, not until recently. It's still not glamorous, it's hard work.

Jacques Pepin mentions this frequently on his programs. I've often heard him refer to the time when "chefs were just cooks."

Exactly. That was before the public created celebrity chefs who get all the credit while the staff does all the work. Well, now second and third generation Latinos in this country are going to culinary schools like the CIA, FCI, ICE, Johnson and Wales. And they are opening their own restaurants. They are very excited about having the opportunity to bring their own emotional food memories and presenting them with all the new techniques and artistry that they have been taught at these schools. I think that this is going to be the crucial factor in bringing about an awareness of Latin cuisine. Look at Doug Rodriguez. He has restaurants in NY, in Philly, in Miami. Someone like Alex Urena is a Cinderella story come true. He was a young Dominican boy who started out washing dishes with super chefs like Charlie Palmer, working in the back of the house and moving up the ranks. He just opened up his own restaurant in New York, Urena, which is fabulous.

What kind of cuisine does he specialize in?

Latino cuisine.

Yes of course, but with a focus on what?

No, not with a focus on anything, it's very upscale food that uses our ingredients. I went to his restaurant and I had a duck breast that was sliced and served on a mash of sweet plantains, and it had a tamarind sauce to balance the sweetness. It was just a miracle in the mouth. And with it he served chicharrones de pato. (Chicharrones traditionally are made from pork skin; chicharrones de pato are made from duck skin) the crispy pork cracklings that we love. He made them from the duck, keeping with the same theme, drawing from his memories of food and presenting them in this classic and upscale manner that he was taught. Another great example of this trend is Jimmy Rodriguez who has just opened Sofrito here in NY. It's happening, and this food is being well responded to.

The kind of cuisines you have been describing are sometimes considered to be examples of "fusion" cuisine because they use the ingredients of one culture and the techniques of another.

But why would that be "fusion"?

This is what I'd like to know. How far can authentic "Latino Cuisine" stray from its origins of home cooking and still be Latino cuisine? At what point does it become something else. Not more, not less but else.

I totally consider it Latino cuisine. It's fine dining as opposed to home cooking and that's where the difference lies. I would love to go out and have a simple dish of grilled sardines dressed with a gorgeous Spanish olive oil and just a sprinkle of sea salt. My eyes would roll to the back of my head from the ecstasy. Is that upscale? Yes, that's fine dining because while I myself would make sardines like that in my restaurant, a normal home cook would not do that. Yet, it's still Latin food.

In Spain you can get that dish in any chiringuito and there it is not considered upscale at all, so it's also a matter of context.

Absolutely, Absolutely.

I believe that you are suggesting that it is entirely impossible to achieve complete authenticity in reproducing Latin food in this country. If so then this is a relatively new development. Up to maybe twenty years ago it was difficult to authentically reproduce most ethnic cuisines because the ingredients were not available. Was this ever the situation for Latin cooking?

It was, once. But today there are companies like Goya. If you go anywhere in the U.S. you are going to find a Goya section in your supermarket. I remember when my family moved to Staten Island in the 1960s, my mother had to go into Manhattan to shop for food, down to the lower East side once a week to get the ingredients she needed. Without doing that she would not be able to make the foods that she knew how to cook. The local stores simply did not carry them. I believe that today in the U.S. you can achieve real authenticity. Take Sue Torres, for example. She has a restaurant in NY City called Suenos. Sue travels in Mexico and forms relationships with people down there and cooks with them. Then she comes back to New York and duplicates those experiences in her restaurant. She even has regional rotating menus.

This is essentially the approach that Lidia Bastianich takes also.

Yes I know. Again, you really need to have a relationship not only with food but also with local people, with the producers. So Sue will make a chilaquile, which is a tortilla casserole dish, but she will put her own little spin on it. She puts these fried crispy onions as a garnish on top. And when I saw it I thought, "God, that is great, it is a very good idea." Is it an authentic chilaquile you may ask? Yes, very much so.

Just with a personal twist.

Why not? If chefs are artists and food is our medium then this is an interpretation. Having said that, we also have to keep in mind that we can't do the same thing twice. Think about going to restaurants and demanding that your last experience be duplicated exactly the way you remembered it. It's hard, it's hard to do.

Let's move on to another interesting aspect of cuisine. As cultures mix more and more in our increasingly globalized world it seems that many ethnic groups are becoming more attached to their own culture and cuisine. What do you think this trend will lead to and what do you think of the whole concept of cultural purity in the context of globalization?

That is a very provocative question, Grace. I am married to a Sicilian gentleman and my children have been brought up experiencing both cultures and cuisines. They have been able to feel those foods as their own. There is no conflict, it's all one experience to them, but this is at home. I believe that this kind of experience is not uncommon today even in the Latino community. However, thirty or forty years ago each Latino group stayed within its own community. Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, didn't mix that much. Now I have a cousin who married a girl from El Salvador and they make pupusas and pastelillos and there is no problem there. In answer to your question, I'd say that regardless of cultural trends and globalization, I will always be able to go to an authentic Italian restaurant or an authentic Chinese restaurant because people care about their roots and will continue to hand down their traditions. In fact my audience makes this very clear to me. Both at demos that I do and in letters that I receive people tell me, "Thank God you are doing this because I never paid attention to what my mother was doing in the kitchen and now she is gone and I saw you making pink beans with ham. That was exactly the way she did it." I tell women in my audience today, "If you are a mother it behooves you to give your child this inheritance."

But I'd say that in many cases this is not happening. Mothers are increasingly preoccupied with jobs outside the home and other time-robbing activities, and many of them simply do not have the time, or perhaps the inclination, to pass these traditions on.

Well, I feel strongly about this and every time I have the opportunity to speak about this, I really do. Children need to know where they come from in order to have an idea where they are going. This is their legacy we are talking about.

I agree with you entirely, but sadly, this is not what we see most of the time.

OK, so, you help me carry and wave that flag.

Part of what I do professionally is to try to understand these cultural trends and indirectly to wave that flag.

You've put your finger on a crucial part of the "Daisy message." For the part of the audience that is not familiar with this food then it's a great thing to be able to learn something new. But for those of us who have an emotional memory in connection to this food, it's even more than that, it's the survival of our culture. We need to spread the message, we need to be clear. I did an interview with a Mexican gentleman in Texas who said to me, "My wife says that she works and she has no time to cook anymore." I said to him, "Honey, tell your wife not to run that story by me, because I have four kids, I am running around all day, I have got nothing but stuff to do, but I cook for my family every day, every day. So don't tell me that you went through the drive-through and bought a bag of something and brought it home and that's what you gave to your kids!" You know, I believe that that's why Latino kids are statistically the most obese in the general population, because of the fast food.

Daisy, obesity is an epidemic today. Look around you.

That may be true but the ratio of obese Latino children is higher than any other group's. It's ridiculous. I ask myself why and notice that statistics show that obesity and fast food chains seem to go hand in hand. Obesity spreads even in remote places where the population has never had weight issues before as the fast-food chains appear. With all the illness and diabetes in the Latin community, I am going to say it again. We have to go back to the kitchens of our mothers and our grandmothers, to learn how to cook healthy food. It's not a four hour investment. I always keep sofrito in my freezer. I lead a busy life. I can understand the limited time thing, but my husband is a physician, I have a degree in biology and my children need to eat healthy. So I am willing to invest forty-five minutes in order to do that. In forty-five minutes I can have pollo guisado, which is a braised chicken with tomato sauce, fluffy rice and a salad on the table. Look, forty-five minutes is exactly what it would take to get in the car, drive out and get a bag of whatever from a take-out place. Then maybe I'd come back and find out that I was short two sandwiches and two of my kids would not be eating.

Do you think that ties to our country of origin and cuisine dissipate in the third and fourth generations?

It's really funny that you should ask that. Last week was my son's birthday and we celebrated it yesterday. I always ask my kids what they want for their birthday. He wanted a Cuban sandwich and since I'd be traveling on business and I wouldn't be here the day before the event, I made this big twenty pound pernil (Puerto Rican roast pork) before I left. So he got up in the morning and he said to me: "Mom, it smells like Christmas down here." My children are third generation and they have a very clear definition of the food and the culture. And they cook, my kids all cook! So that dissipation does not have to happen.

How old are your kids?

Twenty-four, twenty, my youngest son will be eighteen next week, and I have a little girl who is eleven. And keeping true to the traditions of my mother and my grandmother I taught them all to cook. In answer to your question, I'd say that judging by the fact that quite a few third and fourth generation Latinos have come up to me and said, "I never paid attention to my mother when she cooked and now if it wasn't for watching you making this dish I would have lost it," I would venture to say yes, this loss is a very real likelihood. Whenever I speak at schools, if I speak to young people in their teens I tell them, "Ask your mother questions, go in the kitchen when she is in there, ask your tias, ask your abuelas, find out what they're doing." You need to be able to hand the baton over to the ones that will come after you; otherwise we are going to lose it. And this is our rich heritage. Why would we be willing to give that up?

You're passionate about it. But there are plenty of people out there who are not interested in maintaining their heritage; indeed they are actually trying to break away from it.

You know, Grace, I think that in the 50s and in the 60s the Latino experience in this country meant attempting to assimilate. Now, however, I believe there is a consciousness, a pride of culture that did not exist back then. Today it seems to me that as young people acquire more education they find a need to know their culture more intimately. That's why I tell them: "You have to let your kids know where they came from so that they know where they are going. It's like being adopted. At some point you will want to know where your story all started, what was the experience, what was the history behind you? If we don't pass these jewels onto them, we are squandering their inheritance. And then it will be too late to go back.

You have said many times that you see yourself as an educator of the mainstream audience. Lidia Bastianich has said in our interview that she sees herself as a conduit of culture. Does this statement resonate with you? What is it that you are trying to teach your audience?

Absolutely. My audience is pretty peppered, it is varied. When I first started doing this television show I spoke to my executive producer and I said: "This is really going to be exciting on two totally different levels. First because I am going to be able reach the part of the audience that thinks only of Tex-Mex when they hear Latin food, and this is going to be a really eye opening experience for them because our food is beautiful." Latino food is as diverse and colorful as its people. It's not just about one or two different things. The second aspect of this project is that for the people that have a connection, an emotional memory of this food, it is going to serve as a source of pride and validation. It's like a Dominican dad who is watching a baseball game with his little son and seeing Sammy Sosa blowing the ball out of the park, turning to the little boy and saying: "You see sweetheart, one day you too can aspire to that." I got an email from a mother saying, "I am a single mother from Puerto Rico and I was watching your show with my daughter who is nine years old and she wants to become a chef when she grows up." And I said to my daughter, "Look, Daisy is Puerto Rican like you and one day you too can follow in her footsteps." Doing this show has provided me with so many similar experiences. I've had people coming to me with tears in their eyes saying, "Thank you for what you are doing for us." Maybe a larger part of the audience is realizing that Latin food does not mean the cuchifrito joint around the corner where you go for alcapurrias Latin food is beautiful and its time has come.

Who were the Latino chefs on television who preceded you and who achieved high visibility? Are you the first?

I know that Aaron Sanchez, Zarela Martinez's son, did a television show for PBS, a very short series called "The Food of Veracruz." I have been told by the executive producers of the show Daisy Cooks! that right from the start it has been the most successful food show on this subject matter in the history of PBS. I just think the time was right for it. People get it, people get Latino food. Asian food, on the other hand, is really hard to make. You have twenty-five different ingredients and four seconds to utilize those twenty-five ingredients. Americans have already had a love affair with Italian food for a long time, and even more so now with the greater visibility that Lidia has brought to it with her shows, her books and her products. Plus people like Italian food because it is something that you can make easily at home.

Yes, I agree. What Lidia makes on the show are dishes that we Italians make at home.

ThatÍs what I try to do with Latin food too. You already know that I worked on Lidia's show, that's how I first got into this business. Having worked for her, she has also become a mentor to me. I used to watch her and I used to read her books and make her dishes. I am like the Latino version of Lidia.

Do you see the Latino population in the U.S. in the process of a socio-economic uplift?

I definitely do see the Latino population moving up the socio-economic ladder. Now that our second and third generations have gone on to higher education, our communities comprise college graduates, physicians, lawyers, CEOs, politicians. We are definitely going up in the ranks. Of course when you say Latino you have to make certain distinctions and keep certain facts in mind. For example the Cubans, Puerto Ricans and the Dominicans have been here the longest. Therefore they are closer to the top of this socio-economic ladder. The South American groups have arrived more recently, so they have a longer way to go to reach the higher rungs. Nevertheless, we are definitely moving up in the ranks of mainstream society.

How does this socio-economic lift connect to cuisine and the food scene in general?

The way things are now there is a definite need for upscale Latino restaurants because we do like to eat out, we do like to spend money, we do like to see our culture and our heritage reflected in a positive manner. We are no longer willing to see our people represented in the stereotypical manner that has for so long been the norm, as domestics and drug dealers. There is much more to us than that. We make good money and we are more than willing to spend it to go out and eat food that celebrates our traditions and customs. This positive trend is being reflected in the restaurant scene that we discussed previously and we are therefore seeing restaurants like Urena, Suenos and Sofrito emerge and achieve success.

Nancy Ayala asked you in an interview if you planned to open a restaurant and you replied, "To attach a 'Daisy' name, the quality would have to be non-negotiable. That's why when I got married I didn't change my last name." Can you clarify this statement?

That was one of the first interviews that I did. A while ago we talked about commitments, both professional and personal, and never having enough time. But I also suggested to you that my family has top priority. If I were to open a Daisy restaurant it would mean having Daisy in the back of the house to insure that my standards were being enforced, that things were being done my way. This will not happen until the point in time when I no longer have a baby. Well, she is not a baby anymore, she is eleven, but she is still my baby and I want to be there to make sure that her homework is done and that all her little needs are met. I will be here for her and with her, throughout her adolescence. This is when a daughter needs her mom the most. That point is definitely not negotiable. If and when I open a restaurant you will see me behind the stove, not on the phone, much like Lidia, who is there every single day keeping her finger on the pulse. My parents brought me up to be so proud of being a Latina at a time and in a place where that was not really easy. At one point I was the only Puerto Rican in my school. That was very difficult at best. They brought me up with this fierce pride and I think Latinos as a people, are very proud. What's more, I don't like to do anything by half. If I do it, I do it 110%. So until the time when I will be able to immerse myself in a project like that, and do it on my terms, it will not be done. If it's going to say Daisy Martinez, it's going to be Daisy Martinez. That's what I was born and that's what I will die. You know, my husband is a wonderful man and he is very proud of his Italian culture, and rightly so, but my father gave me that name and I cherish it.

Grace Russo Bullaro is an Associate Professor at City University of New York, Lehman College, where she teaches English, Humanities, and Interdisciplinary courses. She has published widely in the areas of film studies, literature, and popular culture and is also the author of Man in Disorder: The Cinema of Lina Wertmüller in the 1970s and editor of Beyond Life is Beautiful, a collection of essays on the films of Roberto Benigni.