About the book
Heart-Shaped Tomatoes is a photo-driven cookbook about Elda Cristini, or Nonna, a 102-year-old Italian immigrant grandmother for whom cooking has remained a constant thread throughout her storied life. At 102, Elda still lives on her own, grows her own tomatoes, cooks them into a beautiful red sauce, can make pasta from scratch, and confidently pull together a multi-course meal.
The book uses recipes, photography, and personal essays as an entry point to examine themes of independence, generational knowledge, love, and family.
The book opens, “This book is dedicated to my Nonna Elda Cristini and to whomever I hope she reminds you of: someone with old-world stubbornness, a lifetime of stories, and a deep generosity that manifests in a full plate of their food.”
Like the time-tested recipes contained within its pages, this book has been a labor of love to produce. It will make you laugh and cry as well as provide the resources to make a collection of beautiful meals for the people you love.
The cookbook as well as limited edition, archival quality prints are available for pre-order now.
We have put the utmost care into choosing the materials that make up the book as a physical object and have coordinated with a fine art book printer to ensure the book itself is as functional as it is beautiful. That being said, because this book is being self-published the print run has to be limited.
Once we sell out there won’t be another opportunity to purchase the book.
The authors
DIMITRI STASZEWSKI is a photographer based in Austin, Texas. His work has taken him across Mongolia, Europe, and throughout the United States and his images have been featured in publications including National Geographic and The New York Times. While he enjoys engaging with new cultures and spaces, this project offered a unique opportunity to deepen his relationship with his grandmother and make something for future generations of his own family.
MADELYN WIGLE is an Austin-based brand strategist, writer, and photographer. Her work is defined by a pull to the depths of people's stories and all the far-reaching places they've lived out. It has afforded her the opportunity to venture from backroads to boardrooms across Wyoming and the American West, cities of the Mid-Atlantic, and the salty shores of the South. Documenting and distilling the essence of someone's story is what captures Madelyn’s imagination, and what drove her to tell Elda’s.
Other contributors
MARIA CRISTINI is an executive coach based in San Francisco. She works with leaders of positive impact businesses and organizations. The daughter of Elda and mother of Dimitri, she served as this project’s recipe editor, translator, and so much more. This project allowed Maria to deepen her already intimate relationships with Elda and Dimitri and capture the recipes she hopes to carry on for her mother and family.
mariacristini.com
MITCH WIESEN is a multitalented Art Director and Designer based in Louisville, Kentucky. From book design to tattooing, Mitch brings a deep understanding of contemporary trends and design history to their artwork. That combination made Mitch a perfect collaborator for this project as they visually translated Elda’s hundred-year-old story into a physical object that will last for generations to come.
