It's the kind of family heirloom that can't be bought: a well-worn sauce pot, seasoned by decades of family love.
For Maddy DeVita, 26, inheriting her nonna's sauce pot wasn't just about receiving a kitchen staple—it symbolized a deep connection to the woman who taught her Italian cooking. In a TikTok video, DeVita shared the moment her family gathered to gift her the pot with tears in their eyes as they honored their late matriarch. DeVita spoke to Newsweek about what the moment meant to her, and how she is already putting the pot to good use.
"Inheriting my Nonna's sauce pot after she taught me how to make all of her recipes using it," DeVita captioned the video. "This pot is now my entire personality."
DeVita said she and her nonna's special bond over food intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"During the pandemic especially, I spent a lot of time going to visit my nonna in Paramus and cooking with her in her kitchen," DeVita told Newsweek. "She lived in the same home for 60 years, so the kitchen we would cook in was the same my dad grew up eating dinner in."
Those visits became cooking lessons, with nonna passing down her signature recipes—none of which were ever written down—and many of which had specific rules and practices to ensure their tastiness.
"Almost all of her recipes involved the sauce pot I inherited, whether we were making marinara, frying meatballs, searing pork chops or risotto," DeVita said. "She had a true hatred of burned garlic and one of her most frequent instructions was reminding me 'not to burn the garlic' or else 'you may as well throw the whole dish out!'"
A priceless inheritance
Though DeVita assumed the sauce pot would go to one of nonna's seven children, her family unanimously decided it should be passed to her—a member of "the next generation."
"It was so incredibly emotional and touching because the pot is an heirloom for my entire family, especially my dad and his six siblings," she said. "They are the ones who have all the childhood memories of their mother making dinner, stirring risotto in the pot on the stove."
As a professional cook, though, DeVita was the natural choice. And since receiving the pot, she's wasted no time putting it to use.
"I've been using the pot almost daily.I've made her meatballs, had many of my cousins over for the inaugural risotto made in it, and the other night used it to make a ramen base—which I can guarantee is something that the pot has yet to see," she said.
More than just a cooking vessel, the sauce pot represents nonna's enduring presence in the family's kitchen.
"It's special to honor her by cooking her recipes while also using the pot to make new recipes," DeVita said. "A big component of my nonna's legacy is the importance of family, and I can't wait to host many more dinners with my extended family so everyone can continue to eat food from her pot."
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