First course: Malvernite to sample Emeril's initial offerings

Renowned chef Emeril Lagasse’s new show, “Emeril’s Table” premiers next week with an episode about homemade cheese ravioli. How fitting that the chef’s first guest on the show is an Italian woman — and she just happens to be from Malverne.

“We were thrilled at the opportunity because our family just kind of revolves around food, as most Italian families do,” said Cecilia Candreva, a Malvernite who was chosen along with several family members to join Lagasse in the debut episode, which airs on Sept. 26 at 11 a.m. on the Hallmark Channel.

Food and cooking have long been an important part of life for Candreva, whose grandparents were from Italy; just as they passed down their love of cooking to her, Candreva, 56, passed it down to her two sons, 26 and 22. She believes it was the expression of that love on the application she and her relatives submitted to the show that got them selected.

“Food did bring our family together,” Candreva said. “It was more than just eating to eat, but it was more eating to share our love for food and our love for each other. It comes together, like at a family holiday. And when you’re having a recipe, you’re talking about grandma, even though grandma’s gone. They’re with us as we share these family meals. Those who came before us are still with us.”

Candreva, principal of the John Street School in Franklin Square, described the experience of learning from Lagasse as “an honor and a privilege.” She and her family members all love the chef and have watched him on television throughout the years — so it was “such a delight” to sit down with him, Candreva said. What made the experience even better was that the taping took place in May, just one day after Candreva successfully defended her dissertation: she had been studying literacy at Hofstra University. “It was the extension of the celebration,” she said.