Christmas dinner by my daughter

“The chestnut has long played an important part in the Mediterranean diet: Homer mentions chestnuts, and Pliny even says which kinds of chestnuts were grown in Southern Italy. With time chestnut cultivation spread throughout the peninsula, because they were one of the few food crops that could be grown on steep mountain slopes, and also one of the few crops that could be expected to provide sustenance through the long winter months: By the middle ages were the staple food of the peasants in large parts of Italy, from Piemonte to Lazio and on down. In some areas, for example Tuscany's Lunigiana and Lucchesia, much of the economy revolved around the chestnut crop, which people gathered in the fall and worked long into the winter to sort, process, package and sell. Then, come spring, it was time to tend the chestnut groves again. It was backbreaking work, so it's also small wonder that with improving economic conditions the majority of Italy's chestnut farmers sought out other jobs.”