Comedian Matteo Lane comes from a large Italian family, which gave him his passion for food and his sense of humor. A few years back he started posting cooking videos on social media, and now he’s published Your Pasta Sucks, a collection of recipes, stories, and jokes. The book includes a quiz to tell you if you have an Italian grandmother, as well as Matteo’s reflections on his first trip to Italy, where he found he felt more comfortable with his sexuality than in the US. Matteo talks with Dan about how Italian machismo is tied up with cooking and why dried pasta is sometimes better than fresh, and offers advice to a Sporkful listener.

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Kameel Stanley, Jared O'Connell, and Giulia Leo. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.