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The worlds of a young Canadian immigrant, an Italian pasta-making family, and a 70-year-old survivor of the Armenian Genocide converge in this story of the San Francisco Treat.

A\\xa0Canadian women (Lois DeDomenico)\\xa0marries an Italian immigrant (Thomas DeDomenico) whose family started Golden Grain Macaroni in San Francisco. Just after WWII the newlyweds rent a room from an old Armenian woman (Pailadzo Captanian) who teaches the young pregnant 18 year old woman how to cook. Yogurt, baklava, pilaf\\u2026 After about 4 months the young couple move into their own place. A few years later, Lois\\u2019\\xa0brother-in-law is eating over at her house\\u2014 looks down at the pilaf on his plate and pronounces: \\u201cThis would be good in a box.\\u201d Prepared and packaged foods are just beginning to come on strong. They name it Rice-A-Roni.

During\\xa0those hours in the kitchen the old Armenian woman cooks\\xa0and tells\\xa0the younger women the story of her life \\u2014 her forced trek from Turkey to Syria, leaving her two young sons with a Greek Family,\\xa0her husband\\u2019s murder,\\xa0the birth of her baby along the way (his name means child of pain), the story of the genocide. Mrs. Captanian shows Lois a book she wrote in 1919,\\xa0directly after her experiences\\u2014one of the only eye-witness accounts written at the time. Most were published 30-40 years later by survivors. This one was published in 1919 for the Paris Peace Talks in hopes that it would help provide context for the establishment of an Armenian state.