Corti Brothers co-owner Darrell Corti does not own a microwave.

He knows better than to put a loaf of bread upside down. The one time he did, his grandmother hit him and told him bread is never left upside down. It should have the bottom part facing down, because that was how it was made.

Corti discussed his experience with food, being a grocer and many other topics Sunday night with Elaine Corn, food journalist, author and contributing reporter to Capital Public Radio. The talk was part of Time Tested Books Living Library series. The bookstore was filled with about 70 people, among them chef Patrick Mulvaney, eager to hear Corti discuss cooking, the palate and "the fate of the Corti Brothers location."

Corn directed the topics of conversation, and as a longtime friend of Corti, her presence seemed to put him at ease, letting the memories and anecdotes flow.

One of the first questions she posed to Corti was what he did as a kid in his home on 55th Street and 13th Avenue, where he lived from 1947 to 1954.

His reply got the audience salivating. "My grandmother would make us zabaglione ... that's what we would have as an after school snack at 3:30," he said. "And then we would watch 'The Three Stooges.'"

His exposure to good food early on was no doubt a precursor to a lifetime of respect for simple food done well.

Corti proudly calls himself a grocer. Corn asked him what that meant, and whether larger chain grocery stores fit that mold. "It doesn't mean the same thing at Winco?" she asked.

"Yes, it does," Corti replied. "Grocers sold things because they bought them in gross... People like Winco, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, Costco, they're literally grocers because they buy a lot (but) they want you to buy a lot also."

"A real grocer buys a lot and sells you a little."

The conversation turned to wasting food. Corn asked if this was an American thing.

"Yes. We spend less money per person in the United States on what it costs for us to eat than any other country in the world," Corti said. 

He attributed buying in bulk and purchasing more than can be consumed to America's immigrant culture.

"One of the things you get when you're an immigrant population with a land where living is easier than it was in the land that you left is that you find that you can waste things," he said. "You're not going to die of starvation. That's a great psychological breakthrough, (but) you tend to sort of exaggerate."

Corti also commented on throwing away leftovers. He said that in the U.S., people tend to throw away leftovers, which he equated to another symbol of wealth, then asked, "If we're so wealthy, why does food have to be so cheap?"

"My sister who ran Corti Brothers for a while after my father died and even before my father died used to say 'The grocery business is such a stupid business,' " he said. " ' We all try to see how cheaply we can sell a product, the diamond industry doesn't do that.' "

Corn asked how Americans stand up as cooks, and Corti replied that they do very well, praising their ability to imitate cooking from other cultures.

The last 30 minutes of the discussion fielded questions from the audience.

Corn made sure to get one question out of the way, "Who in this room is going to ask about the fate of the Corti Brothers location? Let's get that one over with right now."

More than one audience member volunteered. Corti replied that Corti Brothers signed a ten-year lease March 19, 2009 - the first time his store was able to secure a long-term lease since 1985.

One of the last questions of the evening was "What is special or distinctive or defining about Sacramento as a food place?"

Corti responded by saying that Sacramento has not been considered a food place, and that it is strange how the city has taken a backseat with people under the belief that "if you wanted to have something really good you had to go to (another) city," he said.

"Humbug! We have a whole coterie of really good chefs in Sacramento producing really good foods, and that means you Patrick Mulvaney."

He discussed the number of delicatessens and stores in the early days of Sacramento, how two or three cook books had been written in Sacramento before WWII and how it boiled down to perception.

Corti asked the audience a question: "What are you all doing here instead of being at home, cooking those delicacies that you bought at Corti Brothers this afternoon," he said. "Get a life, people."

The emphatic applause overpowered any growling stomachs in the audience. Corti gave them all food for thought.