L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Are we identified in what we eat? A re we what we eat? Or rather do we recognize ourselves in what feeds us? And does the food that we bring to the table define our appearance, our very beings? Food embodies within us a concentrated geographic, social, cultural reference and history tells us that the table has always been a fundamental element of identity. Obviously, it is not that someone eating a plate of spaghetti automatically is or becomes Italian but it is true that you will hardly find an Italian who does not have a long-stand- ing tradition of food linked to pasta, or a Piedmontese who do not know what risotto is, or a Neapolitan who has not taken a bite of a pizza. There are foods that are as much a part of the culture of a people as the language, because they make up its sensory, emo- tional, family and social memo- ry. And there sitting at the table is the moment when relation- ships between individuals are solidified and the roles within the group are defined. It is not just a habit, a convention or a rit- ual: sitting around the prepared table is part of the relationship with food and is, basically, shar- ing. If lunch and dinner regularly claim the appointments, report and the budget of the day, the table on Sunday and those laden feast days have even more signif- icant value in their family gather- ing. They are the places where people gather, multiple genera- tions are found, relationships are intertwined, emotions are devel- oped and memories resurface. Similarly, the food passing on the tables tells of ancient trade routes, of gastronomic exchanges, of recipes that are rooted in specific places and in the past, of the farmers who have worked for centuries in the fields, and of generations of fish- ermen and farmers who have handed down the bond with the seasons and natural cycles. The table becomes a description of the affiliation of society, a privi- leged place to express, develop, unify and also to remember what we have behind us. What is found on the plate tells a story about the family, their habits, provenance, educa- tion with which they were raised, as well as the fact that what they are eating is closely tied to the land, to the world where they were born and raised, where they were cultivated and worked, the chain of professions, traditions and even the industrial knowl- edge and globalized logistics that is behind a product. The food, with its flavors and its characteristics, reflects a cli- mate, geography, a taste and a lifestyle. And that's why when you taste a new dish you feel enriched by the experience but lacking in a deep understanding that instead accompanies a plate of lasagna or apple tart, things we are accustomed to in taste and cultural effect. In them we recog- nize and especially in them we find an additional memory so that even abroad, while appreci- ating the local delicacies, Italians eventually try to look for a pasta dish even at the North Pole, pre- ferring the grilled steak with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to the succulent hot dog covered with barbecue sauce or to nachos dipped in chili, and would give anything to drink an espresso. When there isn't a table rich with flavors and since you will always have a culinary memory then it will inevitably influence your judgment and wellbeing in a distant place than that in which you have grown up or lived for a long time. As much as you can appreci- ate an exotic food, finding some- thing familiar in a food, some- thing reassuring, makes you feel better. Not to mention the emo- tional aspect, which in many cases plays a key role. So, even if you feel comfortable in a dif- ferent context than the food's origin, finding an old, well- known taste conveys something comforting, nurturing beyond the nutrients. Not to mention, for example, that it can be a way to stay connected to our roots, to assert ethnicity, within a social group. Faced with the destabilizing and uncertain passage that is a migration, continuing to eat their own food, to follow their own recipes, to seek their own ingre- dients is a way that brings a bit of their own world to the place where we are facing environ- mental, climate and territorial change as well as the physical separation from people to whom we are tied. So, continuing to cook the sauce the same way their grandmothers did is a way to create a bridge with the past, to reduce the distance between their own culture and the one that was adopted, an antidote to the destabilization, a remedy to the foreign feeling and a means of preserving a piece of their own identity. Or, if many generations exist between us and the tricolor ori- gins, discovering Italian food becomes a way to recover a his- tory, to reclaim something that is in their DNA. It becomes a form of contact. But it can also happen the other way: refusing food of one's own family and country can be a way to express the men- tal and cultural distance from the emigration years. To cut loose the bridge and feel part of the new place. The food, beyond its nutri- tional, gastronomical, and dietary aspects, is a language, a deep moment of encountering oneself, a way of defining their own identity. SIMONE SCHIAVINATO

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