L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano P a s t a a l l a c a r - b o n a r a a n d pasta alla put- t a n e s c a : s t a - p l e s o f c e n t r a l and southern Italian cuisine t h a t , s l o w l y b u t s u r e l y , became common, beloved dishes across the country. With its creaminess and the luxurious combination of guanciale, egg, black pepper and parmesan, carbonara is decadent and satisfying, so easy to make it is considered in Italy a "student food," just like ramen is in the US or beans on toast are in the UK. Puttanesca is perhaps not as popular, both in Italy and abroad, as its cousin, but it's just as full of flavor: quin- tessentially Mediterranean in its ingredients, we have t w o v e r s i o n s o f i t , t h e Neapolitan, with tomatoes, G a e t a o l i v e s , c a p e r s , o r e g a n o – r i g o r o u s l y matched with spaghetti, lin- guine or vermicelli – and the Roman one, with the addi- tion of salted anchovies, usu- ally served with penne or spaghetti. Both recipes have inter- e s t i n g o r i g i n s t o r i e s a n d names. Carbonara, perhaps, was created in central Italy by the l u m b e r j a c k s o f t h e A p e n n i n e s , w h o c h o p p e d wood for coal (carbone, in Italian) all year round: hence the name "alla carbonara," or "following the fashion of coal men." Some others say the recipe became popular in 1944, when a Roman cook invented the dish and named it after his previous occupa- t i o n , c a r b o n a i o ( o r c a r - bonaro). Last, but not least, the name – and the recipe – could also come from the North, more precisely from the Polesine area of Veneto, where a noblewoman would offer the dish to members of t h e C a r b o n e r i a ( a s e c r e t p a t r i o t i c s o c i e t y o f o u r Risorgimento) chapter to which she was affiliated. The origins of puttanesca a n d i t s n a m e a r e a b i t … saucier, and you must guar- antee us you're of age before reading on! Some believe the recipe was first created by an early 20 th century restaurateur who catered for the workers a n d c l i e n t s o f a R o m a n brothel: he named his dish after the common (vulgar a n d d e m e a n i n g , y e s , b u t those were different times…) epithet the ladies he cooked for where known by, thus puttanesca. Arthur Schwartz, in his book Naples at the Table, moves the origins of pasta alla puttanesca to Naples, but doesn't change the story much: in Naples, just like in Rome, it was apparently cre- ated for the girls of a famous b r o t h e l i n t h e Q u a r t i e r i Spagnoli: again, it was their p r o f e s s i o n t o i n s p i r e t h e name. There is yet another ver- sion of the story that wants our spaghetti alla puttanesca as the invention of a French sex worker called Yvette: we don't know where she lived, but we know she named her culinary invention after… ahem, her job. There is one last curious anecdote about the origin of puttanesca, one that involves Sandro Petti, owner of a trendy nightclub in Ischia during the years of la dolce vita, the beautiful 1950s. When surprised by a bunch of friends for dinner, Petti had little left in his fridge and complained about it; one of the gang, apparently, told his friend just to make "some b * * * * * * t u p , " w h i c h i n Italian translates – in slang – with a word very close to puttanesca, with the same root and a similar ending, but which I ain't going to write here! There is one last, more poetic -- but not less spicy -- version of the puttanesca ori- gin, which says the name was inspired by the bright colors o f t h e u n d e r w e a r o f s e x workers in the Belle Époque, when they apparently had a penchant for reds (toma- toes), greens (capers and oregano) and purples (Gaeta olives). Whichever version you want to embrace, there is no escaping the naughtiness of puttanesca! Carbonara and puttanesca are pasta icons. They are tra- d i t i o n a l , e a s y t o m a k e , mouthwatering and comfort- ing. They are simple just like our cuisine naturally is, but have ornate, curious stories behind, just as you would e x p e c t w h e n s o m e t h i n g c o m e s f r o m I t a l y . D i g u p y o u r r e c i p e s , m a k e t h e m both and let us know which one you and your friends prefer! I t a l i a c a m p i o n e d ' E u r o p a ! H o w couldn't we mention s u c h a n a w e s o m e success for our soc- cer national team, especial- l y w h e n i t g i v e s u s t h e opportunity to talk about an interesting word? C a m p i o n e ( p l u r a l campioni, cahm-peeoh- nee) means "champion" or "winner" and who doesn't w a n t f o r t h e i r n a t i o n a l squad to be that? As you can see, our cam- pioni looks and sounds a lot like the English champions, because they both have the s a m e o r i g i n : t h e y c o m e from the Latin campus, or "battlefield," which evolved into the Frankish kampio, n o u n u s e d t o d e n o t e a knight who would take part to a duel in the place of s o m e o n e e l s e o r , s o m e - t i m e s , o f a f u l l a r m y . Thanks to these "champi- ons," battles were avoided a n d r e d u c e d t o a d u e l between two knights. In time, the campione (feminine: campionessa) became simply someone who excelled at his or her activity, or that was the best representative of a group: un campione del tennis (a tennis champion), but also un campione degli scacchi (a chess champion). Un campione della nos- tra causa (a champion of our cause) is someone who supports a specific activity or cause: the word is quite common in Italian in this context, too, just like it is in English. Careful though, because c a m p i o n e i n t h e B e l l a Lingua could also refer to a sample of something, as in mi hanno dato un campi- one omaggio dell'ultimo profumo di Gucci ("They gave me a free sample of Gucci's last fragrance"), a meaning the word "champi- o n " d o e s n o t h a v e i n English! L ' I t a l i a è c a m p i o n e d'Europa! I t a l y i s c h a m p i o n o f Europe! Kate è stata campiones- sa nazionale di nuoto! K a t e w a s a n a t i o n a l swimming champion! Ci serviranno dei campi- oni di tessuto per scegliere le tende adatte. We'll need some fabric samples to pick the right curtains. LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE W o r d o f t h e d a y : c a m p i o n i … d'Europa! W h y i s c a r b o n a r a c a l l e d c a r b o n a r a , a n d puttanesca … puttanesca? A plate of carbonara: where does the dish get its name from? (Photo: Amaze646/Dreamstime) Marco Iacobucci Epp / Shutterstock.com

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