L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano soon to develop a flourish- ing import-export trade. Y e t N a p l e s , a c e n t u r y later, took a dominant role. I n 1 5 7 6 , t h e A r t e d e i Vermicellari, the corpora- tion of pasta makers or ver- m i c e l l i m a k e r s i n t h e Kingdom of Naples, broke off from the corporation of the bakers to assume man- agerial autonomy. In those years vermicelli, a long pasta slightly thicker than spaghetti became the s t a p l e f o o d o f a l l N e a p o l i t a n s . T h e y w e r e d u b b e d m a c a r o n i e a t e r s e x a c t l y l i k e t h e S i c i l i a n s years before as Sicily was the incubator of the culture of pasta. The term macaroni would indicate dried pasta in general. "In 17th century Naples, macaroni would become the street food par excellence, a n d p a s t a s t a n d s w o u l d become places of entertain- ment for gentlemen visiting the city," says Montanari. The villages overlooking the Gulf of Naples, such as Gragnano, have an ideal cli- mate for drying pasta. The Maestrale, a sea breeze that blows through Provence into the Mediterranean, mixes with hot winds from Mount Vesuvius. They strike like a b e l l t o l l , r h y t h m i c a l l y throughout the day. But where did the word spaghetti originate? In the second half of the 1 5 t h c e n t u r y , M a e s t r o M a r t i n o , a c h e f f r o m t h e papal court, explained how to make Sicilian macaroni, p a s t a s t i c k s a s t h i n a s a s t r a w . " T h e ' s p a g o ' m e n - tioned in the Sicilian maca- roni recipe refers to the wire f o r p i e r c i n g t h e d o u g h , " explains Montanari. "But another recipe for 'maca- r o n i , ' o r ' t r u l y t a g l i a r i n i ' ( t h i n - c u t s t r i p s ) , w h i c h Maestro Marino dubs 'a la Zenovese' (Genoese), calls for cutting them as thin as a spago, which translates as thin string or twine. That is the first time that the word 'spago' appeared in a gastro- nomic context." However, people started using the term spaghetti, a diminutive for spago, only in the mid-1800s. But the w o r d m a c c h e r o n i d o e s remain even today in Naples to refer to spaghetti. All cookbooks of Italian gastronomy, even the earlier culinary literature, speak about pairing pasta perfectly with aged cheese such as P a r m i g i a n o , G r a n a , a n d Pecorino, whose dry nature is ideal for balancing the moist nature of its compan- i o n . G r a t i n g c h e e s e f i n e favors its blending with the still boiling-hot pasta. For centuries, pasta has b e e n s e r v e d w h i t e , w i t h cheese. Butter and spices would enrich the cheese in r e c i p e s d e s t i n e d o n l y f o r wealthy dinner tables. A mid-1300s novella from Boccaccio's Decameron por- trays the fabulous Bengodi, a n a b u n d a n t f o o d t o w n where "they had a mountain made of grated parmesan cheese, where people did n o t h i n g b u t m a k e r a v i o l i a n d g n o c c h i t h a t t h e y c o o k e d . T h e n t h e y w o u l d toss them down below, and the more you picked up, the more you had." Montanari points out that cheese on macaroni soon entered the world of Italian proverbs to indicate an ideal combination, while maca- roni without cheese became the metaphor for imperfec- tion—used as early as the 1 5 0 0 s b y P i e t r o A r e t i n o alongside equally dramatic absences of an essential ele- ment, such as cocina senza c u o c o ( k i t c h e n w i t h o u t a cook). E v e n t h o u g h t h e f i r s t plate of pasta with olive oil was made for aristocratic t a b l e s a t t h e e n d o f t h e 1 6 0 0 s b y A n t o n i o L a t i n i , dressing pasta with extra- virgin olive oil became "nor- mal" only in the 1950s when t h e c o n c e p t o f t h e Mediterranean diet, known primarily as a food model, took shape. Olive oil has been a dis- t i n c t i v e e l e m e n t o f Mediterranean culture for millennia - Ancient Romans used it both as a condiment and cosmetic. Yet later in t h e M i d d l e A g e s a n d Renaissance, olive oil pro- duction was costly and luxu- ry of the few. On a different note, the marriage between pasta and tomato sauce is very impor- tant, yet it did not happen right away. Even though the f i r s t p l a n t s o f t o m a t o e s arrived from the New World a r o u n d 1 5 4 4 , t h e t o m a t o sauce was entirely welcome into Italian cooking of the late 1700s. W h e n G o e t h e w a s i n Naples in 1787, he observed that "macaroni are cooked simply in water and dressed with grated cheese." Only a f e w y e a r s l a t e r , i n 1 7 8 1 , Neapolitan chef Vincenzo Corrado wrote: "Tomatoes do a lot, with their acidic juice, to facilitate digestion, p a r t i c u l a r l y d u r i n g t h e i r s u m m e r s e a s o n , d u r i n g w h i c h , o v e r c o m e b y t h e h e a t , m a n ' s s t o m a c h i s relaxed and nauseous." In the early 1800s, mak- ing Spaghetti with tomato sauce became a chef's clas- sic. I n h e r r e p o r t a g e , I l Ventre di Napoli (The Belly of Naples, 1884), journalist a n d n o v e l i s t M a t i l d e S a r a o w r i t e s : " A l l t h e streets in the four lower- class neighborhoods have o n e o f t h e s e t a v e r n s t h a t have their cauldrons set up in the open air, where maca- roni is always boiling, the pots where the tomato sauce is bubbling, mountains of grated cheese." Pellegrino Artusi spread the "Southern" custom of dressing pasta with tomato sauce throughout the coun- try. In his famous cookbook T h e S c i e n c e i n t h e Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene) published in 1891, he t o l d h o w t o m a k e a g o o d tomato sauce. Artusi was a b u s i n e s s m a n a n d w r i t e r w h o e s t a b l i s h e d a t r u l y national Italian cuisine, and e v e n t h e F r e n c h c o o k A u g u s t e E s c o f f i e r t o o k inspiration from him. He is c o n s i d e r e d t h e f a t h e r o f Italian cuisine because, for the first time in its history, he included recipes from all the different regions of Italy in a single cookbook. A c c o r d i n g t o A r t u s i , tomato sauce requires a rich battuto (chopped season- ings) made with a quarter of an onion, a clove of garlic, a r i b o f c e l e r y , a f e w b a s i l leaves, enough parsley. Add oil, salt, and pepper to the mix. Then cut seven or eight tomatoes into small pieces and put everything on the fire together. A r t u s i l a d l e d t o m a t o sauce over hot pasta dishes already dressed with cheese and butter, as in the most established Italian tradition. I n t h e 2 0 t h c e n t u r y , t h e roles reversed: Now, we add cheese to tomato sauce. Well, doesn't our national identity easily live in a plate o f d e l i c i o u s h o m e m a d e spaghetti served al dente? S u r e l y , t h e r e d o f t h e tomato sauce, the white of spaghetti and cheese, and the green of basil leaves plus the extra-virgin olive oil will always evoke our beloved flag. Continued from page 20 A photo portrait of Pellegrino Artusi (Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Agreement. Author: Epigrafista/Wikipedia. License: Public Domain) Vermicelli ready to be cooked (Photo: Funkybg/Dreamstime) LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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