L'Italo-Americano

italoamericano-digital-4-20-2023

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THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano W e w i l l r e m e m - b e r M a r c h 2 0 2 3 a s t h e m o n t h w h e n I t a l i a n cuisine finally applied to b e c o m e p a r t o f U N E S C O Intangible Cultural Heritage, a s w e l l a s t h e m o n t h of that Financial Times article. Indeed, In the same week we announced a bid to have our beloved cuisine rec- ognized by UNESCO, food historian Alberto Grandi stirred controversy on the pages of the popular British b r o a d s h e e t , a l l e g i n g t h a t some of Italy's most iconic dishes are not authentic. T h e a r t i c l e , p e n n e d b y Marianna Giusti, and titled Everything I Thought I Knew about Italian Food is Wrong, challenges some commonly h e l d b e l i e f s a b o u t I t a l i a n c u i s i n e . G r a n d i s a y s t h a t many Italian "classics" are, in fact, modern inventions, using pizza, carbonara, and p a n e t t o n e a s e x a m p l e s , claiming that most Italians h a d n e v e r h e a r d o f t h e m u n t i l t h e 1 9 5 0 s . H e a l s o a r g u e s t h a t W i s c o n s i n parmesan is a perfect mod- e r n s u b s t i t u t e f o r P a r m i - giano, something that must have certainly made all sup- porters of the "Italian sound- i n g " i n d u s t r y v e r y h a p p y . W o r d s a r e a l s o s p e n t o n L u c a C e s a r e ' s v i e w about carbonara, presented in his book A Short History of Pasta: carbonara is "an American dish born in Italy." N e g a t i v e r e a c t i o n s c a m e quickly, with Italian agricul- tural organization Coldiret- ti calling the article "a surre- al attack" with "a worrying economic and employment implication." Yet, Italy's UNESCO pro- p o s a l h i g h l i g h t s t h e c l o s e connections between culture, f o o d , a n d l i f e s t y l e i n a "mosaic of traditions" passed through the generations, and I believe that, at least in the Financial Times article we are discussing, Grandi fails to recognize that. The article bypasses the essence of Ital- ian food culture, missing two c r i t i c a l e l e m e n t s : c o n t e x t and the "big picture." Grandi's view seems nar- row because it overlooks the v a s t a r r a y o f d i s h e s a n d recipes that make up its cul- tural heritage: in the end, the history of Italian food is not confined to a bunch of w e l l - k n o w n s t e r e o t y p e s . Our cuisine is a tapestry of c r e a t i v i t y , c u l t u r a l exchange, and local ingredi- e n t s t h a t s h o w c a s e t h e country's culinary diversity. For example, Sicilian cui- sine blends Middle Eastern and North African flavors into its dishes, while the northern regions celebrate rice and cheese-based dish- es that reflect their agricul- tural heritage. Limiting our food's multifaceted nature and connections with histo- ry, reducing it to a mere col- lection of popular dishes, is to do it a disservice. The article also suggests, we said, that many so-called " I t a l i a n c l a s s i c s " w e r e u n k n o w n t o t h e m a s s e s until recently. Well, this is t r u e , b u t p r e s e n t i n g t h e idea without contextualiz- ing can be misleading: we s h o u l d n ' t f o r g e t t h e f a c t that, until the 1950s, Italy — a n d t h e w o r l d — w a s a much more insular place. It was only after the Second W o r l d W a r t h a t T V became a household item and supermarkets became u b i q u i t o u s , w h i c h m e a n t that people had access to a wider variety of products. The economic boom of the 1950s and 60s fundamen- tally changed the country's e c o n o m y , w h i c h m o v e d away from being an agricul- ture and region-based reali- t y , t o b e c o m i n g a m o r e industrial and trade-based one. And while this shift led to the overall availability of many ingredients and dish- e s t h a t w e r e p r e v i o u s l y u n k n o w n t o t h e g e n e r a l public, it doesn't mean Ital- i a n c u i s i n e d i d n ' t e x i s t before then, or that its cul- tural significance should be disregarded. In other words, Grandi's v i e w p o i n t a p p e a r s t o b e based on an incomplete out- l o o k o n I t a l i a n c u i s i n e , because it focuses on a nar- row selection of dishes and ingredients, and forgets the regional diversity, cultural exchange, and history that make Italian cuisine so spe- c i a l . A n d w h i l e G r a n d i ' s arguments are a testament t o t h e s o c i o e c o n o m i c changes that took place in Italy during the 20th centu- ry they fail, in my opinion, to capture the essence of the country's food culture. One could argue that, by pointing out the diversity of I t a l i a n c u i s i n e , I ' m o n l y p r o v i n g G r a n d i ' s p o i n t . After all, if we consider Ital- ian food to be a collection of regional dishes, then our cuisine is not truly unified, b e s i d e s t h a t h a n d f u l o f t h i n g s — w h i c h G r a n d i identified clearly — known and consumed everywhere, from North to South. And while his considerations say a l o t a b o u t t h e s o c i o e c o - nomic development of the country — namely, that the economic boom made us a nation more than the ideals o f R i s o r g i m e n t o — t h e y seem to neglect the varied nature of Italian cuisine, its ties with the territory and its history, and its commu- n i t y - m a k i n g v a l u e . T h e y f o r g e t f o o d , i n I t a l y , i s e v e r y w h e r e a s o u r c e o f pride and joyful unity, per- haps the only thing that, in e s s e n c e , r e a l l y c o n n e c t s p e o p l e a c r o s s d i f f e r e n t regions and generations. And so, while I respect Grandi's expertise on Ital- ian cuisine, I tend to dis- agree with his idea of it, or at least, with the idea he expressed in the pages of t h e F i n a n c i a l T i m e s . Because Italian food is more than pizza and carbonara, it's more than a few popular dishes you can find in every Italian restaurant popular with tourists. Our food is a celebration of creativity, it is cultural exchange, it is regional diversity. It is a p e r f e c t r e f l e c t i o n o f t h e country's long and rich his- tory. Here's why I disagree with "that" Financial Times article … FRANCESCA BEZZONE Making gnocchi: our culinary heritage is rich in history, filled with tradition, and certainly not "a fake" (Photo: Antonio Gravante/Dreamstime) NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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