L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 4 G a r i b a l d i p u r - portedly once said, "I swear i t w i l l b e spaghetti that unifies Italy." It was at the time a Southern Italian dish a s s o c i a t e d o n l y w i t h t h e lower classes. Naples' lazza- r o n i , t h e i n f a m o u s s t r e e t beggars, for little more than a penny could buy a handful of pasta that they unceremo- niously gulped down right on the street. Despite its hum- ble origins, it did not take long for spaghetti to become a staple in Italian cooking enjoyed by all classes. Apoc- ryphal or not, Garibaldi's r e m a r k w a s i n a w a y prophetic, perhaps more so than he had imagined. But a n y e f f o r t a t a u n i f y i n g national cuisine in Italy is m e t w i t h s t i f f r e s i s t a n c e from the regional nature of Italian cooking, rooted in class, dialects, and local tra- ditions. I w a s a m u s e d r e c e n t l y over the Italian press's cov- erage of the discovery of a fresco in Pompeii depicting a pizza. For some commen- tators, the two-thousand- year-old image proved that pizza deserved its status as the nationally unifying Ital- ian dish with roots extend- i n g b a c k t o t h e R o m a n e m p i r e . B u t I h a d t o a s k myself, did the Genovese, Milanese, or Florentines cel- ebrate the discovery of that f r e s c o a s m u c h a s , s a y , N e a p o l i t a n s , R o m a n s , o r Calabrese? Furthermore, what class of Romans con- sumed the pizza: those who owned Pompeii's lavish vil- las or their servants? But like Naples' spaghetti, pizza is now enjoyed by all class- es. Over the last fifty years that we have visited Italy, Carole and I have watched the change in Italian cui- sine: older dishes disappear from menus while new ones suddenly appear. Signifi- cantly, contemporary immi- gration to Italy is having an impact on Italian society and its cuisine. Immigration has revived what were once the ancient R o m a n , M e d i t e r r a n e a n trade routes with the influx of immigrants, principally from eastern and Mediter- ranean cultures. New immi- grant arrivals are slowly but inevitably returning Italian cuisine to its Mediterranean roots, including a plethora of herbs and spices that had once played a central role in Roman cuisine. At the time, these imported spices were rare and expensive, and no doubt they were used main- ly by the Roman upper class. B u t t h a t h a s b e g u n t o change. Recently I began consult- ing a first-century Roman cookbook purportedly writ- ten by the famous Roman chef named Apicius. It was written around the time that the Roman Empire, with its p o w e r f u l n a v a l f l e e t , s t o p p e d p i r a c y o n t h e Mediterranean and ushered in the Pax Romana, which g a v e R o m e u n i n h i b i t e d access to all Mediterranean cultures. Apicius represents well this period in the wide array of Mediterranean and F a r E a s t e r n s p i c e s a n d herbs in all his recipes: from ginger, paprika, cumin, and coriander, to celery root and turmeric. A main ingredient for meat dishes is a sweet must, a sauce made from grape juice reduced over a low flame. I am never with- o u t a c u p o r t w o i n m y refrigerator. This prepara- tion appears in some of the c o n t e m p o r a r y S o u t h e r n I t a l i a n c o o k b o o k s o n m y shelf. Adding to the Mediter- r a n e a n s w e e t p a l a t e a r e r e c i p e s i n c l u d i n g h o n e y , r a i s i n s , f i g s ( d r i e d a n d fresh) dates, and other local fruits. Of course, the tomato does not appear in any of Apicius' recipes. It had not yet been imported to Italy from the cultural encounter with the New World: the encounter with indigenous cultures in the New World would also radically reshape Italian cuisine in succeeding centuries. Carole and I have visited Rome's markets multiple times over the years, and recently we set out again to visit Rome's famous mar- kets, but this time with an eye to the class and culture of the neighborhoods that surround them. The obvious first stop was in Prati at the famous Mer- cato Trionfale. It serves Rome's upper-class Prati neighborhoods. Nothing is inexpensive, but customers can search for a slightly bet- ter price if they know where to look in the market. The herbs and spices follow the t r a d i t i o n a l l i n e : l a r g e b u n c h e s o f d r i e d I t a l i a n oregano, rosemary, and sage that add a pleasant scent to the market's ambiance. The f r e s h p a s t a s e c t i o n o v e r - flows with all traditional types of pasta, filled and dried, from fettuccine and gnocchi to ravioli, agnolotti, Culture, class, food: exploring Italy's traditional markets and their rich heritage KEN SCAMBRAY NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS CONTINUED TO PAGE 6 Campo de' Fiori is the most famous of Rome's markets but it became very touristy (Photo: DiegoFiore/Dreamstime)

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