L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS regional: Sicilians, Ligurians, Neapolitans and Calabrians brought their own recipes and p r e f e r e n c e s , t h e n f o u n d themselves living alongside p e o p l e f r o m o t h e r I t a l i a n regions, sometimes for the first time; they also had to make do with what American markets offered, and as fami- lies became more established, t h e i r g r o w i n g i n c o m e s allowed them to buy ingredi- ents that had once been too expensive. Their children, meanwhile, grew up eating both the food prepared at home and the dishes they e n c o u n t e r e d a t s c h o o l , i n restaurants and among Amer- ican friends. Over time, these different influences inevitably changed what appeared on the family table. T h e I t a l i a n A m e r i c a n Museum explores this history in Mangia! The Evolution o f I t a l i a n F o o d i n t h e United States, an exhibition r u n n i n g t h r o u g h s u m m e r 2027 which, through restau- rant signs, menus, food pack- aging and the stories of famil- iar businesses, follows Italian cooking from the kitchens of i m m i g r a n t f a m i l i e s t o i t s place in everyday American l i f e . T h e e x h i b i t i o n a l s o recalls a period when certain dishes were dismissed as the food of poor immigrants, long b e f o r e p a s t a a n d p i z z a became staples of American eating habits. Because they did, as LA culinary icons like Little Joe's, which remained in business for 101 years, or the Paris Inn Café and Casa D'Amore, credited with intro- ducing pizza to Southern Cali- fornia, demonstrate. Of course, acceptance did not mean that Italian food remained unchanged: restau- rants adjusted their menus to American tastes and families adapted recipes according to the ingredients they could find. Sometimes a substitu- tion was necessary because an I t a l i a n i n g r e d i e n t w a s unavailable; on other occa- sions, people simply preferred the new version. Children developed different tastes from their parents, regional recipes influenced one anoth- er, and what had originally been an adaptation gradually became an established family tradition. After two or three generations, a dish prepared differently from its Italian counterpart might be the only version an Italian-Amer- ican family had ever known, b u t c a l l i n g i t i n a u t h e n t i c would overlook the circum- stances in which it developed, and the effort families made to preserve familiar foods while building their lives in a new country. This historical context also helps explain the importance of UNESCO's recognition of Italian cooking as intangible cultural her- i t a g e . R e c i p e s a l w a y s changed as people moved and new generations devel- oped their own preferences; much of the knowledge asso- ciated with cooking, however, survives through the way people prepare food and teach others to do the s a m e . A n I t a l i a n g r a n d - mother in California may use tomatoes that taste different from those her mother used in Campania, and her grand- children may learn the recipe in English, without knowing the Italian names of every ingredient; yet they are still learning a family practice that began elsewhere, and the time spent cooking together allows the knowledge to con- tinue. In San Francisco, the t o p i c o f t h e W e e k i s approached from a slightly d i f f e r e n t d i r e c t i o n . O n November 18, the Italian Cultural Institute will ded- icate its event to Slow Food, examining the movement's history, its achievements and its future following the death of founder Carlo Petrini earli- er this year. Slow Food began in Italy in 1986 as a response to the spread of standardized fast-food culture and became an international movement in 1989. Its commitment to local production, biodiversi- ty, seasonal ingredients and the pleasures of eating found supporters also in Northern C a l i f o r n i a , w h e r e s i m i l a r ideas had already been devel- oping. One of the best-known figures associated with this approach in the area is Alice Waters, who opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971, and later became a longtime vice president of Slow Food. Her emphasis on working directly with farmers and choosing seasonal produce helped influence American restaurant culture, while her Edible Schoolyard project brought food education into schools, allowing children to learn about growing vegeta- b l e s a n d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p between agriculture and what a p p e a r e d o n t h e i r p l a t e s . These principles are part of the Slow Food ethos, but also inherent to the way in which many Californians look at their food, and perhaps, this i s o n e o f t h e r e a s o n s t h e movement became so suc- c e s s f u l h e r e . A f a r m e r i n Northern California did not need to grow Piedmontese vegetables or produce Italian c h e e s e s t o a p p r e c i a t e t h e importance of biodiversity, traditional methods and good food; Slow Food just encour- aged people to value what their own territory could pro- duce, which helps explain why a quintessentially Italian p r o j e c t c o u l d f i n d s u c h a receptive audience thousands of miles away. The emphasis of this year's Week on territories and sup- ply chains is particularly rele- vant to these experiences, because Italian products such a s P a r m i g i a n o R e g g i a n o , Sicilian capers and Piedmon- tese wines depend on specific places and established meth- ods that give them their dis- tinctive characteristics: pro- tecting those connections is essential to preserving their identity. Cooking, however, also involves everything peo- ple do with those ingredients once they reach the kitchen: Italians who emigrated could not take their vineyards and local markets with them, but they could carry their knowl- edge of food and their ways of preparing and sharing meals. Then, they used what they found in their new surround- ings and, in doing so, devel- oped traditions that were both recognizably Italian and increasingly American. I t a l i a n c o o k i n g a l w a y s encouraged conversation and curiosity (and the occasional disagreement) about how a dish ought to be prepared; the Week of Italian Cuisine in the World is a good occasion to continue these conversa- tions, preferably around a table where, of course, there will be plenty of good food to enjoy. Recipes always changed as people moved and new generations developed their own preferen- ces; much of the knowledge associated with cooking, however, survives through the way people prepare food and teach others to do the same. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 This year's Week of Italian Cuisine in the World places particular emphasis on territories and supply chains, recognizing that Italian food begins with the land and with the people who produce its ingredients; below: from Sicily's arancine to the specialties of every Italian region, local dishes carry the habits and histories of the communities that created them (Original images created for L'Italo-Americano with the assistance of AI)

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