L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 8 LUCA D'ALESSANDRO T his is the story of a dish whose origin is rooted in people's own heritage and centennial tradition. It is the story of a dish that was born to be rare and precious, because prepared only and exclu- sively to honor the holy worship of a saint. It is also the story of a family and how it managed so far to maintain a special sliver of culinary art alive, all on its own. And finally, it is, we hope, the story of how today's effort to protect our cultural heritage, also in the kitchen, may save this dish from disappearing for ever. The last word on that, however, has yet to be written. Su filindeu - the threads of God, literally - remind closely, in look and color, of another jewel of Sardinian tradition, byssus, that see-through, fragile silk of the sea so extraordinary and valuable to be used only to make garments for Popes and Kings: the color of blanched seashells, their weft regular and delicate, both are fragile and made by skilful hands, nowadays as valu- able as the product they create. Indeed, there are only three women, all in the Nuoro area, who are able to make su filindeu and they all belong to the Abrai- ni family: why, you ask? Because it's within this family that, for more than 300 years, the art of making the threads of God has been exclusively kept, cher- ished and protected, passed on from mother to daughter all the way to our times. You see, su fil- indeu have never been an ordi- nary pasta and their story is as charming as you would expect. It all started in the small town of Lula, which have been celebrat- ing its patron saint, Francis, twice a year for centuries, in October and May. In both occa- sions, the faithful embark in a 33 km long pilgrimage from Nuoro to Lula, a way to pray and reflect as ancient and the feast itself: it is in this context that su filindeu was born, as the dish to offer to pilgrims once they reached Lula after their 8 hour long trek through the hills. They were served, and still are today, in a sheep broth, topped with pecori- no sardo cheese, a earthly reward after so much spiritual yearning. But what makes su filindeu so special is not only the fact they are eaten only twice a year, but also how difficult they are to make: starting from a simple mix of water, flour and salt, the dough is kneaded, divided in sec- tions and rolled into cylinders which are then pulled and folded many times, until they are trans- formed in 256 threads about half the width of angel hair. The whole process is not only painstakingly long - it can take up to a month of full time work to make about 100 lbs of pasta - but also incredibly difficult. To say it is Paola Abraini, one of the only three women still able to make su filindeu from scratch, who is in charge of most of their production; she has become, in recent years, a bit of a celebrity, especially after Jamie Oliver went to visit her in an attempt to learn her art. With no avail. Fol- lowing Jamie's adventures, BBC Food got interested in her and made her a VIP among interna- tional foodies. To British journal- ist Eliot Stein, she declared that the secret to make perfect su fil- indeu is "understanding the dough with your hands," a process that can take years to master, a "game with your hands, but once you achieve it, then the magic happens." If the dough is too dry, she dips her fingers in a bowl of cold water; if it needs more elasticity, she does the same in one of salted water. A game with the hands it may be, but a very hard one to master, even for the world of engineering: experts from Barilla visited Mrs Abraini to see whether her technique could be reproduce by machines, but they found it way too complex, leav- ing the hope to keep the tradition and art of su filindeu alive, quite literally, in the hands of those eager to learn how to make them. As said, the Abrainis have been passing on their special skills for generations, but Paola's daughters have shown little inter- est in learning, with only one of them knowing the basics of the process, so it became adamant the tradition needed to reach out- side the family to remain alive. Paola did suggest the creation of a special school where she could teach su filindeu making, but lack of funding made the project impossible to complete and resorted to teach in her own kitchen to whomever was inter- ested: unfortunately, in a world where only the fast and the dis- posable count, Paola's intricate, slow art failed to attract and maintain the interest of her stu- dents alive for more than one session. Making su filindeu is, indeed, an art at risk, as also stat- ed by the people of the Ark of Taste, an initiative lead by Slow Food International aiming at cat- aloguing and protecting the world most endangered foods. Mrs Abraini, though, is a tough cookie and is far from sur- rendering: she wants su filindeu to survive. For this reason, she has been trying to make them more popular outside of the Nuoro area, in the hope someone will show an interest in learning her skills. She has teamed up with Gambero Rosso, Italy's most prestigious food magazine, to make a documentary about the su filindeu making process, and has also been supplying the pasta to three restaurants, the Agritur- ismo Testone and two eateries in downtown Nuoro, Il Rifugio and Al Ciusa. The hope is that, beside lov- ing the way they taste, someone also gets the urge to learn how to make them, allowing the amaz- ing skills of the Abrainis to remain alive for another 300 years at least. Su filindeu: a pasta so rare it's at risk of disappearing LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Su filindeu - the threads of God, literally - remind closely, in look and color, of another jewel of Sardinian tradition, byssus. Photo by Jacopo Salvi

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