Why Italians Love to Talk About Food (70 page)

9
.
Underworld
, pp. 698–99.

 

UMBRIA

1
. Muratov,
Obrazy Italii
, vol. 3, p. 223.

 

THE MARCHES

1
. Codex Atlanticus, overleaf of sheet 5.

2
.
Purgatorio
, XXIV: 21–24.

 

THE LATER GIFTS FROM AMERICA

1
. From a collection of fragments, aphorisms, and epigrams by Leo Longanesi,
Parliamo dell'elefante
(Let's talk about the elephant). Longanesi, Milano, 2005, p. 161. Note dated January 14, 1944.

2
. Mureddu,
Il Quirinale dei presidenti
, p. 27.

3
. Here and elsewhere in this chapter, some materials and citations are drawn from Ceccarelli,
Lo stomaco della Repubblica
, pp. 22–23, 30ff.

4
. Catti De Gasperi,
De Gasperi uomo solo
, p. 193.

5
. Zatterin, “La nave dell'amicizia sbarca i suoi doni a Napoli.”

6
. “La 500esima nave americana” (The 500th American ship),
La Stampa
, April 4, 1948. The article is signed with the initials V.G.; according to Filippo Ceccarelli (
Lo stomaco della Repubblica
, p. 34), they are the initials of Vittorio Gorresio.

7
. “Il cardine della lotta elettorale: i rifornimenti americani e le relazioni con la Russia,” in
La Stampa
, February 23, 1948.

8
. Ginsborg,
A History of Contemporary Italy
, p. 117.

9
. As proof of the philosoviet and philorussian sympathies on the part of the vast majority of the Italian Left, a monstrosity like
pastasciutta alla vodka
(pasta with vodka sauce) appeared on restaurant menus. The creation involved sprinkling the rigatoni with vodka. To this day, ordering this dish may be considered an elegant gesture in the spirit of the “radical-chic” intelligentsia.

10
. “Sogno americano e mito sovietico nell'Italia contemporanea,” in
Nemici per la pelle
, p. 31.

11
. “Coca-cola dal Viet Nam a Silvio” (Coca-Cola from Vietnam to Silvio), in
Corriere della Sera
, February 9, 2000. See also “Quando le bevande irrompono in politica” (When beverages erupt into politics), in
Il Tempo
, February 9, 2000.

12
. Elena Babaytseva, “Bodalsya Turin s Koka-koloi.”

13
. Ariès,
I figli di McDonald
's.

 

LAZIO AND THE CITY OF ROME

1
Platina (real name: Bartolomeo Sacchi, 1421–1481) was prefect at the Vatican Library, the Church's first lay historian, a well-known humanist, and, among other things, a friend of Master Martino, that is, Martino De Rossi, the celebrated cook originally from Canton Ticino, and author of Italy's first
cookbook,
De arte coquinaria
(1457). Starting from the second half of the fifteenth century, everyone stole recipes from Martino's book, including his friend Platina. Platina's own treatise,
De honesta volup-tate et valetudine
(1468), based on the book his teacher wrote, had a much wider circulation. Sacchi even admits that his book is a revised version of Master Martino's recipes (“What cook, oh immortal gods, can compete with my Martino di Como, from whom I have taken the greater part of what I record here?”). Platina's work is the first cookbook to be printed (it came out in Latin in 1474, in Rome). The Italian translation was published quite soon, in 1487, in Venice, followed by the German, French, and English versions. With regard to style, Platina created a comical macaronic Latin, since this parodied the language of Apicius (see further on in the present chapter), imitating the style of classical literature, in the manner of the humanists, and creating calques from the Italian in a hybrid of macaronic Latin and Greek (for example, he calls blancmange
leucophagium
, leukophagy).

2
Platynae historici Liber de vita Christi ac omnium pontificum
, pp. 20–23.

3
Nicolo Machiavelli, the Florentine
, pp. 50–51.

4
Stendhal,
A Roman Journal
, pp. 201–202.

5
Petronius,
Satyricon
, p. 28.

6
Ibid., p. 40.

7
Ibid., p. 26.

8
Thirteen Satires of Juvenal
, Satire 11, p. 76.

9
The Travel Diary of Peter A. Tolstoi: A Muscovite in Modern Europe
, p. 225.

10
The facts about artichokes are combined with information taken from the magazine
Grand Gourmet
, 2004, no. 6, pp. 64ff.

11
He may well comment behind their backs, though. Notable is the recollection of Galina Muravieva, a well-known Moscow Italianist and professor: “In an Italian bar two Russians are enjoying a slice of pizza with a cappuccino. Behind their backs the waiter is heard saying in a not very low voice: ‘Imbeciles, pizza and cappuccino!' ” Muravieva, “O ede,” p. 215.

12
Herzen,
Pis'ma iz Franzii i Italii
, letter V, December 6, 1847, p. 145.

13
Italian Journey
, March 23, 1787, p. 209.

14
Muratov,
Obrazy Italii
, vol. 2, p. 100.

 

THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET

1
The Futurist Cookbook
, p. 23.

2
Nicolo Machiavelli, the Florentine
, p. 182.

3
Journey Through Germany and Italy
, p. 601.

4
Breve racconto di tutte le radici di tutte l'erbe e di tutti i frutti che crudi o cotti in Italia si mangiano
, p. 143.

5
Opera dell'arte del cucinare.

6
Malandra and Renon,
Le principali frodi dei prodotti della pesca
, p. 13.

7
This type of harpoon fishing is described in the chapters devoted to Calabria, Sicily, and Sardinia.

8
Il mestiere del gastronauta
, p. 56.

9
Journey Through Germany and Italy
, p. 585.

10
Scritti naturalistici.
Vegetable food is also the subject of a treatise by Salvatore Massonio of Aquila (1627):
Archidipno, ovvero Dell'insalata e dell'uso di essa
(The best banquet, or about salad and its use).

11
Available at
www.pomonaitaliana.it
.

12
Italian Journey
, March 2, 1787, p. 180.

13
The Art of Living Long
, p. 87.

14
Ibid., p. 87.

15
Cognizione del dolore
, Part I, p. 88.

16
“Essay on Orthorexia: Unhealthy Obsession with Healthy Foods.” See author's bibliography.

 

ABRUZZO AND MOLISE

1
De Nino,
Usi e costumi abruzzesi
, vol. 3, p. 51.

2
Falconi,
Amico castello.

3
Italian Journey
, May 2, 1787, p. 273.

4
Grande dizionario di cucina
, p. 1152. (The page number refers to the Italian edition.)

 

DEMOCRACY

1
Pis'ma iz Franzii i Italii
, Letter V, December 6, 1847.

2
La sua signora
, January 7, 1957.

3
“A true life experience. In Rome, a reception is held at the home of a translator and specialist in Russian culture, in honor of a writer who has come from Moscow. It is one o'clock, lunch is served. After lunch the writer asks when they will drink tea. ‘I was dumbstruck, but I did not lose heart!' the hostess laughs enthusiastically. ‘I decided to amuse everyone. Guess what I devised! I said, now we'll all have tea! And no one batted an eye! I brought the cups, and everyone started drinking! That's how I managed to get out of it!' Think about it: if an expert in Russian culture, a person who lived in Moscow for ten years, considers it so barbarous and uncivilized to request tea at the wrong time, what can we expect from other Italians? Russians, on the other hand, will not understand what there was to be dumbstruck about, not knowing that Italians drink only coffee after lunch, and only afterwards have dessert. ‘Much good may it do them,' the Russian will say. ‘But if there was tea in the house and it could easily be made, what harm was there in serving the guest tea with dessert?' In Russia there would be nothing wrong with it, but in Italy such a thing is inconceivable.” Muravieva, “O ede,” p. 215.

4
Marchi,
Quando siamo a tavola
, p. 114.

5
La dolce vita
, chapter entitled “Kolobok,” p. 103.

6
Parkinson,
Mrs Parkinson's Law and Other Studies in Domestic Science
, p. 53.

7
“ ‘Another slice of prosciutto?' the hostess asks the Russian guest. ‘Thank you, I'll have it later,' the guest replies distractedly, continuing the interesting conversation with his neighbor. All the Italians around the table stiffen. The hostess is confused. What does later mean, how long will they have to wait? In fact, as long as the antipasti are still on the table, the first course cannot be served.” Muravieva, “O ede,” p. 217.

8
Paolo Conti, in
Corriere della sera
, April 13, 2006.

9
Some materials referred to on this page are taken from Ceccarelli,
Lo stomaco della Repubblica
, pp. 60–66.

10
La Stampa
, May 16, 1953.

11
La Stampa
, June 5, 1953.

12
Gorresio,
I carissimi nemici
, pp. 236–37.

13
A great deal of interesting information on the subject can be found in the books of Tonino Tosto:
Le ricette democratiche
and
La cucina dell'Ulivo.

 

CAMPANIA AND THE CITY OF NAPLES

1
Italian Journey
, May 29, 1787, pp. 319–20.

2
Italy: Rome and Naples
, p. 89

3
Rome, Naples and Florence
, December 6, 1816, p. 123, and February 20, 1817, p. 358.

4
Il cibo e l'impegno
, p. 62.

5
This is how Aldo Buzzi describes them in his amusing and ironic book
The Perfect Egg and Other Secrets
(p. 86). And he adds: “Alas, the moment you get away from Naples you're bound to run into stringy string beans. This world is full of mysteries. Here is one of them: why do nurserymen continue to plant beans with strings in them?”

6
Catullus, Ode XXVII.

 

INGREDIENTS

1
Horace,
The Satires
, Book II, Satire IV.

2
Brillat-Savarin,
The Physiology of Taste
, p. 71.

3
Marchi,
Quando siamo a tavola
, p. 16.

4
Petrini,
Buono, pulito e giusto
, p. 73.

 

PUGLIA

1
The term is used elsewhere in the south as well to designate the leader of a team of fishermen. The man who harpoons the tuna during the
mattanza
in Sardinia, for example, is called
rais
.

2
The Satires
, Book I, Satire V, “Onward to Supper at Cocceius' Villa.”

3
Ibid., “And So by Stages to Journey's End.”

 

EROS

1
Physiology of Taste
, pp. 184–185.

2
Italy: Rome and Naples
, pp. 321–22.

3
Ibid., p. 321.

4
Ibid.

5
Prezzolini,
Nicolo Machiavelli, the Florentine
, p. 100.

6
Buzzi,
L'uovo alla kok
, p. 53.

7
Camilleri,
The Snack Thief
, p. 225.

8
Ibid., pp. 266–68, 277.

 

BASILICATA

1
Franceide
, VI, 18.

 

RESTAURANTS

1
“Che bontà dietro il banco . . .” (What delicacies behind the counter . . .),
Il Sole—24 Ore
, May 14, 2006, Sunday insert.

2
“Breakfast. The Italian woman downs her coffee with a thin cookie and offers her guest bread, butter, and jam, as if to say: Help yourself. But her imagination does not go beyond this. She should see the breakfast menu in a Russian boarding house, little changed since Soviet times: wheat kasha, chicken cutlet, ricotta pudding with jam, cheese, butter, chocolate!” Muravieva, “O ede,” p. 217.

3
Black,
Al Dente
, p. 149.

4
Pictures from Italy
, p. 49.

5
Heine's notes, cited in Marchi,
Quando siamo a tavola
, p. 237.

6
“O ede,” p. 220.

 

CALABRIA

1
Homer,
The Odyssey
, XII, 92–101, pp. 290–91.

 

PIZZA

1
Italian Journey
, May 29, 1787, pp. 320–21.

2
Pictures from Italy
, p. 55.

 

SICILY

1
Cited in Daniel B. Levine,
Tuna in Ancient Greece
.

2
Il cibo e l'impegno
, p. 73.

3
Ibid.

4
Cited in Revel,
Culture and Cuisine
, p. 32.

5
Chiaramonte and Paolini, “Tra i banchi del mercato con il Cuciniere.” Carmelo Chiaramonte is the chef at the restaurant Katane of Catania.

 

TOTALITARIANISM

1
Marinetti,
The Futurist Cookbook
.

2
Ibid.

3
Sigalotti, “La cucina futurista tra manifesti, banchetti e ricette ‘antipassatiste.' ”

4
“Il libro dei cibi buoni e sani sovietici.”