Why Italians Love to Talk About Food (69 page)

*
The symbol ø refers to the pasta's diameter.

Unless otherwise noted, works cited by their English titles can be found in the translator's bibliography. All other works can be found in the author's biobliography.

 

PREFACE

1
. XÁOS.
Giornale di confine
4, no. 1 (March–June 2005–2006).

2
. In a letter to his friend Pletnev, November 2, 1837.

3
.
Pis'ma iz Francii i Italii
, letter VII, February 25, 1848.

4
. Montanari, ed.,
Il mondo in cucina. Storia, identità, scambi
(C. Petrini's note). Petrini,
Buono, pulito e giusto
. Einaudi, Turin, 2005, p. 75.

 

FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA

1
.
Italian Journey
, September 14, 1786, pp. 33–34.

 

THE
SAGRA

1
. Utilized here and further on in this chapter are abundant materials drawn from Ceccarelli,
Lo stomaco della Repubblica
, pp. 90–91, 95.

2
. Martini, “D'Alema: noi e l'Ulivo per governare,” in
La Stampa
.

3
. “Era buon governo efficiente,” in
Il Foglio
.

4
. Montanelli, “La cosa due e i tortellini.”

5
. “D'Alema e Montanelli, tortellini di lotta o di governo?,” in
Corriere della Sera
.

6
. “La prevalenza del tortellino, Guazzaloca si annette il simbolo dell'identità bolognese,” in
La Stampa
.

7
. Rodotà, “La strategia delle brigate tortellino.”

8
. “Italiani mangiatori di rane alle feste del partito,” in
L'Unità
, January 21, 1991.

 

VENETO AND THE CITY OF VENICE

1
. Cuttlefish are rounder and shorter than calamari (squid), whose name not by accident derives from
calamarion
, which means “depository of black humor.”

2
. From Artusi,
La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene
, p. xii, since Camporesi's introduction is not included in the English edition. Subsequent citations are from the English translation,
Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well
(see translator's bibliography).

3
. Artusi,
Science in the Kitchen
, p. 357.

4
. Fochesato and Pronzati,
Stoccafisso & Baccalà
; Ferrari,
Merluzzo, baccalà o stoccafisso?

5
.
Italian Journey
, September 14 and 19, 1786, pp. 32, 46.

6
. Celebrated in the unforgettable epitaph of a fisherman:
“Oui zaze Bernardin de Ca' Donao, che morì in tel pescar cape de deo, co la camisa curta e l'cul bagnao del millecinquecento. Ora pro eo.”
(“Here lies Bernardin de Ca' Donao of 1500, who died fishing for the
Capa de deo
, with a short shirt and a wet behind. Pray for him.”)

7
.
Revue culturelle de Droit de l'Art
, April 25, 2005.

8
. Benedetto Varchi,
L'Ercolano. Dialogo di M. Benedetto 'Varchi nel quale si ragiona delle lingue
, pp. 82–83.

 

OLIVE OIL

1
. “Oration for Sextus Roscius of Ameria,” XVII, XVIII.

2
.
The Georgics
, Book II, 513–15.

 

TRENTINO ALTO ADIGE

1
.
Italian Journey
, September 11, 1786, p. 21.

2
. Ibid., October 3, 1786, p. 69.

3
. Ibid., March 12, 1787, p. 194.

 

LOMBARDY

1
. Bertolino,
Milanesi. Lavoro, guadagno, spendo, pretendo
, pp. 65–70.

2
.
Rome, Naples and Florence
, December 5, 1816, pp. 120–21.

3
. Ibid., December 28, 1816, pp. 164–65.

4
. Cattaneo, “Notizie sulla Lombardia,” p. 472.

5
.
Rome, Naples and Florence
, December 16, 1816, p. 149.

6
. In Marchi,
Quando siamo a tavola
, p. 17.

7
.
Inferno
, XXXIII:80.

8
.
Canzoniere
, CXLVI.

9
.
Lettere a Milano
(Letters to Milan), p. 69 (cited in Ceccarelli,
Lo stomaco della Repubblica
, p. 94).

10
. Caprara,
Togliatti, il comintern e il gatto selvatico
, pp. 13–14.

11
. Stendhal,
Rome, Naples and Florence
, January 4, 1817, pp. 208–209.

 

VALLE D'AOSTA

1
.
Viaggi e assaggi
, vol. 1, p. 8.

2
.
The Praise of Folly
, pp. 1–2.

 

JEWS

1
.
I discorsi di Pietro Andrea Mattioli su De materia medica di Dioscoride
, chapter 78.

2
.
Pratica, e scalcaria
, p. 245.

3
.
L'economia del cittadino in villa
, p. 244.

4
.
Science in the Kitchen
, p. 295ff.; recipe 399,
petonciani
.

5
.
Il Novellino
, 35.

6
.
L'Ameto
, p. 66.

7
. Deuteronomy 14:4–23; New International Version.

 

PIEDMONT

1
.
Baudolino
, pp. 27–28.

2
.
Physiology of Taste
, p. 126.

3
. Ibid., p. 127.

4
. Ceccarelli,
Opusculum de tuberibus, Alphonso Ciccarello physico de Maeuania auctore. Adiecimus etiam opusculum de Clitumno flumine, eodem auctore. Cum duplici indice, capitum scilicet, & auctorum
, 1564.

5
. Summary by Annamaria Sigalotti in
E-Art
, January 2005.

 

LIGURIA

1
.
Del conseruare la sanità, et del viuere de' genouesi
, p. 418.

2
. Gueglio,
Mario! Storia vera tragica e avventurosa del polpo Mario
, pp. 23–24.

 

THE EARLY GIFTS FROM THE AMERICAS

1
. Airaldi (ed.),
I viaggi dopo la scoperta
. Cited in Di Wine taste,
Cultura e informazione enologica
, Feb. 2007, no. 49.

2
. “The
molandaie
, the women who grind it, take a quantity of this grain and soak it in cold water the night before; in the morning they pulverize it little by little with two stones; some stand, and some kneel on the ground; nor do they watch whether hair or lice fall in. When the dough, which they have sprinkled with water and little by little kneaded with their hands, is ready, they make certain long or round loaves; wrapping them in cane leaves, they let them cook with as little water as possible. This is the bread of the common folk; it lasts three days, then it gets moldy. The upper class makes it like this: they soak the grain, the
molandaie
pound it with the stones, and after washing it with hot water and removing the husk, they are left with the kernel; they grind it as much as possible and, forming the dough, make small flatbreads and cook them on a round disk, over a very low flame.” Benzoni,
La historia del mondo nuovo di M. Girolamo Benzoni milanese
.

3
. “One may reasonably count among the types of grain the one that is wrongly [named] since it should be called Indian and not Turkish given that it was brought from the West Indies and not from from Turkish Asia.” Mattioli,
I discorsi di Pietro Andrea Mattioli su De materia medica di Dioscoride
, chap. 21, vol. 3, p. 281.

4
. “I do not believe that maize grain is inferior to wheat; it is larger and richer and generates blood, the reason why those who consume it for the first time in large quantities suffer from swelling and itching.” De Acosta,
Historia naturale e morale delle Indie
.

5
. “Maize is one of the grains that should be more appreciated in the world . . . It is ground on a stone and the bread that is made, without using salt or leavening or anything other than some cold water, is quickly toasted or cooked in a casserole or on an earthenware disk.” De Cardenas,
Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las Indias
.

6
. “They [the Indians] eat it in place of bread, grilled or boiled in water . . . From maize flour the Spaniards make biscuits, fritters, and other delicate dishes both for the sound of health and for the sick.” Garcilaso de la Vega,
Commentari reali sul Perù degli Incas
.

7
.
Lettera al Cardinale Ascanio Sforza Visconti
. In the second edition of 1516 the word “maize” appears for the first time.

8
.
La Pratica agricola
(1778). Cited in Montanari,
Il pentolino magico
, p. 95.

9
. This is mentioned in Crosby,
The Columbian Exchange
. (See author's bibliography.)

10
. Clini,
L'alimentazione nella storia
.

11
.
Scritti naturalistici
.

12
. The history of the dominant scarlet color scheme found in Italian cuisine is the theme of a curious illustrated volume by Alberto Capatti, with texts by the famous chef Gianfranco Vissani:
Pomi d'oro: immagini del pomodoro nella storia del gusto
(Golden apples: images of the tomato in the history of flavor).

 

EMILIA ROMAGNA

1
. Naturally, this is not a prerogative of only Italian cities. Paris is the City of Light, Istanbul the City of the Golden Horn, Damascus the Desert Pearl, Aberdeen the City of Granite. And finally Baghdad (who would believe it today?) has been known as the City of Peace since the dawn of time.

2
.
Obrazy Italii
, vol. 1, p. 121.

3
. In the Middle Ages all parts of the animal were consumed: heads, in particular, had an important symbolic value as a sign of power and authority.

4
. The story is contained in the chronicle of Cherubino Ghirardacci,
Storia di Bologna
(History of Bologna), cited in Montanari,
Il pentolino magico
, pp. 81–83. The precious descriptions of similar celebrations are contained in Maioli and Roversi,
Civiltà della tavola a Bologna
.

5
.
Nuovi poemetti
, pp. 60–70.

6
. Here and in subsequent passages we summarize the notable descriptions of the life of these marsh dwellers contained in Black,
Al Dente: The Adventures of a Gastronome in Italy
, pp. 141–51. See translator's bibliography.

7
.
Al Dente
, p. 150.

8
.
Banchetti compositioni di vivande
, 1529.

9
.
Le donne, i cavalier, l'armi, gli amori
, translated by William Stewart Rose, vol. 1, p. xvii.

 

CALENDAR

1
.
The Ash Wednesday Supper
, p. 67.

2
. Ibid., pp. 67–68.

3
. Ibid., p. 68.

4
.
“Chi la squallida cervogia / alle labbra sue congiugne, / presto muore, o rado giugne / all'età vecchia e barbogia.”
(He who puts to his lips a distasteful beer will die young, or rarely reach an old, decrepit age), a pseudomedical observation by ultra-Tuscan Francesco Redi (1626–98), a poet, surgeon, and member of the Accademia della Crusca.

5
.
The Satires
, Book II, Satire VI, “The Delights of the Country.”

6
.
The Natural History of Pliny
, XVIII, 118.

 

TUSCANY

1
.
The Voyage of Italy, or A Compleat Journey Through Italy
.

2
.
Pictures from Italy
, p. 156.

3
.
Italian Journey
, October 25, 1786, pp. 103–104.

4
.
Rome, Naples and Florence
, October 4, 1816, p. 23.

5
.
Nicolo Machiavelli, the Florentine
, p. 103.

6
.
Rome, Naples and Florence
, December 6, 1816, p. 123.

7
. Prezzolini,
Nicolo Machiavelli, the Florentine
.

8
.
The Natural History of Pliny
, p. 246.

9
.
Paradiso
, XVII: 58–60.

10
.
Purgatorio
, XXIV: 28–29.

11
. Prezzolini,
Nicolo Macchiavelli, the Florentine
, pp. 180–82.

12
. Ceccarelli,
Lo stomaco della Repubblica
, p. 67.

13
. Mocci, “Il partito della bistecca.”

14
.
Italian Journey
, October 25, 1786, p. 104.

15
. Cited in Black,
Al Dente
, p. 49.

16
.
Science in the Kitchen
, p. 63.

17
.
Al Dente
, p. 45

18
.
Decameron
, VI: 10.

 

PASTA

1
.
The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile
, IV, 3, p. 254.

2
.
The Memoirs of Herr von Schnabelewopski
, pp. 138–39.

3
.
Maccheroni & C.
, p. 15.

4
.
Quando siamo a tavola
, p. 24.

5
. Ligabue,
Storia delle forniture navali e dell'alimentazione di bordo
.

6
. Tonelli,
La pittura a Genova come fonte per la storia dell'alimentazione
.

7
. Agnesi,
È tempo di pasta
, pp. 38–39, 56.

8
. Letter to V. N. Repnina from Rome, June 14, 1838.