Folks, Posting a comment on behalf of a regular reader and personal friend Mark Sammons, who was having some technical trouble with Substack:
"My first career, thirty years, was in social history. So I tend not to view food as unchanging, but rather as specific to time, place, and resources. "Resources" includes both general availability and specific household wealth.
Among Lorenza de Medici's recipes we find one for pasta with cinnamon and rosewater and sugar. This suggests a time after the Arabs had introduced pasta up through Sicily into Italy but before high Ottoman taxes drove European tastes away from exotic flavorings and more toward local flavorings. The place, Florence, was a city state in constant competition with other city states for the accumulation and display of wealth. The resources of the Medici family were immense. The recipe is very expressive of this.
Similarly, tomatoes or chili peppers signal a date after 1492. Once chiles spread, anyone and everyone could have piquant impact of costly pepper from India from just a few seeds they could grow themselves, and pass along from friend to friend. Hot flavor was no longer the realm of the wealthy.
Sometimes an ingredient can be traced to interesting stories a Veneto polenta made with native American corn indicates not merely a date after 1492, but also a date after the 16th-century losses of Venetian empire territory to the Byzantines and League of Cambrai, and loss of trade controls to the Ottomans, and competition from other city-states and other countries in trade with newly-encountered continents. Cut off from their source of wealth, Venetian merchants turned to investing in mainland holdings in the Veneto, draining and improving the land to maximize returns. Notably, Leonardo Emo growing corn that became integral to regional cooking. He started out with money and grew rich, and is mostly remember for the villa designed for him by Palladio that integrates family home, barns, service wings, threshing floors, granaries all into one elegant form that might easily be mistaken for a vast palace.
All this is by way of saying that "authenticity" is highly particular to place, time, resources and relative wealth.
Then there are cross-currents of influence. When I studied art history in Rome for five months, Italy had been united for only 110 years; regionalism in cookery was still very pronounced. Pinsa probably survived in backwater neighborhoods as Trastevere was then, or in outlying villages, but I never encountered it. The same with the highly local white "pizza" with just salt, sometimes rosemary or mortadella; local, not noticed by foreigners. I think I saw pizza of the Neapolitan type never or only occasionally in the inexpensive tavole calde of my era (early 1970s). This was in the middle of the first world-wide fuel crisis, so there was no heat, little light, and trade was stalled. So, "authentic" was still very attached to time, place, resources (and, for me, to budget).
Seasonality was extremely prominent; I stayed in a pensione run by a convent, meals included. The sisters maintained a very large garden between orchard trees (from my books I could look up to seem them plowing on a tractor in full old-fashioned habit). I was mostly looking at frescoes, but I noticed and appreciated that the food was entirely unfamiliar, always changing, and when I had occasion to go out for a meal, I deliberately chose items I could not find in my pocket dictionary, just to see what they were (and I was not always certain afterwards).
Not that I minded Italian-American in my encounters in the US; it bore no resemblance to anything I encountered in central or northern Italy, which alerted me to Italian-American's more southerly influences. It seems not merely of differing regional origins, or "drift" from prototypes, but, in its abundant quantities, a celebration of escape from poverty into comparative prosperity.
Ten years later, circa 1981, I was pleased to encounter a "authentic" Italian restaurant in Boston. I had landed with friends of friends and was way out of my budget league. I was stunned to find cucina povera classics at high prices, $12 for a plate of pasta, (equivalent to $40 now.) The place was trendy, elegant, and hugely overpriced; the vaguely-defined "traditional" Italian cuisine was about to be discovered by Americans."
Reading with interest and shaking my head "Yes" to so much you've written here. As to the authenticity police, I see them online all the time. But cooking has always been an intuitive art, hasn't it? So, some of the more militant voices will have to calm down.
A former lifelong New Yorker, I now live in New Hampshire. Believe me, there are still "red sauce" establishments proliferating up here. Olive Garden (love the sign) is popular. Chicken Parm abounds. I have to jump through hoops to find authentic ingredients, especially cuts of meat. I once had a butcher look at me and say "What's that"? when I told him I was making osso buco and asked for veal shank. I would have to wait 2-3 weeks because he had to order it in special. The food culture here, unless you live near the coast, is decidedly pub food - BBQ, burgers and beer.
I teach a course on regional Italian food focusing on much of what you've said including one section on history including the Risorgimento. The subtitle of the course is "Italian Food - There's No Such Thing". I am always met with blank stares when I say this. Despite that, when my course was advertised online it filled up in 27 minutes, so the interest is there. We are fortunate to have many farmers' markets when wonderful produce is in season. My local supermarket is barren of any ethnic produce and foodstuffs. Admittedly, I am spoiled coming from New York where I could get whatever I wanted at any time. Having been born and raised in my grandmother's house, and cooking since I could see over the stove, she taught me all I know about food. I do rely on your newsletter for interesting thought pieces and it is a rich resource for information. Thank you!
I think you raise an important point. Many of the people commenting about food culture are living in places like New York where things have changed much more radically than in other parts of the country, especially outside the large cities. Although truth be told, I live in a fairly "cosmopolitan" area and even there it's a challenge to find all the right products.
Thanks for the kind words about the blog and kudos to you for spreading the word about Italian cuisine(s) and its/their rich history!
There is a lot of misconception. Most of my students think everything is cooked with tomato sauce, garlic and mozzarella because that’s what they get here. You should see their surprised faces when I tell them Italians use garlic sparingly, often with the skin left on to be fished out of the dish once it’s given its flavor. One said he complained to the waiter when he ordered pepperoni pizza in Italy and got a pizza with peppers on it. And oh, the comments when I show them pictures of pastas with vegetables, like cauliflower, walnuts and a few mushrooms and no tomato in sight.
It’s ironic when the ‘food police’ rant about authenticity. Italian cooks are masters of improvisation. Much of the cuisine was built on it. If they saw something green, they picked it, went home and cooked it and if no one died, they went back and got more when it grew again. But if they couldn’t find it, they used something else.
I absolutely love your introduction to this article and agree wholeheartedly! As one who loves to play with recioes (or sometimes make things with what is on hand) I still abhor it when someone disrespects a regional dish by taking away from its intrinsic qualities: breakfast pizza with sausage, egg, maple syrup, and waffle bits… When the flavour and texture (either) are no longer true to the original and traditional dishes, it’s a bust.
Thanks for reposting these articles. Apropos il contorno, my experience when I lived in Italy was that it was served after the secondo and the two were not eaten together. But I haven’t lived there for many years and perhaps things have changed.
Personally I've never come across that practice in Italy, having lived in Rome and traveled (mostly) in central and north-eastern regions of the country. In fact, in Rome one common way waiters would ask what you wanted for your contorno was "Che vuole vicino?" meaning "vicino al secondo", of course. And since your comment piqued my curiosity, I looked it up. The dictionary definition is "Verdure o legumi, variamente preparati, che si mangiano *insieme con* la carne o col pesce".
That said, I'd be curious to know where in Italy you lived. Perhaps it's a regional thing? I've heard that in the south salads can be served after the secondo as a kind of palate cleanser. And that in fact was the practice in my own Italian-American family with southern Italian roots.
I can also imagine some of the more elaborate contorni being served separately, out of respect, so to speak.
Dear Frank, you are an inspiration to this old Irish-American girl who fell in love with Italian culture many years ago when I moved to South Philly. Sundays on the street were a festival for the senses: aromas wafting through open front doors, cousins playing on the sidewalks, grown ups indoors laughing, arguing, cheering the Eagles and nonnas yelling at them all when it was time to sit at the table. I was fortunate enough to be "adopted" by two spinster sisters then in their 70s or 80s, Ella and Alla, who taught me how to make gravy from the tomatoes grown in their patio garden. You have a similar effect on me and though I cannot hope to achieve a vast repertoire, in your recipes I have cultivated a few signature dishes that have always delighted. Grazie
That's so kind of you to say, Mary! And thanks for sharing your story. It's always a delight to hear about non-Italians who fall in love with the culture and the cuisine. You had some wonderful childhood memories.
Hi Frank, thanks for this. I'm with you on authenticity. For me it is about taking time and showing respect. Recently what I eat has changed due to being diagnosed as type-2 diabetic (now well controlled thanks to the advice of Roy Taylor). So, not a lot of pasta or potato or risotto, and no added sugar. I haven't seen much about this - the recipes I have seen tend to be beyond everyday domestic cooking. So I pick and choose from your recipes (which are all excellent).
Thanks, Evan. And sorry to hear you've had to give up pasta and such. But that still leaves a lot to eat, including soups, veggies and of course meat and fish....
And do take a good look a the blog, I try to include a variety of dishes that are cookable by different skills. And many are super quick to make. I also tag my recipes using the key words "quick" and "easy" so you could try searching the site using those terms.
Actually, you've given me an idea to create a tab in the top bar to make it more apparent to readers... Look out for that in the near future!
I like the simplicity of ‘original’ or authentic Italian or French recipes. They imaginatively transport me to Italy or France when I’m eating. And so that’s why I like them.
I eat fusion food in restaurants, but as a cook, I prefer authentic English or French or Italian recipes.
Folks, Posting a comment on behalf of a regular reader and personal friend Mark Sammons, who was having some technical trouble with Substack:
"My first career, thirty years, was in social history. So I tend not to view food as unchanging, but rather as specific to time, place, and resources. "Resources" includes both general availability and specific household wealth.
Among Lorenza de Medici's recipes we find one for pasta with cinnamon and rosewater and sugar. This suggests a time after the Arabs had introduced pasta up through Sicily into Italy but before high Ottoman taxes drove European tastes away from exotic flavorings and more toward local flavorings. The place, Florence, was a city state in constant competition with other city states for the accumulation and display of wealth. The resources of the Medici family were immense. The recipe is very expressive of this.
Similarly, tomatoes or chili peppers signal a date after 1492. Once chiles spread, anyone and everyone could have piquant impact of costly pepper from India from just a few seeds they could grow themselves, and pass along from friend to friend. Hot flavor was no longer the realm of the wealthy.
Sometimes an ingredient can be traced to interesting stories a Veneto polenta made with native American corn indicates not merely a date after 1492, but also a date after the 16th-century losses of Venetian empire territory to the Byzantines and League of Cambrai, and loss of trade controls to the Ottomans, and competition from other city-states and other countries in trade with newly-encountered continents. Cut off from their source of wealth, Venetian merchants turned to investing in mainland holdings in the Veneto, draining and improving the land to maximize returns. Notably, Leonardo Emo growing corn that became integral to regional cooking. He started out with money and grew rich, and is mostly remember for the villa designed for him by Palladio that integrates family home, barns, service wings, threshing floors, granaries all into one elegant form that might easily be mistaken for a vast palace.
All this is by way of saying that "authenticity" is highly particular to place, time, resources and relative wealth.
Then there are cross-currents of influence. When I studied art history in Rome for five months, Italy had been united for only 110 years; regionalism in cookery was still very pronounced. Pinsa probably survived in backwater neighborhoods as Trastevere was then, or in outlying villages, but I never encountered it. The same with the highly local white "pizza" with just salt, sometimes rosemary or mortadella; local, not noticed by foreigners. I think I saw pizza of the Neapolitan type never or only occasionally in the inexpensive tavole calde of my era (early 1970s). This was in the middle of the first world-wide fuel crisis, so there was no heat, little light, and trade was stalled. So, "authentic" was still very attached to time, place, resources (and, for me, to budget).
Seasonality was extremely prominent; I stayed in a pensione run by a convent, meals included. The sisters maintained a very large garden between orchard trees (from my books I could look up to seem them plowing on a tractor in full old-fashioned habit). I was mostly looking at frescoes, but I noticed and appreciated that the food was entirely unfamiliar, always changing, and when I had occasion to go out for a meal, I deliberately chose items I could not find in my pocket dictionary, just to see what they were (and I was not always certain afterwards).
Not that I minded Italian-American in my encounters in the US; it bore no resemblance to anything I encountered in central or northern Italy, which alerted me to Italian-American's more southerly influences. It seems not merely of differing regional origins, or "drift" from prototypes, but, in its abundant quantities, a celebration of escape from poverty into comparative prosperity.
Ten years later, circa 1981, I was pleased to encounter a "authentic" Italian restaurant in Boston. I had landed with friends of friends and was way out of my budget league. I was stunned to find cucina povera classics at high prices, $12 for a plate of pasta, (equivalent to $40 now.) The place was trendy, elegant, and hugely overpriced; the vaguely-defined "traditional" Italian cuisine was about to be discovered by Americans."
Hello Frank,
Reading with interest and shaking my head "Yes" to so much you've written here. As to the authenticity police, I see them online all the time. But cooking has always been an intuitive art, hasn't it? So, some of the more militant voices will have to calm down.
A former lifelong New Yorker, I now live in New Hampshire. Believe me, there are still "red sauce" establishments proliferating up here. Olive Garden (love the sign) is popular. Chicken Parm abounds. I have to jump through hoops to find authentic ingredients, especially cuts of meat. I once had a butcher look at me and say "What's that"? when I told him I was making osso buco and asked for veal shank. I would have to wait 2-3 weeks because he had to order it in special. The food culture here, unless you live near the coast, is decidedly pub food - BBQ, burgers and beer.
I teach a course on regional Italian food focusing on much of what you've said including one section on history including the Risorgimento. The subtitle of the course is "Italian Food - There's No Such Thing". I am always met with blank stares when I say this. Despite that, when my course was advertised online it filled up in 27 minutes, so the interest is there. We are fortunate to have many farmers' markets when wonderful produce is in season. My local supermarket is barren of any ethnic produce and foodstuffs. Admittedly, I am spoiled coming from New York where I could get whatever I wanted at any time. Having been born and raised in my grandmother's house, and cooking since I could see over the stove, she taught me all I know about food. I do rely on your newsletter for interesting thought pieces and it is a rich resource for information. Thank you!
Maria DiVita D'Aquino
I think you raise an important point. Many of the people commenting about food culture are living in places like New York where things have changed much more radically than in other parts of the country, especially outside the large cities. Although truth be told, I live in a fairly "cosmopolitan" area and even there it's a challenge to find all the right products.
Thanks for the kind words about the blog and kudos to you for spreading the word about Italian cuisine(s) and its/their rich history!
There is a lot of misconception. Most of my students think everything is cooked with tomato sauce, garlic and mozzarella because that’s what they get here. You should see their surprised faces when I tell them Italians use garlic sparingly, often with the skin left on to be fished out of the dish once it’s given its flavor. One said he complained to the waiter when he ordered pepperoni pizza in Italy and got a pizza with peppers on it. And oh, the comments when I show them pictures of pastas with vegetables, like cauliflower, walnuts and a few mushrooms and no tomato in sight.
It’s ironic when the ‘food police’ rant about authenticity. Italian cooks are masters of improvisation. Much of the cuisine was built on it. If they saw something green, they picked it, went home and cooked it and if no one died, they went back and got more when it grew again. But if they couldn’t find it, they used something else.
I get what you are saying Frank, but I think recipes are made to be played with. I guess just don't call it by the Italian name :=)
cheers
Sherry
https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/
I lived in Velletri, south east of Rome, for a year. A rather old-fashioned town and quite insular like lots of small towns back then (early 90s).
I absolutely love your introduction to this article and agree wholeheartedly! As one who loves to play with recioes (or sometimes make things with what is on hand) I still abhor it when someone disrespects a regional dish by taking away from its intrinsic qualities: breakfast pizza with sausage, egg, maple syrup, and waffle bits… When the flavour and texture (either) are no longer true to the original and traditional dishes, it’s a bust.
Breakfast pizza?!? Sounds like the stuff of nightmares...
Right?!
Now a nice espresso…👌🏻
Thanks for reposting these articles. Apropos il contorno, my experience when I lived in Italy was that it was served after the secondo and the two were not eaten together. But I haven’t lived there for many years and perhaps things have changed.
Interesting!
Personally I've never come across that practice in Italy, having lived in Rome and traveled (mostly) in central and north-eastern regions of the country. In fact, in Rome one common way waiters would ask what you wanted for your contorno was "Che vuole vicino?" meaning "vicino al secondo", of course. And since your comment piqued my curiosity, I looked it up. The dictionary definition is "Verdure o legumi, variamente preparati, che si mangiano *insieme con* la carne o col pesce".
That said, I'd be curious to know where in Italy you lived. Perhaps it's a regional thing? I've heard that in the south salads can be served after the secondo as a kind of palate cleanser. And that in fact was the practice in my own Italian-American family with southern Italian roots.
I can also imagine some of the more elaborate contorni being served separately, out of respect, so to speak.
Dear Frank, you are an inspiration to this old Irish-American girl who fell in love with Italian culture many years ago when I moved to South Philly. Sundays on the street were a festival for the senses: aromas wafting through open front doors, cousins playing on the sidewalks, grown ups indoors laughing, arguing, cheering the Eagles and nonnas yelling at them all when it was time to sit at the table. I was fortunate enough to be "adopted" by two spinster sisters then in their 70s or 80s, Ella and Alla, who taught me how to make gravy from the tomatoes grown in their patio garden. You have a similar effect on me and though I cannot hope to achieve a vast repertoire, in your recipes I have cultivated a few signature dishes that have always delighted. Grazie
That's so kind of you to say, Mary! And thanks for sharing your story. It's always a delight to hear about non-Italians who fall in love with the culture and the cuisine. You had some wonderful childhood memories.
Hi Frank, thanks for this. I'm with you on authenticity. For me it is about taking time and showing respect. Recently what I eat has changed due to being diagnosed as type-2 diabetic (now well controlled thanks to the advice of Roy Taylor). So, not a lot of pasta or potato or risotto, and no added sugar. I haven't seen much about this - the recipes I have seen tend to be beyond everyday domestic cooking. So I pick and choose from your recipes (which are all excellent).
Thanks, Evan. And sorry to hear you've had to give up pasta and such. But that still leaves a lot to eat, including soups, veggies and of course meat and fish....
And do take a good look a the blog, I try to include a variety of dishes that are cookable by different skills. And many are super quick to make. I also tag my recipes using the key words "quick" and "easy" so you could try searching the site using those terms.
Actually, you've given me an idea to create a tab in the top bar to make it more apparent to readers... Look out for that in the near future!
Thanks Frank. Hope you had a great Easter. I think it was this series that was the way I originally found you. Years ago now.
I like the simplicity of ‘original’ or authentic Italian or French recipes. They imaginatively transport me to Italy or France when I’m eating. And so that’s why I like them.
I eat fusion food in restaurants, but as a cook, I prefer authentic English or French or Italian recipes.
I feel just the same, Francesca.