Italian Foodways

Italian Foodways:

For this section, we developed a semi-structured interview guide organized around foodways that we had read about in class. Then we added some specific questions about the ingredient topics chosen by each student. Joan proofed it with her conversation partner and the total time stretched over two meetings was over one and a half hours, so we selected a few questions that could be left out of the student interviews. Each student chose a different informant and then emailed the transcription or notes to the class. From the interviews, we chose several themes that emerged and divided these up. Students were asked to explore this theme in each of the interviews and to ask additional people clarifying questions. They were also told to use their fieldnotes as supporting data. The topics that emerged are: regionalism, Italian meals, food and health, food for special occasions and season. We also wanted to explore the Slow Food movement since it began in Italy and several of our class readings dealt with it.

Meals

Lana

Parasecoli claims that “while food and recipes have evolved dramatically over the centuries…mealtimes have not substantially changed since the later Roman Empire…” (Parasecoli 127). Breakfast, he says, consists of milk with cereal or another type of grain. Lunch depends on when and where a person is at midday. Children are fed lunch at school consisting of pasta and vegetables, while adults have lunch at home or eat out depending on what their job allows. Dinner is becoming the most important meal of the day because it is the only time when the whole family can come together to eat (Parasecoli 135). Dinner usually consists of a primo, secondo, and a dolce.

In order to discover more about the Italian meal system I gathered information from the six interviews about Italian meals. The subjects, ranging in age, were asked a set of questions based on Italian food and culture. The subjects were asked questions such as “Describe typical meals you eat in a day,” or, “Describe a wonderful meal that you’ve had.” Their answers allow us to compare current trends in Italian meals with what we know from our readings.

A 47-year-old Italian male, who lives in Siena without his family because they are based in Milan, works for the bank and described the difference between his meals throughout the day:

Breakfast is continental- milk and tea and biscuits. (Later he added that they drink coffee, not tea.) Normally we don’t eat sausage. It’s just a light breakfast. Next is pranzo. The normal pranzo when you don’t work (because normally you have to go home to have lunch) but on weekends, pranzo is the more important meal of the day. We eat a lot for pranzo, not when you work because you can sleep if you eat a lot, but pranzo is the more important meal. For pranzo you’d have pasta, then meat or fish, followed by fruit. You can have also cake, or something that is prepared by the wife. After the merenda is cena. Normally we eat soup and the second dish is cheese or meat or fish. We can try to have a light second dish. Not pork which is heavy. It’s better to eat something that is not fat because pork is fat. Cow is lighter than pork. So is lamb or chicken or rabbit. We say that white meat is lighter than red meat.

It is easy to see the contrast between this man and a female student, age 24, who must find time to eat and study. This student does not live at home so she is required to make meals on her own. Here is her description of typical meals:

In the morning I have drip coffee. For lunch I bring a small sandwich with prosciutto, cheese, and tomatoes, which I make in my apartment in the morning. That’s the only thing I buy at the grocery store.

Dinner often consists of a large meal. She cooks a lot of pasta, but she has been trying to eat healthier so she has recently been buying more vegetables at the grocery store.

Our next subject, a married cooking teacher with one daughter, feels more strongly about food than the other subjects. With her vast background in cuisine, this cooking teacher was able to provide insight on traditional Italian meals. She explained that “everyone eats the same thing, but because there is a first and second plate, bread and wine, people eat different portions depending on their preference.” When asked to describe her typical meals in a day she answered with “Sempre pasta o riso con formaggio o verdure. Insalata mista, formaggio o uova, e frutta, e panne, e vino…always vino.”

Another student, this time age 22, who does not live with his parents also must find a way to juggle studying and eating. He described his typical meals as:

Back home, for breakfast milk cereal or biscuits. At midday I usually eat pasta and meat and something like potatoes. For dinner something not so heavy than lunch, lighter meal. This is because the food I eat midday I can digest throughout the day, and the foods I eat for dinner won’t be as easy to digest.

He explained that he eats pasta at school more often than he does back home, simply because it is quick and easy. He gets many of his meals at the mezza, or cafeteria, for school.

Another male student, age 20, has a different opinion of Italian meals due to the fact that he still lives with his parents. Breakfast consisted of peach juice and a pastry, lunch is usually pasta with a ragu or meat sauce, dinner often comprised of some form of meat (such as bistecca or sausages) and a complimenting vegetable. His meal schedules have remained very similar to that of his parents. When asked about his favorite meals he responded with, “Everything concerning meat, pasta obviously too; it’s Tuscan food!”

One subject, a mother age 43 with 3 children (all under the age of 10), has much more to think about when making her meals. She cooks for 4 other people, her three children and husband, and because of this she must appeal to all their likes and dislikes. When asked to describe her typical meals in a day she immediately started talking about what her family ate. “We each eat something different,” she said, explaining that each kid required something different for breakfast. Each child usually ate a pastry or cereal with milk. For lunch she prepares different meals for the children while her and her husband either go home to eat or find a place to eat out. Dinner is comprised of the typical primi, secondi, and dolci. She explained that while she makes dinner for the rest of her family, sometimes she makes something different for herself depending on her preferences, “I generally eat what I like more. Sometimes fish or eggs or pasta too.” She also explained how food is based on seasons, stating:

I would like to tell you that here in Italy the diet is different in the winter than in the summer because in the summer the food is more fresh. During the summer we have pancenella which is bread made soft with water and we put it with tomatoes, basillico, and onion. It’s very fresh and good when it’s hot outside. We also eat mozzarella more in the summer than in the winter because it is cold.

It is clear that many Italians try to have the same meal schedule throughout the day; a small breakfast, followed by lunch consisting of usually pasta or bread, and a bigger dinner during the work/school week. On weekends, however, the heavier meal shifts to midday. Exceptions can be made for students who, though generally following the same meal schedule, eat meals that are quicker and easier to make. Parasecoli’s definition of Italian meal style, consisting of a light breakfast, quick lunch, and heavier dinner, proves to be generally consistent throughout all the Italian homes we asked about.

Regionalism and Food

Ryan

It seems that for many Italians, it is very important that their food comes from Italy. From reading the 5 interviews with Italians living in Tuscany, I was able to better understand the ties between region and food. At the most basic level, they don’t like buying products from outside of Italy. It’s not because people are nationalistic, they just want to see their food come from somewhere they are familiar with and trust in its production. This leads them to select food from closer to where they live.

Foods within Tuscany that are popular are Ribollita (vegetable soup), pici (a fat spaghetti, often hand-rolled), wild boar, and seafood. Other foods associated with Tuscany are cheese and wines. A dessert that is popular in Siena is panforte, which is dense chewy sweet with dried fruits and nuts and flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. The Bistecca Florentine is a very popular T-bone steak in Tuscany. Many people identify Italy for its pizza and pasta. This is very true, but broken down into regions it becomes more specific with the types of pastas and pizza.

Bari, capital of the Puglia region, is particularly famous for Tierra Breze. This is a type of soup that contains rice, potatoes, onions, and pasta shells. In the region of Liguria, in the city of Genova, there is a very famous pesto that is known throughout Italy and farinata. Farinata is similar to a pizza but looks more like a pie. Napoli is known for pesto and pizza, and cannoli in Sicilia.

Each region has a different culture and way to celebrate holidays with different meals. During Easter in the Campania region (Napoli) it is popular to eat lamb. When our interviewees were all asked why a certain region prefers a type of food over another or why they prepare something in a certain way, they all didn’t know how to answer. It is more about tradition of the region than anything else.

Slow Food In Tuscany

Laura

The Slow Food Movement is an Italian born organization launched by Carlo Petrini at the Opera Comique in Paris in 1989, having since grown into an expansive international organization, present in nearly 100 countries worldwide. Slow Food publishes food and consumption literature, sponsors taste programs in school canteens and connects organizations globally to promote local agriculture and a variety of food products. Above all, and perhaps most important to Slow Food is the preservation of traditional products in regions around the world. These foods are known as the Slow Food Presidia. According to the Slow Food website, Tuscany alone has nearly twenty presidia. These selected products are protected through the marketing support of Slow Food in order to ensure their presence for all to consume, but also to preserve the rich cultural background that originally cultivated these products. This idea relates to the practical aesthetics of food in which a product and a way of eating creates a connection between the community, the economy and the environment.

In order to gauge the level of knowledge held by Italians in regards to the Slow Food Movement each of the students in a cuisine and culture course held in Siena, Tuscany in the winter of 2012 conducted an interview. In total, six interviews were done with local residents of Siena in which a myriad of questions regarding food, Italian identity in relation to food as well as the politics of food were asked. The demographics of the interview sample were three men and three women. Of the men, two were students at the local university and in their twenties and one was a married businessman with a family. Of the women, two were middle-aged, married and with children and one was a young woman in her twenties and also a student.

After gleaning information from the six interviews done by my classmates, and myself four of the interviewees were unfamiliar with the Slow Food Movement in general. The two middle-aged women were familiar with the organization, however they had varying impressions of the organization and what the movement stood for. For instance, one interviewee answered:

I know that it is an organization that is sensitive to quality of food and traditional food and they organize some events to make people taste good food and wine. Sometimes I find people of this organization a bit exaggerated. Like it’s a religion but it’s food. Just food.

Conversely, the other middle-aged woman answered, “Si, molto positivo, I know it.” Though not a member of the organization, this woman believed that Slow Food was a positive force in Italy and practiced the care and time placed into the preparation of food that is integral to the meaning of the Slow Food organization.

As an American who has spent the majority of my college career studying food issues as well as the Slow Food Movement, it is interesting to learn that among the six people interviewed for this course, only one third were aware of the Slow Food Movement. Slow Food originated in Italy, therefore coming to study in this country it is surprising to learn that there was a lack of knowledge about the movement within its place of origin in relation to the interviews conducted. This could reflect several things about Italian food culture. To begin, the opinion of the woman who believes Slow Food members treat food as a religion or are generally exaggerated could reflect her views that food is something simply to nourish the body, not something to praise and protect. Conversely, for the woman who believes Slow Food is a positive organization, the movement acts as a symbol for connecting food with the passion of feeding the body and the soul. It is, indeed, a romantic notion fitting right in with the American idea of beautiful Tuscany, covered in sunflowers, dripping in fresh tomato sauce, but it represents a different fervor for eating that is no longer common in America. Additionally, the lack of knowledge on behalf of the interviewees is also telling. In the short three months I have spent in Tuscany, I have noticed, regardless of the individual’s knowledge of Slow Food or other food movements that there is a different mode of thinking in regards to what is eaten. There is a care and patience placed into planning the first and second courses of a meal with a large number of seasonal food items. I would posit, that though these individuals aren’t expressly aware of the Slow Food Movement, they still care for what they eat, the way it is cooked, the form in which it is presented and how or with whom it is consumed. Slow Food is Italian food in general, from what I have observed. It doesn’t need a movement to be, for it simply is a way of life.

Though the interviewees weren’t all knowledgeable about the Slow Food Movement, the Slow Food Siena chapter appeared to be thriving when the cuisine and culture class attended a local dinner. There were over fifty people in attendance to take part in the Slow Food dinner and kickoff of the wine guide. The meal itself had multiple courses of food that was good, clean and fair, aligning perfectly with the goals of the organization. Despite the incredible food and wine, the four-hour meal was most special because it exemplified the idea of atmosphere and the company you consume with making eating a passionate experience of feeding the soul, which is after all, an integral aspect of Slow Food.

Sources

“Postrevolutionary Chowhounds: Food, Globalization, and the Italian Left.” Fabio Parasecoli. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Summer 2003)

“The Practical Aesthetics of Traditional Cuisines: Slow Food In Tuscany.” Mara Miele and Jonathon Murdoch. Sociologia Ruralis 42 (4), October 2002, pp. 312-328

“Slow Food and the Politics of Pork Fat: Italian Food and European Identity.” Alison Leitch. Ethnos, vol. 68:4, December 2003 (pp. 437-462)

Themes: Holidays & Seasons

Ellie

Perhaps the most well known element of Italian culture is its food, which sets the country apart from others by its people’s deep appreciation for the traditions set by those who have come before them. Times have changed dramatically, but customs developed by family or influenced by seasons are upheld year after year. Italy’s relatively simple diet is comprised of a few staple items, yet punctuated by foods that have garnered a more special position. After our interviews with several native Italians, there are patterns present between the traditions of different families who share a common birthplace. Italian cuisine is phenomenal throughout the country, and good food is found year-round; Counihan quotes a phrase in Around the Tuscan Table that many Italians believe to be true: “every day is a holiday.”

In answering the following question, “describe a wonderful meal that you’ve had. What made it so good?”, some interviewees recalled holidays, while others remembered special dishes that their families eat on specific occasions. Christmas, Easter, and New Years were all cited as important holidays in the minds of Italians, also by Counihan in her book. These occasions are often excuses to eat with the entire family, and the meal that accompanies is always noteworthy because of its divergence from the everyday meal. “‘Christmas! We eat a lot of Tuscan dishes like tortelli. It’s like a big ravioli.’ When I asked her what else they ate she listed off pork chops, salad, and wine… Last year…her whole family went to their house for Christmas dinner. She said the food was delicious, but it was a good meal because it was the first time that her family was all-together in a long time.” The boy I interviewed specifically remembered Easter for the rare occasion to eat turkey, as well as boiled eggs that he likes very much. Counihan also mentions this as a popular practice around Eastertime for Florentines. Sometimes it is a combination of food and the company present: “‘Non esiste. Non ultimo cibo. Depende…buon cibo, buon atmosfera, e la situazione…when four or five elements are together it is good…it depends on the moment, the situation.’ …Food and people together were inseparable in her answering this question.” Regional favorites sometimes define and differentiate Italians from each other, which makes them special, as was the case with this subject: “Personally I like a food not so famous in Italy, but it is particular from my city. Zuppa di Castana, a soup with beans, mushrooms, and some meat.” For others still, sometimes a good meal is marked by a particular attention to a course:

A wonderful meal is a first plate and a second plate and the first plate is a pasta, pasta alla carbonara that is made with pancetta, cut into small pieces. It’s the fat place of the pork – bacon, diced and cooked with butter or olive oil. And after when it’s not burned but cooked you put other things… there is panna, eggs, and other things… After that you put, well you cook the pasta and mix it altogether.”

In a special case, last night’s meal was just about as memorable as any, holiday or not:

“Yesterday at dinner I went to a good restaurant called Zest, I ate soup with vegetables like cauliflower and other vegetables and speck. That was very good. Never eaten something like that. And I had roasted fish with a particular sauce made with basilica and potatoes and warm cream. Good, very good.

Holidays again were the main reason for changes in the daily in favor of more unique dishes, or tradition called for the consumption of distinctive meals or menu items. Answers regarding uncommon foods or dishes used only for ritual or special occasions were very Christmas-specific, suggesting that this holiday marked significant digressions from the typical Italian meal. Another religious holiday, Easter was named as a principal holiday for out of the ordinary meals. For several, the dessert was very important: “‘Melatello is a biscuit that is only eaten around Christmas time.” When I asked her to describe it she said it was somewhat diamond shaped. I also asked why this was only used for special occasions and she replied, ‘I don’t know. It’s just tradition.’” Another said: “Yes, more desserts. Panetone we have only during the Christmas season. There is no panetone in the summer, spring.” “Per Pasqua, dolce…a grain cake symbolic of Easter… In the countryside, cake with blood in it… pigs blood and chocolate.” Along with desserts, fish dishes are conventionally eaten for Christmas: Fish, una tradizione antica. Per Natale….we eat a special dinner…little meat.” “During Christmas, Italian people eat fish and other seafood. But every region in Italy has a different culture and the way to eat for special occasion is different. Maybe in other cities there are different occasions. I don’t know why fish but it is tradition. During Easter time it is popular to eat Lamb and chocolate eggs.” Keeping traditions alive is imperative for many, including this woman who went into much detail about a archetypal Christmas in her family:

At Christmas we generally eat tortellini which are prepared by Marco’s parents by hand because they are not Tuscany they come from Romagna and they prepare tortellini with is very good. For the second dish we have boiled meat with a particular sauce which is called a green sauce with capelli. That is the tradition and there are sformatos and here in Siena we have many tradition cakes and we like and we generally eat them… Personally I like traditional food so I try to make old dishes because I like them. They are a poor food (bread, tomatoes, basillico) but they are very good and healthy. And then because I think food is a part of culture and I would dislike if it would be lost.

Standard instances for formal eating situations often meant Sundays, and holidays of course. Whenever the extended family gets together, it is often cause for coursed-meals: “La Domenica e un pasta, tutte la feste con la famiglia. It is more formal with the family for Sundays and holidays.” “Christmas, birthdays, anniversary, graduation or when a child is baptized. In Italy there is a tradition called comunione. But we don’t belong to the Catholic Church so we just celebrate Christmas and Easter but I don’t make my children follow the catholic religion.” A middle aged man even went as far as to outline the place setting for a more formal meal:

There is a place where you put your silverware. There are 3 forks, the small fork and knife for fruit are put at the top of your plate. There is a method, I don’t know what it is. I think the fork is on the left. I’m not sure. I see it all the time already made, but there is a place for each thing. Christmas day with all the family (one such occasion). You choose one house and go with all the relatives to that house. Normally we have a dinner or lunch all together for birthdays.

An interesting theme found in Italian cooking is its stress on the seasonality of foods; Counihan found in her research that many Italians are particularly inclined to eat only foods that grow during that time of year:

“When there was so much poverty, people ate what the earth gave them. If it was the period of tomatoes, they ate so many tomatoes… Let’s say that now is the time of artichokes, we should eat those. They do you good, because nature created this marvelous plant” (Counihan, 33).

One of our interviewees stated: “In particulare, cibo fresco, verdure e frutta, anche sono entusiasta di piatti stagionali” (In particular, fresh food, vegetables and fruits, I am also excited about seasonal dishes). While the availability of foods is much broader nowadays, regardless of the time of year, there are still discernible differences in taste depending on season:

Counihan discusses a significant factor in Tuscan cooking, the use of gli odori, or “the flavors.” “Gli odori consisted of carrot, celery, basil, and parsley. So basic were these to Florentine cuisine in the 1980s that greengrocers always gave shoppers gli odori for free with any purchase” (Counihan, 63). These essential flavors are used almost universally today in Italian cuisine, as was many of the interviewees referenced any one of these ingredients in their answers: “My family likes using pepper in many things. Picante pepericino to make the food hot. Not so much garlic because when it is fried it is not so good for the body. Saffron is used only for risotto. Oregano is popular for bread and oil, bruschetta. I think rosemary is used particularly for the meat. I like basil, pepper. I can use all of them. But I prefer basil and pepper.” One simply stated: “Garlic with parsley is a good mix.” Many types of spices and herbs are immediately identifiable with Italian cuisine; this man was able to outline several and include ways in which they are frequently added to standard dishes:

The one that we use a lot is peperoncino and the farther south you go the more they use it. The South of Italy uses a lot of peperoncino, really spicy… But you use a lot in Italy with pasta: oil, garlic and pepperoncino, a simple way to cook pasta. Anyone can do it. Also we use normal pepper and in pizza we use oregano, but just for pizza, we don’t use it a lot otherwise... We have dried basilico, but the flavor is completely different. We don’t use a lot of dried basilico. We have it fresh for a lot of the year, from spring till October. We prefer fresh. Normally we have a plant of basilico in the house. We normally have rosemary and sage outside the house.

Simple ingredients and adherence to tradition are true characteristics of the Italian culture concerning food, and those will likely stick for many more years to come. Holidays provide opportunities for indulgence, but the day-to-day Italian diet is can be just as delicious, keeping in mind that freshness and seasonal ingredients are a top priority.

Food and Health

Daryl

A topic that has arisen a few times in our Culture and Cuisine class is that of health food within the Italian diet. The interviews conducted by each of the class members have each picked up on this theme in different ways. The only question within the interview that specifically addressed health within the diet was a question that asked, “Are there foods that you eat because they are good for your health, but you don’t like the taste?” This was an important question because it helped to determine the importance of taste versus the desire for health within diets. In addition to this, each interview had the theme of health come up in other questions in the interview.

In the six interviews conducted, all but two of them mentioned health in terms of diet during their interviews. One of the interviews was conducted with a young man, age 22, who attends the University of Siena. In answer to the question of taste versus health he claimed that he enjoys eating different types of foods in order to maintain a healthy balance of varying vitamins. Other than mentioning that he enjoys fast food, but not too often due to its unhealthy qualities, his only other reference to health was in regards to his father. Evidently, his father is currently working on leading a healthier lifestyle by running and eating in a healthier manner.

Another male, age 20, mentioned concerns for health in terms of what he ate, but he does frequent the gym as a way to keep a trim figure. The other man who was interviewed, a 47 year-old bank worker with a wife and young daughter, made only one mention of eating a food for its health qualities, and that was garlic. A 43 year-old woman who is raising a family was also interviewed. She said that she should eat more foods that are good for her health, even if she doesn’t enjoy the taste, but she does not do this. Nonetheless, she also mentioned that she eats a lot of vegetables while she prepares a lot of pasta for her family. She said that she couldn’t consume as much pasta as her children do or she, “would be 100 kilos.” Lastly, a woman who is retired, raising a daughter, and teaching Italian cooking classes several times a week was quoted as saying that she often will eat various fruits and vegetables for their health qualities and not because she enjoys the taste.

Another way in which the topic of health came up in the interviews was through the topic of organic foods. When asked if they purchase organic food, three out of the six interviewees said that they choose organic food for its health qualities. The 20 year-old male student, the woman who is retired and the 43 year-old woman all made mention of organic foods being healthier options because of their lack of chemicals. On the other hand, the 22 year-old male and a 22 year-old female who was also interviewed both said that buying organic food is not important to them. Also, the 47 year-old man said that organic food is similar to other foods offered and therefore not worth the price difference to him. He said that much of the food in the south is grown without chemicals, even if it is not certified organic.

In general, our interactions with different local people of Siena did line up with different health concerns that were discussed in class. The majority of health-related discussions that we had were spurred by our Food and Culture in Italy text by Fabio Parasecoli. In his chapter that is dedicated to health, he has a section in which he talks about dieting and obesity in Italy. Just as three people in the interviews mentioned their physique and wanting to stay slim and fit, Parasecoli talks about the concern of keeping a desirable figure that Italians and people across the globe share. (Parasecoli 188) One portion of the health section of his book that was not brought to light, however, was childhood obesity. While Parasecoli claims that 25% of children between the ages of six and seventeen are now overweight in Italy, none of the three parents who were interviewed mentioned health concerns in terms of their children’s eating habits. (189) Also, our personal interviews and our reading done for class both show that, in general, Italians today are more concerned with organic food and also that they pay more attention to where their food comes from. All of the interviews, in some way, mention the importance of the freshness of food and the importance of buying food that actually comes from Italy. Parasecoli writes, “In recent years a new interest for food, culinary traditions, and organic produce has caused many consumers, especially in the most affluent strata of the population, to become more conscious about the freshness and seasonal availability of what they buy.” (Parasecoli 183) This holds true in our research because about half of the people that we interviewed said that organic products were important to them, and almost all of the interviewees mention at one point in their interview the importance of buying food that is from Italy. Based on our research in readings, the idea of being a health nut does not seem to have caught on in Italy. However, different aspects of healthy eating have become important to this population. What I thought to be the land of fresh pasta seems to also be the land of the freshest of ingredients and produce.