Tuesday,
June 26, 2007
Aussie View: Italians Two Great Passions:
Football & Food
The
ANNOTICO Report
According
this Aussie author, there are two things that incite the greatest passion in
Italians: Football (Soccer) and Food.
Every
region and small town has its own football team and regional dish, no matter
how modest.
[I
respectfully disagree. I find Italians are Passionate about almost EVERYTHING !!!! :) :) ] In
Courier
Mail –
Natascha Mirosch
June
26, 2007
THERE
are two things in life that incite the greatest passion in Italians: football
(soccer) and food.
Every region and small town has its own football
team and regional dish, no matter how modest. Some are the subject of
controversy over ownership but most Italians acknowledge that the best beef
comes from the famous chiana cattle in Tuscany, as a
T-bone steak, brushed with olive oil and rosemary and cooked over an open
flame; that there is no better pizza than that found in it
One reason for such rich regional diversity is
"The flatlands, coastline, the Dolomites and
pre-Alps are concentrated in a land that can fit almost seven times into
"For example, balsamic vinegar was always a
specialty of Modena/Reggio Emilia. In
In the mountainous north where the pastures could
support dairy herds, cream, butter and cheese were used in cooking, while in
the south, olive groves could be relied upon to fruit in a much poorer earth.
Proximity to
The northern part of
Today regional Italian cuisine is still based on
tradition and geography. "Traditionally people ate what the land was offering. Still
today, you can offer to an Italian (born in Italy) a gourmet dish with whatever
here we may think is
While it
"Adding a few ingredients and creating your
own style of lasagne or bolognaise sauce can be a
magnificent exercise, but whatever the result, it will never be a lasagne or bolognaise again.
"Traditional food that has been the same for
hundreds of years is losing identity because the people who started changing
things did not call the revised dishes with an appropriate name. Why else would
we be seeing menus with carbonara made with cream the ultimate offence to this beautiful
Roman dish?" Grillini says. (Carbonara
traditionally is made with eggs, smoked pigs cheek, pecorino and parmigiano and black pepper.)
His own city,
"Both start with a soffritto,
a mix of finely diced celery, carrot and onion, cooked down, then for one, you
add minced chicken livers and pancetta, a splash of wine and some tomato passata. In the old days it was made with horse meat
because it was the most lean, but now it is made with
mince for convenience. You simmer for 2-3 hours," he says.
"With the other, there is no red wine or
chicken livers and you add milk, which gives it a smooth and delicate
taste."
As much as the citizens of
Cordell Khoury, of Beccofino in Teneriffe, says that:
"Real Italian pizza rarely has more than four toppings. It should never
flop under the weight of them but stay crisp and not be soggy."
For pizza purists there are only two true pizzas,
the original being the marinara. Despite its name, the marinara contained no seafood, rather it was so called because it was what the
bakers served to fishermen returning home from sea. The true marinara has a
topping of tomato, oregano, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil and basil.
The Margherita was the first pizza to have cheese.
It was created in 1889, for the visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of
Savo, and was meant to evoke the Italian flag: green
(basil leaves), white (mozzarella) and red (tomatoes). How this has transformed
into the stuffed crust meatball-topped horrors of many takeaway pizza places is
hard to comprehend.
It
Sam Mura of Cosi Ristorante in Clayfield says that
he has also noticed a change in our attitude to Italian food, and is hopeful
about the growing interest in regional Italian food and desire to try the
unfamiliar. "Before, whenever I put Sardinian dishes on the menu it was
hard to sell, people were reluctant to try them. Now they are more educated,
they are travelling more and understanding more about
regionality and are willing to try."
Mura says he can
At Va Bene, at the Windsor Hotel, a strong contingent keeps chef
Angelo Morvillo cooking the dishes handed down to him
by his mother. "I think that over the last 10-15 years people are
coming to know and understand more about Italian food and its complexities.
I have special customers, regulars who ask for tripa
(tripe) and other things they may have grown up with in
We are also experimenting more at home, inspired
by TV chefs, cookbooks and cooking classes and, as the world becomes smaller,
the possibility of tasting true Italian products such as San Danielle prosciutto, truffles and fresh buffalo mozzarella. It
"When pasta was first introduced to
While the public may be willing to experiment with
traditional regional Italian, however, chefs such as Morvillo
and Mura still struggle to reproduce the kind of dishes they grew up on. Climate, processing and
tradition all play a part in recreating the true cuisine of their homeland.
"Porchetta is very
famous in
Nor is it possible to get the same sort of soft
fresh cheese that goes into the typical Sardinian pastries, he says.
The compromise dish which results is often termed
"modern Italian", a sensitive reworking of classics that take the
basis of Italian dishes but use our own fresh local ingredients.
Nicola Robertiello, from
Dell
"It
Whether we chose to adopt or adapt the ethos of Italian cuisine: keep it,
simple, fresh, regional and seasonal is one that all modern foodies aspire to.
Festitalia 2007, a celebration of
all things Italian is on at the RNA Showgrounds on
July 1; www.festitalia.com. Go to couriermail.com.au
for more on Italian regionality and authentic Italian
recipes.
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