There is a man who loves risk very much. His name is Alberto Grandi and he doesn’t have a particularly dangerous job on paper: he teaches Food History at the University of Parma. If you expect, however, that his studies have drawn him the dislikes of carnivores or vegans, know that this is not the case: Grandi has dared much more, proving that the pillars of Italian Cuisine are in fact not rooted in history but are very recent inventions, very often post-World War II.
Well, you might think, what could he have said? Are you ready? Carbonara is an American invention, just as pizzerias are (not pizza, mind you, although until not many decades ago most Italians did not even know what it was). If pasta is considered the main dish of our cuisine, we owe it once again to Americans. Amatriciana does not have to be performed according to a protocol kept in the State Archives in Rome. And much more.
As the intro to the beautiful podcast “DOI – Made-up Denomination of Origin” says, “Typical Italian dishes are great but their story is a lie, told more or less since the 1970s.”
Certainties crumble
The tone in which Grandi recounts the outcome of his research, fear not, is very ironic, and he often emphasizes that his criticism is not in the least about the goodness of our cuisine (which is not in question) but about the truthfulness of the story being told. In short, one must come to terms with what is, in many ways, one of the grandest and most effective marketing campaigns ever attempted and successful in our country and the world at large: that of inventing largely nonexistent historical and cultural roots.
Be prepared because nothing is spared. In the 10 episodes of about half an hour (plus two extras) Grandi, interviewed by Daniele Soffiati, starts with bread and arrives at desserts, moving on to appetizers, first courses, meat, fish, cheese, wine, beer, and fruits and vegetables, setting up a banquet that he describes minutely showing that what is seen has a different story than what is told.
Why not listen to him
There are in truth no reasons not to listen to him, other than your possible difficulty in dealing with anger or negative news and if you are disinclined to accept that certain stories you have always been told are not true.
Why listen to him
Because there is so much to learn and for two other very important reasons:
- Questioning ourselves (starting with our own culture) is a courageous and useful act, always. It also teaches us to investigate, to never stop at first impressions, and above all to always try to delve deeper into the topics that interest us, forming a personal opinion based on study and not on what we hear. And it applies to cooking as it does to everything
- To understand how much a marketing effort (not sure how truly coordinated or spontaneous) can shape not only people’s tastes but also their historical memory, substituting invented but plausible stories for real memories. There is no negative judgment in what I am saying: marketing, if done well, always tells a story and almost never the whole of reality.
To know reality there are indeed historians, and it is no accident that Grandi is one. Regarding carbonara then he has a very clear position: he would be capable of killing to eat one.
You can listen to “DOI – Denomination of Origin Invented” on: