In recent conversations about Italian food in America, a few interesting themes keep popping up that have to do with what defines “authentic” Italian cuisine. Is it the origin of the chef? The ingredients? The recipe? The ambiance of the restaurant?
While this used to be easier to define, these days, everything is murky. In today’s world, many of the heads of top Italian restaurants aren’t Italian and most of the ingredients are bought locally and are no longer imported. With the greening of America, people are now quite conscious of the carbon footprint of imported goods.
Additionally, all sorts of restaurants are making new versions of Italian stalwarts. Most Italian restaurants are making their recipes with a twist and few seem to follow the original script. Some people protest changing a time honored tradition in the way a recipe is prepared.
At the end of the day though, most of these issues are personal and subjective and there is no one right answer. Everyone has a different view but one thing is sacred to all, the quality of the food and the freshness of the ingredients. That seems to be the one theme that everyone agrees upon.
As the world continues to evolve and Italian products make their way to every corner of the Earth, strict boundaries will fray and definitions of what is or is not Italian food will become more lax, we suspect.
Perhaps this is really the point then, it would be good to start using the phraseology – Italian inspired cuisine. This alerts the person ordering that dishes will be familiar but not the same as what you have had previously.
This would be the perfect way to define Italian-American cuisine as well. How many times have people noted that spaghetti and meatballs are not served together in Italy or that pizza doesn’t have oregano?
The new way of looking at this issue is that perhaps it’s okay that the cuisine in Italy is one thing and that Italian-American cuisine is something else, Italian inspired cuisine. After 120+ years of living in the U.S., shouldn’t Italian-Americans also have their own cuisine. Yes would be the resounding answer.
Traditions are quite often linked to a particular location and a certain culture. There is without a doubt, an enduring culture of spaghetti and meatballs in the United States. Should this be curtailed because you don’t see this plate on menus in Milan, of course not.
This is topic I discuss in my head all the time. I lead a group of bloggers in cooking Marcella Hazan, so we know what is authentic, but I encourage everyone to also then create their own dishes with what they have learned and what is available from a local, seasonal view point.
This is how I made sweet potato lasagna with Tennessee sweet potatoes, but I used buckwheat pasta (inspired by pizzoccheri), and imported Fontina cheese.
I think the cuisine will continue to evolve, but you will know there is Italian inspiration in there somewhere.
[...] other ideas of Authenticity in Italian cuisine floating about in the web-o-sphere these days. Try: Food For Thought: Evolving Ideas About Italian Cuisine) Category : Uncategorized « Little Storms in [...]