Italian cuisine, or rather: the monument to immigration

One almost hopes that UNESCO will take this prize to Italian cuisine away, since even among ourselves, Italians manage to quarrel and find negative aspects. For days, I have been astonished by the rush in the newspapers to say, “OK, but, on the other hand…” It’s fine to discuss, to explore, it’s fine to enjoy controversy, but, in short, we could do without trying to find ways to contest an award that has no fathers or mothers, that belongs to everyone, to the right, the centre and the left. Perhaps this is precisely the problem, that no one manages to take ownership of an award that is really about the history, the riches, and the miseries of a country. 

Which was lucky enough to be overwhelmed by immigration. 

Yes, because very little, almost nothing, of what is proper to Italian cuisine is Italian, has become so, has integrated, but is by no means “born Italian”. Because in cuisine, in the authentic, great cuisine, the strength lies in the mixture. Like the croissants, which were born in Vienna, and are not French by origin. 

Like tomatoes, the main vegetable of Italian cuisine, which arrived, were looked upon with some uncertainty, if not fear, and then allowed us to make the two most celebrated dishes of Italian cuisine: Neapolitan pizza and spaghetti with tomato sauce. Even spaghetti, incidentally, was not invented in Italy, while pizza, as a flattened dough of flour baked in the oven, exists everywhere in the Mediterranean and much of the rest of the World. 

The famous aubergines of pasta a la Norma? They came from Asia (and India), like so many migrants, and entered the land that is now Italy in the 1600s, brought by the Arabs, who at the time were not migrants but conquerors, and great cooks. 

Wine, then, as we know it, seems to have originated in today’s Georgia, seven or eight thousand years ago. 

We were good, thanks to our talents and often out of necessity, at turning these ingredients into something special. They were there for everyone, but we, more than others in these areas, managed to make something special of them, creating a huge variety of dishes. Still, we did not make something unique, because pasta with sardines and canederli (dumplings) have nothing in common, except that they are excellent Italian dishes. The length of our country and the different histories we have lived through have allowed for a richness that, today, is certainly unique. 

Because we have been able to welcome cultures and products that have made us richer and special. So much so that we deserved an international award.