Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History

Alberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari uncover a network of culinary customs, food lore, and cooking practices, dating back as far as the Middle Ages, that are identifiably Italian: Italians used forks 300 years before other Europeans, possibly because they were needed to handle pasta, which is slippery and dangerously hot; Italians invented the practice of chilling drinks and may have invented ice cream; Italian culinary practice influenced the rest of Europe to place more emphasis on vegetables and less on meat; and salad was a distinctive aspect of the Italian meal as early as the sixteenth century.
The authors focus on culinary developments in the late medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras, aided by a wealth of cookbooks produced throughout the early modern period. They show how Italy's culinary identities emerged over the course of the centuries through an exchange of information and techniques among geographical regions and social classes. Though temporally, spatially, and socially diverse, these cuisines refer to a common experience that can be described as Italian. Thematically organized around key issues in culinary history and beautifully illustrated, Italian Cuisine is a rich history of the ingredients, dishes, techniques, and social customs behind the Italian food we know and love today.

Massimo Montanari teaches medieval history at the University of Bologna.