Building on the myths of tradition and authenticity, Italian food has soared worldwide in terms of cultural prestige and commercial success. Representations in media, as well as changing performances of culinary identities both abroad and in Italy, have contributed to the shifting perception of what and how Italians eat.
Italian cuisine has been gaining enormous terrain in terms of status and global notoriety. It is no longer exclusively identified with family style modest eateries, ice cream parlors, and cheap pizzerias, as in the past. After decades of poverty and hunger, which pushed generations of migrants to look for a better life abroad, Italians finally see their food appreciated all over the world. At times they are even attributed the role of arbiters of gastronomic refinement and authenticity. Paradoxically, initial disadvantages turned into benefits. How did this happen? What kind of representations in international media and popular culture have supported this shift? These are some of the questions I tried to address in the essay “The Invention of Authentic Italian Food: Narratives, Rhetoric, and Media” (of which this post is an excerpt), published in the volume Italians and Food, which Roberta Sassatelli edited for Palgrave McMillan.
The industrial development of Italy took place relatively late, in what is commonly referred to as the “economic miracle” of the late 1950s and 1960s. Such delayed economic growth ensured the survival in rural areas of crops and food productions that are now appreciated precisely for being unique and artisanal. Increasingly appreciated as symbols of refinement and social and cultural distinction, they are given a new economic life and a higher status, through connotations of tradition and authenticity. Every day, within a few hours of production, fresh specialties such as burrata and buffalo mozzarella are transported by plane to destinations greatly removed from the areas of production, of course at a cost. At the same time, the availability of such products makes Italian cuisine shareable also with outsiders all around the world. This perception of accessibility is amplified by the supposed natural inclination of Italians to spend a long time at the table, welcoming family, friends, and visitors alike, while sharing their specialties and traditional practices with pride and passion.
A non-traditional dish: vegetable-filled tortellini served with fava beans and grated dried ricotta cheese
Due to the availability and “affordable exclusivity” of products from Italy on the one hand, and the centrality of sharing and conviviality in the mainstream perception of Italian food culture on the other, the domestic preparation of everyday dishes also crucially contributes to the reproduction of Italian foodways. Recipes that are handed down from generation to generation, often along a matrilineal line, carry special significance in terms of authenticity, as they represent social identity, cultural pride, comfort, community, and emotional connections with families—especially when they have been scattered globally following the tides of diaspora. Although in reality they are often jealously guarded by those in the know, consumers may assume such recipes to be relatively accessible due to the supposed generosity and the inherent desire to share the table that is attributed to Italians, together with a certain rambunctiousness and lack of formality during meals. The family meal or the meal among friends becomes the metonymic representation of all Italian eating experiences, and it looms large in cookbooks, TV show, magazines, and films. The formal dinner, for instance, rarely factors in this kind of discourse.
This state of things is the result of both cultural dynamics within the communities of the Italian diaspora, and well-calculated business strategies. As Italian migrants moved up the social ladder, they leveraged their food skills and traditions as opportunities for business. Cooks and entrepreneurs who had honed their trade in migrant boarding houses in the early 20th century took to opening small restaurants for a clientele who wanted to enjoy the frisson of rubbing shoulders with newcomers whose habits were intriguing and unusual. Historian Donna Gabaccia points out how in the early 1900s Italian restaurants in San Francisco represented for many locals the appeal of “Latin hedonism,” expressing “the values that appealed to bohemian eaters, in their rebellion against the self-restraint and moral probities of Victorianism”.
Making ravioli with my mother
Once Italian foodways became more accessible, conviviality and festivity were commodified and turned into attractions. Italian entrepreneurs often carefully cultivated an image of welcoming affability which also served as an antidote for the fear caused by the entanglement of members of the Italian diasporic communities in organized crime. Over time, entrepreneurs of Italian descent started producing ingredients such as cheese or pasta locally, jumpstarting a food industry that is now considered as unfair competition by producers from Italy, as Italian sounding names are widely deployed as marketing tools. In some cases, immigrants of Italian descent introduced not only dishes and ingredients from their land of origin but also forms of public consumption that did not exist before. For example, in the 1950s and 1960s, Italian ice cream parlors multiplied in German cities, making restaurants and pizzerias that opened in subsequent years less foreign and threatening. In the United Kingdom, the Italian-style bars were popular in the 1960s, riding the wave of the Dolce Vita lifestyle that turned Italy into the paragon for sensuality, hedonism, and good living.
From the 1960s it became easier to travel to Italy, thanks to the growing accessibility and affordability of international jet flights. Foreign tourists started noticing the differences between the food they experienced in Italy and the food they thought of as Italian, strongly connected with the Italian immigrant communities in their countries of origin. Inevitably, well-informed consumers began questioning the authenticity of what was considered “Italian,” while looking for authoritative sources that could impart them with knowledge about “true” Italian food.
In Italy, local and national authorities, as well as producers, have been paying greater attention to the economic potential of culinary traditions and local products, especially at a time when heavy industry and mass manufacturing are waning while the service sector is growing, as in other postindustrial societies. Italian supermarkets now sell products that carry geographical indications labels and make recourse to traditions to differentiate their offerings. Besides the efforts of the Italian government and other public institutions to promote Italian food, the growing global appeal of Italian cuisine is above all connected with its perception and reproduction in the international media as the symbol of and gateway to a whole lifestyle.
In this imaginary version of Italy, people are more relaxed, families are the foundation of emotional and social life, and communities are closely knit. Everyone is always excited to spend time eating and drinking with relatives and friends. These representations are often based on disproportionate expectations regarding Italians, who in this version of reality are supposed to display good moods, prove welcoming to foreigners, and live without stress—regardless the economic state of their country, the high unemployment rate, and the pressures deriving from modern life. This idealized Italy of culinary pleasures ignores racism and intolerance toward new immigrants, who have become crucial in the production of many typical products, from tomatoes to mozzarella. In fact, immigrants—often undocumented and exploited by organized crime—take care of livestock, pick fruit and vegetables, bus tables and often become cooks and pizza makers, displaying great command of Italian dishes. Nevertheless, the perceptions about Italian food and the relationship that Italians maintain with their culinary traditions remain a source of fascination and excitement for foodies around the world, prompting them to patronize Italian restaurants, cook Italian dishes at home, take Italian cooking classes, or even travel to Italy to taste the real thing.