Chewing The Fat
Italy is experiencing a surge of gastronomic nostalgia, a yearning to recreate and relive the delectable rustic meals of yesteryear, of brimming chalices of wine and sauce-laden pasta. A return to the simple abundance of Italy’s past!
Ah, if only it were true. If there was a glorious yesteryear of Italian feasting, it was enjoyed only by society’s elite. As for standard, rustic fare, such meals bore little resemblance to what is now considered—even in Italy—traditional Italian food.
Determined to separate out the folklore from the fakelore and reveal the intriguing yet uncelebrated past of Italian foodways, food historian Karima Moyer-Nocchi interviewed Italian "90-something" women from various walks of life, from charcoal-makers to countesses. Her travels spanned from the far north to the deep south, as well as Italy's former landholdings. All of the interviewees had lived through the harrowing years called the Ventennio fascista, the twenty-year reign of fascism in Italy, and were eager to have their final say.
What follows are eighteen remarkable oral narratives, each building upon the last to create a mosaic of Italian foodways, from the fascist era through to the post World War II boom, the “Dolce Vita.” Each woman contributes a recipe chosen specifically to reflect what food was like when she was growing up under Mussolini. The narratives are separated by astringent, yet entertaining essay briefs, illuminating various aspects of gastronomic history and daily life in fascist Italy.
Engrossing and engaging, Chewing the Fat gently debunks the myths of Italy’s gastronomic nostalgia industry, revealing a culture of food that is surprisingly different from the image most people have of Italian cuisine.
Listen to Karima speak about the book on Yale’s ‘Chewing The Fat’ podcast here.
The Eternal Table
The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome is the first concise history of the food, gastronomy, and cuisine of Rome spanning from pre-Roman to modern times. It is a social history of the Eternal City seen through the lens of eating and feeding, as it advanced over the centuries in a city that fascinates like no other. The history of food in Rome unfolds as an engaging and enlightening narrative, recounting the human partnership with what was raised, picked, fished, caught, slaughtered, cooked, and served, as it was experienced and perceived along the continuum between excess and dearth by Romans and the many who passed through. Like the city itself, Rome’s culinary history is multi-layered, both vertically and horizontally, from migrant shepherds to the senatorial aristocracy, from the papal court to the flow of pilgrims and Grand Tourists, from the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Italy to Fascism and the rise of the middle classes. The Eternal Table takes the reader on a culinary journey through the city streets, country kitchens, banquets, markets, festivals, osterias, and restaurants illuminating yet another facet of one of the most intriguing cities in the world.
Read a review of The Eternal Table on Publishers Weekly here.