Andiamo! Citalia Magazine Spring/Summer 2023

The Food Comeback
The disappearing foods of Italy are teeming with their own soul or
character but are simply at risk of getting lost in modern culture.
These might be certain specific old breeds or a distinct terroir or
microclimate that allows for items to grow a specific way. Or it could
be an artisan tradition, for example the wisdom of making a particular
product a particular way for centuries, that may only be known about
in one village.
At times, certain dishes may only be held in memory.
Cibo Povero
Another key feature of Italian food culture is cibo povero, which has
been passed down in families from previous generations, occasionally
undergoing local variations and personal tweaks. This style of cooking
emerged from a time when food was scarce, and waste was sacrilege.
Head to Matera, where the healthy hearty soup of crapiata materana
comes from. As Katie describes, traditionally it would have been
cooked at the end of harvest in huge communal cauldrons. When
the people of the sassi (ancient stone dwellings) were moved into
housing schemes, families would have adapted their own recipes of
this dish into smaller cookware, and used different types of beans
and vegetables depending on what was available. This was, until
eventually, the remembered recipe nearly all but faded away. You’ll
find an adaptation of this dish in her book, Food of the Italian South:
Recipes for Classic, Disappearing, and Lost Dishes.
“People think the word ‘povera’ means poverty, but what it really
means is humble cooking,” adds Gennaro, who recently published his
book on the topic, Cucina Povera. “You cook with the seasons and use
everything. Most restaurants in Italy follow this rule.”
One of the reasons you’ll find stale bread in many
dishes, perhaps as a stuffing for fish or meat
or baked into casseroles, is because there was
a time when bread was only baked weekly in
large communal ovens, so recipes had to
incorporate it to avoid waste.
Similarly, the grano arso we earlier mentioned is a literal translation of
burnt flour, and there’s a story here. The long-standing custom after
grain cultivation is to burn fields, however, just after unification, the
people of Basilicata struggled and were very hungry, and so they would
go and collect the charred leftover grains and mill them into a pasta.
According to Italian food journalist Katie Parla, who speaks of this on
the A Taste of the Past podcast by Heritage Radio Network, grano arso
had a revival when chefs in Puglia discovered the tradition and turned
it into the orecchiette (little ears) style of pasta in the 1980s.
Today, you can find grano arso sold commercially and being served in
trattorie topped with decadent fresh burrata, which is something the
impoverished people would surely be shocked by. Cibo povero has
become cool and is often the signature style for Italian chefs.
Heritage varieties of vegetables and seeds that are no longer familiar
or easily accessible are also at risk. Head to the surrounding areas of
Milan to find a rare pink asparagus that’s coloured by the iron-rich soil,
or to Liguria where you’ll find the unique Albenga violet asparagus,
a deep purple variety influenced solely by its genetic heritage. The
blood-red oranges of Sicily get their colour from Mount Etna’s volcanic
slopes, while the Vesuvius apricots of Naples, a group of distinct
varieties that grow in abundance around Mount Vesuvius, are delicate
and perishable and therefore unsuited to the modern produce market.
With climate change, producers are also working hard to adapt to
environmental changes.
When we re-engage with these disappearing foods,
we celebrate artisanal techniques, respect the
environment, and often tend to be more at one with
nature and its cycles.
These unique specialities become both the identity and notoriety
of a specific place, and so are now being vehemently protected by
regional designations and supported by local cooperatives. The rise
in agriturismo is also furthering their cause, as guests engage and tuck
into these traditions.
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