Historiker: "Die italienische Küche ist nichts anderes als Marketing" (Historian: "Italian cuisine is nothing more than marketing")
Translated version:
The story of Pizza Margherita? A fake. Historian Alberto Grandi has discovered that many myths surrounding traditional Italian dishes are completely fabricated.
Everyone immediately thinks of pasta, pizza, and other delicious food when they think of Italy. Specialties like Neapolitan Margherita or Roman Carbonara are now as legendary as the Colosseum, the Amalfi Coast, and Pompeii. For some time now, Italian cuisine has developed a cult following. People cite supposedly original recipes from the time of the Medici dynasty or those originating from poor shepherds in the Apennines. Deviations from these recipes trigger veritable shitstorms on social media.
Italian cuisine, the traditional cuisine, is not to be trifled with. This glorification of food is precisely what irks historian Alberto Grandi. That's why he researched the true origins of Italian dishes. What did he discover? It's all fake. Carbonara, the origin stories, even the culinary figure of Nonna. In his book, "Mythos Nationalgericht" (Myth of the National Dish), he claims that Italy's famous cuisine only developed after the Second World War.
Italian cuisine, the traditional cuisine, is not to be trifled with.
STANDARD: In some articles about your book, you're described as a "destroyer of Italian cuisine." Is that true?
Grandi: I'm not destroying it; I'm telling a different kind of story about Italian cuisine.
STANDARD: Which is?
Grandi: Over the last 50 years, we've simply invented a great many recipes and stories. There's an excess of myths and legends surrounding Italian cuisine. It's nothing more than marketing.
STANDARD: So, when I read that tiramisu originated from a 17th-century dish and was already being eaten by the Medici, is that a fairy tale?
Grandi: Yes, it's marketing. There's nothing wrong with that. Marketing is about selling products. Tiramisu couldn't have been invented until the 60s or 70s. Mascarpone requires refrigeration for production and wasn't readily available to everyone. That only became possible with the development of supermarkets. My mother is 90 today. 50 years ago, mascarpone was a complete novelty for her.
STANDARD: Why do you have a problem with how stories about food are passed down?
Grandi: Food has such an enormous place in our culture. And I find that strange. As a historian, I find it difficult that food is now the most important aspect of identity for Italians. I consider that dangerous. Just this morning I was discussing this with a friend. He said that everything in Italy depends on tourism and food. That's not true. 90 percent of Italy's GDP isn't attributable to tourism. The reactions to my work show that many Italians don't know the economic and social reality of our country.
STANDARD: Food is indeed an emotional topic. Just think about how to prepare a dish "correctly." For many, carbonara can only be made with guanciale and pecorino.
Grandi: Ten or fifteen years ago, Gualtiero Marchesi, one of the most important Italian chefs, added heavy cream to carbonara. Today, people would go ballistic about that. Carbonara isn't a recipe, it's a religion. A Roman journalist once threatened me with violence because of such statements in my book.
STANDARD: Is there such a thing? A right or wrong?
Grandi: That reminds me of the story of Amatriciana sauce. If you use onions in the sauce today, you're considered crazy. But its long history shows that the only truly constant ingredient from the beginning of the 20th century until just ten years ago was the onion. So: What is the right recipe?
STANDARD: But why does this happen?
Grandi: Cuisine is no longer just part of our identity, it is our identity. Italians lack confidence in the future, and that's why they invent a past. One true Italian cuisine doesn't exist. It's the same with the nonnas, the grandmothers. They can't cook as well as everyone always claims. Grandmas can make two or three good dishes, and that's it.
STANDARD: You're telling me the dear old nonnas are fake?
Grandi: As far as cooking is concerned, yes. They cook up a storm for holidays, but the rest of the year their cooking is poor and monotonous.
STANDARD: On social media, nonnas are the experts on Italian food.
Grandi: Massimo Bottura, a very famous chef, says he learned everything from his nonna. That's completely impossible. The ingredients, the flavors, the cooking techniques that a nonna had at her disposal before the World Wars are completely different from today. That's another myth.
STANDARD: So what did people eat if not pasta and pizza?
Grandi: Until the First World War, pasta was only known in Naples. The rest of Italy ate a lot of vegetables, soup, and polenta. They cooked with chestnut flour and lard. So not the Mediterranean diet we know. That's also a fabrication. Nobody ate like that.
STANDARD: Really?
Grandi: If you look at southern Italy today, it's the region with the highest obesity rates. People used to eat poorly and in small portions; now they eat too much and too rich food.
STANDARD: Which true story about a dish surprised you the most?
Grandi: Perhaps the strangest story is that of Parmigiano Reggiano. Parmesan has a very long history, almost 2,000 years. During this time, the cheese has undergone many changes. In its original form—small, soft, fatty, and black on the outside—it was produced in Wisconsin in the USA. Italian immigrants brought it with them. It wasn't until the 1960s that it was further developed in Parma into its current form.
STANDARD: So how did that terrible Italian food become fantastic?
Grandi: One factor was the large-scale emigration of Italians between 1860 and 1960. At that time, 25 million people left the country. Thanks to economic growth, some of them returned in the mid-20th century, bringing with them dishes and recipes that are now sold as authentic.
STANDARD: Which dishes are those?
Grandi: Pizza, for example. Pizza was invented in Naples, but it tasted awful. The dough was hard, burnt on the outside, and still doughy on the inside. And it didn't have tomatoes. It was only through the Italian diaspora that pizza was further developed and improved in the USA.
STANDARD: One of the most famous stories is that pizza was created for Queen Margherita's visit and represents the colors of the Italian flag.
Grandi: There's a document that tells this story. It's a fake. Pizza Margherita wasn't invented until years after the queen's death. And she never ate it. What you find in Naples today is an American invention.
STANDARD: So the Americans put mozzarella and tomatoes on pizza?
Grandi: Exactly. Tomato sauce isn't Italian either. It comes from Spain. It only really became established after the Second World War. Tomato sauce is difficult to preserve. That's why industrialization was necessary.
STANDARD: Is there even such a thing as truly traditional Italian food?
Grandi: The worst word you can use for Italian cuisine is "traditional." There is no culinary tradition.
STANDARD: You've listed tomato sauce, Parmesan, tiramisu, and pizza as fake. What about Bolognese?
Grandi: Everyone makes Bolognese differently. There's no original recipe. These days, people say Bolognese is cooked without tomatoes. But you can't really claim that.
STANDARD: And Carbonara?
Grandi: Carbonara is a little different. Although it originated in Italy, it comes from the Americans. At the end of World War II, after the conquest of Rome, soldiers combined their rations of powdered eggs and bacon with pasta. They called it "Spaghetti Breakfast." So it doesn't originate with the charcoal burners in the Apennines who prepared pasta with bacon and cheese during their breaks. Incidentally, the first recipe for Carbonara was published in Chicago in 1952. It wasn't until two years later that it appeared in Italy. And even that was different from the modern version. It used Gruyère cheese, pancetta, and garlic.
STANDARD: In Austria, Carbonara is also cooked with heavy cream and ham.
Grandi: Heavy cream was frequently found in Carbonara recipes well into the 1970s.
STANDARD: So our version isn't a fake Carbonara?
Grandi: There is no fake Carbonara. Every recipe has its place. But don't say that out loud when you're in Italy.
STANDARD: Let's go through the rest. What about olive oil?
Grandi: That's a very strange story. Fifty years ago, olive oil was used for everything except cooking. For oil lamps, for example. It tasted very sour and very intense. It was unsuitable for food. Italians preferred to cook with lard, butter, or margarine. It wasn't until the 1980s that the quality of the oil improved enough to be used for cooking.
STANDARD: Pasta comes from China, right? Grandi: Yes and no. Pasta came to Italy via Sicily through the Arabs. People used to eat pasta by hand, mixed only with garlic, fat, and cheese.
STANDARD: Can you still go out to eat in your hometown without being insulted?
Grandi: (Laughs.) I don't know what it would be like in Naples; I haven't dared to go there yet. But yes, I can still go out to eat.
STANDARD: What do you eat then?
Grandi: Spaghetti with tomato sauce.
