Italian cooking as world heritage
Why can Italian cooking be considered a world heritage? This is a debate yet to be answered. This question will be the title of the talk to be given by Emeritus Professor Massimo Montanari today at the Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts at Özyeğin University. Montanari is an eminent scholar on medieval history of Europe, focusing on food studies, especially on medieval agrarian history. He has published several books on Italian food history, with interesting catchy titles, such as “A Short History of Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce” and “Let the Meatballs Rest and Other Stories about Food and Culture.” He likes to ask witty questions and delve into microhistory such as examining the proverb “Don’t let the peasants eat cheese with pears” showing how food reflects social hierarchies. This latter goes into the analysis of the social strata, the eating habits of the nobility and peasants, “refined” versus “rustic” and the proverb reflecting the class conflict through food.
Cuisine or cookery?
His forthcoming book with Pier Luigi Petrillo is “Tutti a Tavola” with the subtitle “Perché la cucina Italiana è un patrimonio dell’umanità” which asks this question. Well, the answer will come on Dec. 10, when Italy’s application to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list will be evaluated. I’m sure that the inclusion of Italian cookery on the list will stir many debates, make many countries green with envy, pushing them hard to apply to the list seeking recognition for their own cuisines. At this point, even the term makes a difference according to Montanari, who is one of the scholars that prepared the candidacy dossier for the application.
Montanari insists using the term “cookery” or “cooking” instead of “cuisine.” For him, “cuisine” has an imperialistic vibe to the term, pretty much like gastronomy, referring to a deliberately elevated and studied cooking practice, whereas the usage of words like cookery or cooking is more appropriate for what people cook on a daily basis at home. This is also a matter of translation, in Italian “cucina” is more used instead of “cuisine,” a word that also means kitchen. So, when one says “La Cucina Italiana” it might be translated to English as “Italian Cuisine,” but according to Montanari, it would be more correct to say “Italian Cookery” which would refer to cooking of people in their daily routine.
In his book titled “Italian Identity in the Kitchen, or Food and the Nation” he questions how Italian food became part of national identity. In some cases, his argument is lost in translation. Another book he coauthored with Alberto Capatti is translated into English as “Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History.” Here the term cuisine is used, which is not the way Montanari prefers. Nevertheless, both books provide valuable overview of the historical evolution of Italian food, presenting a vivid example of how food can be pivotal in explaining the evolution of a nation.
Food as cultural patrimony
The talk Montanari will deliver in Istanbul at Özyeğin University is a very controversial topic. Registration of food culture as a cultural patrimony at lists such as the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, has become almost like a trend now. Many countries literally race for getting recognition in such listings. In Europe, to have a food item listed as an EU certified food has become a national pride thing. Such registrations and listings are also open to disputes claiming ownership of a certain food product or to a food-related ritual or custom. Nevertheless, countries continue to nominate files, sometimes collaborating as a joint nomination of multiple countries. Recently, Türkiye had “Traditional knowledge, methods and practices concerning olive cultivation” listed in the endangered list, now yogurt is pending as a joint nomination of Türkiye, Bulgaria and Romania with the title “Traditional techniques of yogurt making and related social practices.”
At the next UNESCO meeting one of the nominations to be evaluated is exactly the topic Montanari will talk about. The nomination is titled as “Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity” which is a very challenging title hitting all the boxes. Montanari himself chaired the scientific committee for the nomination of Italian cooking as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, so it is worth listening to his arguments, and eventually think about what can be done for Turkish cookery.
