Christmas means one thing to me: my grandma’s homemade “caplèt” (more commonly known as cappelletti), a type of stuffed fresh pasta typical of Emilia-Romagna. She never got tired of making them. We never got tired of eating them. It was a beautifully equal exchange. That recipe meant so much to her; it simply was the flavour of her memories, and so became the flavour of mine.
Moving away from this aroma was no easy matter, despite Liverpool being welcoming and friendly to me. Where was I going to find home again, in the food that I eat? In that moment, food became intertwined with loss, nostalgia, and an unavoidable sense of isolation.
Food is indeed not only a joy for the palate (although the palate is the first one to enjoy it), but is synonym of family, unions and re-unions, farewells and new arrivals. It is a social event all around, and harbour to the various emotions that inhabit the human soul.
Every region perceives food in a unique way, but all of them never fail to put love and an untiring dedication into it. Being originally from Italy, I find Italian food to be regionally rich and diverse. Italians are simply too fond of food for it not to be perfect, or at least special. From the Venetian polenta, the panissa from Turin, Lombardy’s widely-loved pizzoccheri, to the more southern specialities like Campania’s famous impepata di cozze, the delicious purpetti from Calabria, Puglia’s acquasala and you name the others, food is Italy’s biggest treasure. Because of its regional variety, many Italians reject the idea of a unified Italian cuisine, despite the successful export of the “Italian restaurant”. Yet, this concept of regionalism does not seem to apply abroad.
“food is harbour to the emotions that inhabit the soul”
I come from Liguria, which limits my knowledge of the Italian cuisine to a considerable extent. I feel like I know the 30% of the food from my own country (and I am native!), half of which is typical of my region. Surprise me! I would like to be educated on food from other Italian regions and I am open to all sorts of challenges. Yet, I feel this sense of regionalism is oftentimes lost to give the way to the same, worldwide famous classics that can be found everywhere, and at this point even be cooked at home blindfolded.
Let me give you some examples: spaghetti bolognese (which, by the way, is made with beef and not chicken or turkey), lasagne, seafood risotto, spaghetti carbonara, and the list goes on forever. These are, without a doubt, very tasty classics and wed well with pretty much everything. I suppose that’s what made them a classic in the first place, right? But this is not the point. The point is – where is extravagance? What is food if not experimenting? Especially, what is foreign food if not education? Where is the real, authentic experience? I don’t think food should be standardized. I think it should be innovative, fun, challenging, provocative even. As an Italian, I don’t see these choices as representative of my country, but rather as a selling attempt, a marketing strategy. I am well aware of the impossibility of fitting all the regionalism we were mentioning earlier on, in one menu. Fair enough, I am not here to suggest this. All I am saying is, there should be more variety on the offer and less of the same classics that seek to portray the Italian cuisine and end up doing exactly the contrary – homogenizing it.
Let’s face it: moving away from the classics is a risk. Diversification comes with strings. And regional cuisine becomes the victim of a market that prefers the interest rate to culinary authenticity. The balance is hard to find. A restaurant does not survive without selling, and selling becomes easy when you propose an offer you know your customers are willing to pay for. But I think it is worth the risk if that means guiding people through the culture of a country, be this food, music or art.
I know the chances I will be able to find my grandma’s version of cappelletti somewhere else outside of her roof are extremely low, if not non-existent. I am not asking for this. They say nothing really feels like home, right? What I am asking for is instead, originality. A spoon of courage. And a pinch of fearlessness.
In Italy we say “chi non rischia non vince” (who doesn’t risk, doesn’t win). Surprises are behind the corner, so maybe it is worth daring to look?