Subject: Re: 'Fundamentals' of Italian cooking ...?

From: [email-masked] (MURRAY,JEFFREY P)
Date: 17 Nov 92 21:35:48 GMT

Thus spake Simon Langford:
>A bit of a general question for you - and I need (any) answers as 
>soon as possible - as part of an assignment discussing the 
>influences of Italian immigrants in Australia their effects on 
>"food" are to be considered - so as a starting point for that,
>I was just wondering if anyone out there could describe 
>fundamentals of Italian cooking and foods. That is, what
>distinguishes 'traditional' Italian meals etc from that
>of other nationalities, and how this has been introduced 
>to other societies today. 

   I think that your "starting point" is likely to be much
more problematic than your overall concern. Let me explain.

   "Italian" cooking is as meaningless a phrase as "Asian"
cooking (well, maybe not that bad, but similar ;-), in that
Italy is a hodgepodge of different regions with different 
traditional crops and food preparation techniques. These 
range from Sicilian cooking, which is heavily influenced by
North African and Middle Eastern cultural influences, to 
the cooking of the Torino region, which is very "French"
in ingredients/preparation of foods.

   If your interest is in the influence of Italian immigrants
on the cuisine of Australia, you may find your task considerably
easier, since most Italian emmigrants hail from very specific
locales; in most instances, Napoli and environs. To the 
extent that the majority of Italian-Australians are of 
Neopolitan ancestry, their preferred cooking techniques 
can be readily nailed down (e.g., Neopolitans prefer the use of 
olive oil to butter as a cooking fat, they make prodigious
use of tomatoes and eggplant, etc.). 

I would suggest you find some Southern Italian cookbooks (e.g.
Neopolitan) and compare the typical vegetables, starches, oils, etc.
used to those used in a Northern Italian cookbook (say a Tuscan
cookbook).  I believe you'll find the differences to be quite
startling. A few (VERY general) differences in cooking ingredient
preferences in Southern Italy versus Northern are listed below. 
PLEASE note that these are general observations...there are MANY
exceptions to the listings. Note also how many of the differences
can readily be explained by geography. Hope some of this helps!

Southern Italy       Northern Italy

Olive Oil            Butter
Soft Cheeses         Hard Cheeses
  Ricotta              Parmesan
  Provolone            Pecorino
Commercial Pasta     Egg noodles
Tomato Sauces        Cream sauces
More reliance        More reliance 
  on vegetables         on pork,
  and seafood           veal
More "peasant"       More affluent
  styles of             preparation/
  cooking/              presentation
  presentation         
                       
--
MURRAY,JEFFREY P
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!jm67
Internet: [email-masked]