In recent months, I have come to realize that the best way to study food history may be to look at a specific nation as a case study. I chose Italy for a few reasons. 1: There is a fair amount of documentation going back to the Roman Era, almost 2000 years ago. 2: In the months after a trip to Italy last year, I have become fascinated by Italian regional history and cuisine. 3: I found a really great book on the subject at the local library, A Cook’s Tour of Italy by Joe Famularo (HP Books, Berkley Publishing Group, 2003). Not only does the book contain a few hundred recipes, Mr. Famularo put them into example menus, grouped the menus by region, and discussed the history and foods of each region at the beginning of every chapter. Combined with anecdotes about his travel, suggestions about what can be prepared ahead, and even wine suggestions for each menu, this book has everything.

Reading through the text made clear what I was already somewhat aware of: that there is not really a national “Italian” cuisine as there are many Italian regional cuisines, defined by each region’s climate and geography. Along with the general north/south divide (northern cuisines use more butter, meat, polenta, risotto, and fresh pasta while those in the south use more olive oil, seafood, vegetables and dried pasta), each region has its own unique traits and specialities. To understand the history and evolution of Italian food, I have set a goal to cook all of the menus in the book.

While these are modern regional recipes, the menus provide a fascinating insight into history. For example, the butter/olive oil divide is largely based on where olive trees can or cannot grow (they don’t usually grow north of Tuscany except along the coast). Despite rich soil and productive agriculture, a history of feudalism made many Southern Italians poorer than their Northern counterparts, where a tradition of trade and commerce created more of a middle class, starting before the time of St. Francis.

Over the past few months, I have prepared a few of the menus. They have all been thoroughly enjoyable. I aim to post about each one (citing page numbers of the recipes) over the next week or so, then proceed from there. Some of them could be a bit of a challenge with ingredients (finding some of the saltwater fish may not be possible or be prohibitively expensive, I have no idea where to find eels, and family and friends may be a bit weirded out by a whole suckling pig), but most menus are accessible and adaptable if need be.