The importance of food
According to research (Johnson, 2019), over four million Italians immigrated to America between the years 1880 and 1924, with half of them crossing the Atlantic between 1900 and 1910. This large-scale immigration occurred due to poverty, political unrest, and to seek better economic opportunities. Italians brought with them a lot of traditions and culture. In particular, food culture. Was a huge part of their identity, and helped them deal with adapting to life in America.
Keeping their food culture was a crucial part of Italian Americans' lives in America, however, it did adapt to their location. Even lots of Italian media and films portray the pride Italians hold from their food culture. For example, in the film “Big Night” there is huge importance placed on serving traditional Italian dishes. In Italy, it was very rare to have meat, or large amounts of dairy, or the families that would have these items, would be very well off. However, when these families immigrated to America, having an abundance of these items heavily influenced their food culture and the dishes that they made. One example of this would be a simple pasta dish. In Italy, pasta was a huge part of their diet and food culture as the ingredients were cheap and easy to make. Pasta would be served with a small amount of a light sauce and nothing else. However, when Italian Americans were exposed to cheap prices of meat and cheese, they incorporated these by making more dishes such as pasta and meatballs, and more heavy cheese sauces (Sohn, 2019). As well as this, some dishes that the majority of the population view as Italian dishes were not actually invented in Italy, but came around after Italians immigrated to the US. Some examples of this include Italian salad dressings, which can be found in most supermarkets now, garlic bread, and chicken parmesan. Some Italian families even find it slightly frustrating and confusing when guests ask what salad dressing they use when normally it is a simple mixture of olive oil, salt, and lemon. During class this semester we had the privilege of having Luisa Giulianetti, the author of Agrodolce, as a guest in class. She was immensely insightful about her personal experiences, and it was especially interesting that she confirmed that the experience above does happen, and has even happened when she has hosted her own dinner parties.
Credit: Anna Edwards