“Food is neither good nor bad in the absolute, though we have been taught to recognize it as such. The organ of taste is not the tongue, but the brain, a culturally (and therefore historically) determined organ […] Definitions of taste belong to the cultural heritage of human society.”
Quotes from Food is Culture by Prof Massimo Montanari, a masterpiece in gastronomic culture.
Food is not just a matter of preferences and palate. It involves everybody’s cultural background. Besides differences in food traditions and taboos of different peoples in the world, in Italy to make an example, taste has deeply changed in history.
Nowadays, we are used to distinguish different flavours in a dish. Even in a simple “Pasta al Pomodoro” with tomato sauce, the Italians, we want to perceive the different ingredients: pasta, tomato sauce, basil, and olive oil. All of them in a good balance.
On the contrary, flavours were typically mixed in the Middle Age, in the Renaissance, and as early as in Roman times, such as sweet and savory or sweet and sour, as it’s typical of the Asian cuisine.
All this to say that food is “something living” because it evolves and changes in time… It is part of our history and traditions, even though this doesn’t mean that it should be anchored to the past. It can be positively influenced by other cultures and, definitively, is a matter of taste!
Katia Perdicaro, Co-Founder of Emilia Storytellers
