The Week of Italian Cuisine in the World is an annual celebration of Italian gastronomy abroad. This year the focus was on quality, sustainability, culture, food security, right to food, education, identity, territory, and biodiversity. A series of events took place around the world: lectures, meetings with chefs and food scholars, food and wine tastings, cooking classes, screenings of films and documentaries.
At the UW-Madison, on November 16 and November 18, 2017 events took place to celebrate the Second Week of Italian Cuisine in the World. This event was organized by Professor Graziella Menechella of the Department of French and Italian, in conjunction with the Center for European Studies.
1) Public lecture: “Eating Italy: A History of Italian Food and Identity” by food historian Massimo Montanari (University of Bologna), with welcoming remarks by Alberta Lai, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute-Chicago. The lecture, held at the UW’s Pyle Center on 11/16, attracted a standing-room-only audience and was followed by a reception as well as a pasta demonstration by “Marietta” Barbara Asioli, a teacher-chef from the Casa Artusi in Italy.
2) Pasta demonstration by teacher-chef “Marietta” Barbara Asioli from Casa Artusi (Forlimpopoli, Italy) with welcoming remarks by Alberta Lai, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute-Chicago, and presentation on Pellegrino Artusi, author of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891), by Professor Massimo Montanari (University of Bologna), held at Slow Food UW on 11/16. Many Italian students attended this event. “Marietta” demonstrated how to make fresh homemade pasta (tagliatelle, tagliolini, garganelli, pappardelle, cappelletti, tortellini) from the region Emilia-Romagna. Students also learned about Pellegrino Artusi, Casa Artusi, and the Mariette teacher-chefs. They enjoyed a sampling of tagliatelle at the end of the demonstration.
3) Pasta demonstration, held on 11/18 at Madison restaurant Osteria Papavero, by teacher-chef “Marietta” Barbara Asioli with tasting menu of dishes from Emilia-Romagna region prepared by chef Francesco Mangano (Osteria Papavero) and presentation on Pellegrino Artusi, author of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891), by Professor Grazia Menechella (UW-Madison). Many students, alumni and members of the community attended this event, and went home eager to make home-made pasta from Emilia-Romagna by hand.