"Il Cacio sui Maccheroni" or "How Pasta Saved a City"
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Anyone who’s ever been in full
time education or employment must have, at least at some point, experienced
that tidal wave of gloom that characterises a Sunday evening. It’s getting
dark, the fun is over, and all that remains to think about are the
(unfinished) pieces of homework due in tomorrow morning, or the pile of shirts
left to iron. The thought of another long, grey week of early mornings, school
uniforms and maths lessons looms, and all you want to do is go to bed and wake
up on Saturday morning again. I have suffered my fair share of this ailment,
but I consider myself lucky to have a mother who knew the perfect remedy. A
bowl of pasta and grated cheese. I appreciate that this does not sound like
news-worthy material, in fact it probably sounds pretty boring and mundane –
something everyone can do, the emergency we-have-nothing-in-the-house meal, and
not exactly the healthiest option either. But this is not just any old bowl of
pasta, it’s an exact science. The fundamental ingredients are conchigliette (baby
shells) and a very mild cheddar (parmesan is too strong). And butter. Lots of
butter. It can be eaten with a fork or a spoon. If cooked properly, there
should be a delectable squishy smushy sound
when you mix it up. You may laugh, but I defy anyone to eat this simple,
comforting dish and not feel just a little bit better.
To my delight, it has recently
come to my knowledge that pasta and cheese has, in fact, saved lives. While
today we see Italy as a land of plenty, abundant in mouth-watering produce with
a national obsession for good food, things were not always so. Malnutrition
among the poor urban and rural classes plagued the nation for hundreds of
years, continuing in some places even until the 1950s. Following a population
boom in the early 1600s, Naples’ supply of meat became scarce, and people
started to suffer. That is, until maccheroni e cacio (pasta and cheese) started being
sold by street vendors. As a meal it provided carbohydrates, protein and fat
and therefore energy. It couldn’t
quite replace meat, but it was a good enough substitute to keep workers alive
and healthy. It became Naples’ most famous dish, and was responsible for the
importation and cultivation of durum wheat on the peninsula (previously it was
only grown in Sicily). These two ingredients caused a food revolution, and as its fame spread
northwards, pasta became Italy’s national dish.[1]
As
if this weren’t enough to prove my theory of the great healing powers of my
Sunday tea-time treat, more evidence came to light with the existence of two
fantastic Italian idioms involving the word cacio.
Come il cacio sui maccheroni translates as “just what the
doctor ordered” and venire come il cacio sui maccheroni means “to turn up just
at the right time.”[2] Pasta and cheese are not only engrained in Italy’s history, but also in its
language and thus the way Italians look at the world around them. So the next
time you tuck into this humble meal, ditch the why-am-I-so-lazy or
gosh-this-isn’t-compatible-with-the-5:2 guilt. Pasta saved a people. How could
it be anything other than heroic?
0 comments