Pellegrino Artusi & the Culinary Unification of Italy

press release: March 6 - April 24, 2019  

This exhibition explores the world-famous cookbook Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene) published by Pellegrino Artusi in 1891. More than a cookbook, this book was a political project – the contribution Artusi wanted to give his country, laboriously unified a few years earlier. Artusi’s work aimed to reflect the traditions of the whole country, not denying the extraordinary variety of local traditions, rather putting them into circulation, making them known and shared. This project – also a linguistic one, narrating the kitchen in a “national” language that everyone could understand – worked in an “inter-active”, almost collective way, involving the many readers who sent Artusi suggestions, advice and new recipes. That’s why La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene became a sort of collective work, adding more and more recipes over twenty years and fifteen editions, and published up until Artusi’s death in 1911. This exhibition includes 14 panels about Pellegrino Artusi and the culinary unification of Italy, as well as Italian and Italian-American cookbooks from the UW-Madison Library collections. The exhibition is sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago, Casa Artusi, Regione Emilia Romagna, and the Department of French and Italian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With support from the Food Studies Network and European Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With special thanks to UW-Madison Librarians Jules Arensdorf, Karen Dunn, and Lisa Wettleson.

Free and open to all. N.B. If not affiliated with UW, a daily pass can be issued at the entrance (an ID such as a driving Licence, is needed for a daily pass).

events:

3/13  Lecture: Grazia Menechella (French and Italian, UW-Madison):: “Italian Food Writing Across the Ocean: The Artusi Connection from Italy to Wisconsin”

with welcoming remarks by Alberta  Lai (Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago): Welcoming Remarks

Memorial Library, Room # 126, 728 State St. Free and open to all.

This lecture looks at Pellegrino Artusi’s Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, 1891) as an original and innovative collective project that influenced generations of readers as well as generations of food writers, and investigates the impact and legacy of Artusi and his unique cookbook in the US, especially in Wisconsin.

4/13  “La Cena italiana” by the UW-Madison Italian Club at the French House

April 13 6:00 pm  The French House, 633 North Frances, Madison, WI 53703

“La Cena Italiana”, a three-course authentic Italian meal, will feature the flavors of Emilia-Romagna and recipes inspired by Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891).  Organized by the Italian Club at UW-Madison. $ 15 for students. $ 20 for non students. For tickets and more information, visit https://uwfrenchhouse.org/events/cena-italiana-3/

4/24 Film Screening of Quanto Basta (As Needed, 2018) by Francesco Falaschi

April 24, 7:00 pm  The Marquee Cinema at Union South

1308 W Dayton St, Room 245, Madison, WI 53715  Free and open to all.

Screening is part of the Italian Film Festival 2019 program (all films screenings are free and open to all) http://italianfilmfests.org/

This film about Italian chefs and cooking makes reference to Pellegrino Artusi, especially to Artusi’s recipe # 506 Baccalà alla Fiorentina (Salt Cod Florentine Style), and to “q.b.” (“quanto basta” or “as needed”), referred to amounts in Artusi’s recipes.

Events made possible by the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago, Casa Artusi and Regione Emilia Romagna in Italy, Food Studies Network, European Studies and the Department of French and Italian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.