ONLINE: Quanto Basta

press release: During the annual “Week of Italian Cuisine in the World 2020,” a series of events are planned at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This year’s edition at UW-Madison is dedicated to Italian food writer Pellegrino Artusi since 2020 marks the Bicentennial of the birth of Pellegrino Artusi, author of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891) and “father” of Italian cuisine. At UW-Madison, Artusi figures prominently in our courses and academic activities, and the UW Library features several important editions of his book in its Special Collections. For a special video Casa Artusi a Forlimpopoli about Pellegrino Artusi and Casa Artusi in Forlimpopoli (Italy) click here: Casa Artusi Video.

Week of Italian Cuisine in the World events are free and open to all. This year's events will be on Zoom; for links or more information, contact: Prof. Grazia Menechella gmeneche@wisc.edu. https://www.facebook.com/ItalianatUWMadison/.

Monday, November 16, 2020 

6:00 pm – 10:00 pm US Central time – online streaming

Film Screening of Quanto Basta (As Needed, 2018) directed by Francesco Falaschi 

In Italian with English subtitles.

The “Week of Italian Cuisine 2020” begins with a special screening linked to a special birthday. November 16, 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the Mediterranean Diet in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Happy Birthday, Mediterranean Diet! You keep us healthy! 

The film Quanto Basta (As Needed), set in Tuscany, narrates of food, cooking, and friendship. Chef Arturo, because of a legal entanglement caused by his anger issues, is sentenced to community service in a facility for young people with autism. Here he meets Guido, a young man with Asperger syndrome who is passionate about cooking. The film is also a homage to food writer Pellegrino Artusi and his Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (1891), especially Artusi’s recipe # 506 Baccalà alla Fiorentina (Salt Cod Florentine Style) that Guido makes to enter a cooking competition. The title Quanto Basta (As Needed) refers to the use of “q.b.” (“quanto basta” / “as needed”) as a term to indicate measurements that initially proves hard to grasp for Guido.  While traveling and cooking together, Arturo and Guido embrace friendship while reinforcing the philosophy of cooking based on simplicity and taste. As Arturo states: “Il mondo ha più bisogno di un perfetto spaghetto al pomodoro che di un branzino al cioccolato. / The world has greater need for a perfect spaghetti with tomato sauce than a chocolate covered sea bass.”