Articles by: A. L.

  • Arte e Cultura

    Uno chef dagli USA per parlare di emergenza grano

    Si svolge a Matera, per abbracciare poi virtualmente tutto il mondo, un congresso internazionale intitolato “Emergenza Grano: da strumento di guerra a risorsa di Pace” che festeggia in modo speciale la Giornata Mondiale della Pasta. Lo ha organizzato con il cuore, è proprio il caso di dirlo, ma anche con tutta la competenza e lo studio necessario, il noto chef americano Luigi Diotiaiuti, originario di Lagonegro in Basilicata.

    Nel suo noto ristorante di Washington DC  Al Tiramisù da anni Luigi Diotaiuti, chef star della televisione americana, è un punto di riferimento per l’alta cucina italiana.  Lo frequentano assiduamente star del cinema come George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon e tanti altri.

    Hillary Clinton, quando era Segretario di Stato, lo ha voluto nell’American Chef Corps della Casa Bianca e un altro Segretario di Stato, John Kerry, lo ha citato in occasione del suo discorso all’Expo 2015 come uno tra gli chef più apprezzati d’America. 

    Ma Luigi Diotiaiuti non si è montato la testa, con i piedi fermi per terra, convinto dell’importanza di tramandare gli usi e i costumi della nostra tradizione, ha creato l’organizzazione no-profit Luigi Diotaiuti Onlus 

    La scelta di Matera per il suo convegno è ovviamente legata alle sue origini lucane ma anche al ruolo strategico che questa città ha assunto, soprattutto negli ultimi anni dopo essere stata capitale della cultura, come luogo di diffusione della cucina mediterranea, ma anche alla sua storia nella produzione del pane. Ci dice Diotiaiuti: “La mia onlus è basata a Matera, una città che per millenni ci ha donato del pane straordinario.

    La terra di Matera  è votata al grano, il pane di Matera è conosciuto in tutto il mondo.  Ha una una storia particolare. La sua forma è quasi come quella di un croissant perchè in antichità Matera non aveva tanto spazio. C’erano i forni centrali dove le famiglie  portavano il pane e ogni forma di pane aveva il suo marchio, una sorta di timbro personalizzato per distinguerlo. La classica pagnotta rotonda di due chili poi veniva fatta a forma alzata sempre per fare in modo che occupasse meno spazio. Ne infornavano così 4 al posto di una, con tre tagli nel nome del padre figlio e spirito santo. “

    Diotiauti ci racconta cosa c’è alla base della sua decisione di organizzare questo convegno con la sua Onlus “Nasce dal mio continuo desiderio di riqualificare il sud che è stato privato negli anni di tanto. Per esempio parliamo della mia zona: il lagonegrese. Quando ero piccolo e la attraversavo, per andare a scuola, vedevo una terra coltivata ovunque, ora non è più così. 

    Se mi chiedessero di portarli per un campo di grano non saprei proprio dove andare, eppure noi in Italia mangiamo tre quattro volte al giorno prodotti realizzati con farine: pasta, pizza, pasticcini e quant’altro. La domanda che ci dobbiamo porre quindi è: da dove viene la farina?  

    Nel 2011 poi ci fu lo scandalo Kamut.  L’Unione Europea di allora nel catalogare i vari cereali, i frumenti che potevano dare allergia, mise come frumento il Kamut che è un marchio commerciale, non un grano. Il nome del grano è khoransan o “grano rosso” o “frumento orientale”, un cereale antico che fa parte della famiglia dei Triticum Turgidum. Si chiama Precciasacchi in dialetto siciliano (tanto pesante da sfondare i sacchi), o Settecentanni in varie zone del sud (per dire vecchissimo), l’Etrusco in Toscana, sempre per sottolineare che si coltiva da millenni. 

    La Kamut International invece è un’azienda, fondata alla fine degli anni ’80,  nello stato del Montana da Bob Quinn che fece raccogliere i semi del khoransan  e li modificò per venderli in tutto il mondo sotto un nuovo marchio.”

    Dunque si tratta di una geniale operazione commerciale! Qualunque agricoltore potrebbe piantare la stessa varietà di grano, ma non potrebbe commercializzarlo con quel nome che nel frattempo lo ha reso famoso e fatto entrare nella grande distribuzione …

    Sempre Diotiaiuti: “Dico di più 30 anni fa in Europa venivano donati a piccoli contadini soldi e premi vari per mettere a riposo i loro campi di grano. Questo aveva un motivo nascosto, serviva per concentrare e controllare il prezzo del grano nei grandi Paesi dove veniva prodotto massivamente.

    E dopo tanti anni abbiamo visto cosa succede. Basta una nave di traverso nel canale di Suez che si blocca tutto il mondo, Putin che invade l’Ucraina, ed il prezzo del grano va alle stelle.

    Cambiamenti climatici e conflitti, politiche sbagliate…  Cosa è successo ad un Paese come l'Italia che era il granaio dell’impero romano? Che fino agli anni 50 aveva la pianura Padana considerata granaio d’Europa? 

    L’Italia fino al 2018 ha importato l’80 per cento di grano che lavora. Ecco io vorrei aprire una breccia su questo problema che poi porta a tanti ragionamenti, incluso quello della fame nel mondo.” 

    Nel calendario del convegno che si apre da New York con saluto video dell’Ambasciatore Maurizio Massari (Rappresentante Permanente italiano all’ONU, Vice Presidente del Consiglio Economico e Sociale dell’ONU),  la partecipazione di Hartwig Schafer (World Bank Vice Pres. South Asian Region, esperto in Povertà, Infrastrutture e Agricoltura rurale nel Mondo), Gary Barrett (Professore Georgetown University), Dino Nicolia, (Funzionario Commissione Europea), Antonio Pessolani  (Presidente Coldiretti Basilicata), Andrea Pasini (CAI – Consorzi Agrari d’Italia), Domenico Romaniello (esperto di Grani Antichi), Stefano Uccella (Pres. Nazionale Pastai CNA),  Enrico Pirro (fondatore Pastificio Pirro) e Alex Revelli (Prof. di gastrosofia e comunicazione delle culture e politiche alimentari Università S. Raffaele di Roma). 

    Inaugureranno la la giornata le donne di Pasta Lab che, insieme agli allievi degli Istituti Alberghieri di Matera, Melfi, Marconia, Maratea e Potenza, competeranno con la loro pasta fatta in casa sotto l’occhio esperto dello chef di Linea Verde (Rai1) Peppone.

    In palio per i primi due allievi classificati, un viaggio di 10 giorni a Washington, con workshop e visite guidate all’Ambasciata Italiana, al Museo Spaziale e alle residenze di due grandi presidenti americani, quella di George Washington a Mount Vernon e quella di Thomas Jefferson a Monticello, in Virginia.

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    Tra i sostenitori dell’evento: Città di Matera, Rai Basilicata, Coldiretti Basilicata, A.R.A. Basilicata, NIAF (la più grande Fondazione tra America e Italia), Unione Cuochi Lucani, CAN, Formamente, Lanziani Hub, MaterAmo Cultura del Gusto, Connecting.

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    Per saperne di più:

    Articolo "The American Dream of Luigi Diotaiuti" http://www.iitaly.org/node/51936

    Intervista video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lsBtr7QDDU&t=468s

    Il sito dello chef   http://www.luigidiotaiuti.com/

     
  • Meet Robert LaPenta, Grand Marshal of the Columbus Day Parade, 2016
    Facts & Stories

    Meet Robert LaPenta, Grand Marshal of the Columbus Day Parade, 2016

    To be the Grand Marshal of the Columbus Day Parade is a great honor. How do you feel about it?

    To have the LaPenta name added to the list of outstanding prior Grand Marshals is truly an honor for our entire family. My grandparents were Italian immigrants and my parents hard working rst generation Italian Americans—they are beaming with pride as they look down from heaven!

    You also have three grandchildren. What does it mean for the new generations to be Italian American?

    The current generations are more focused on social media and the digital age. Parents and  great organizations like the Columbus Citizens Foundation can bring their heritage and ancestry into focus and instill in them the desire to preserve and forward the great Italian tradition.

    Where does your family come from in Italy?

    My family is rooted in Rome and Naples. I have visited there several times meeting some of my extended family of aunts and uncles and cousins. Every time I go there, I get the sensation of it being my second home.

    You grew up in Yonkers. What was that like?

    Yonkers is a lower middle class city, home to many rst generation American immigrants particularly from Italy. Growing up there provided me with a strong foundation centered around family. I have really fond memories of my Italian American youth, including the weekly family dinner lled with great food and family interactions.

    You were the rst member of your family to attend college, and then you enjoyed a long career in nance as well as in the aerospace, defense and electronics industries. Yours is a very American success story! What’s the key? 

    Hard work and commitment! My strong family foundation and growing up in a lower middle class community precluded me to have a sense of entitlement and I recognized at a very early age that hard work and commitment were the keys to success.

    You have been publicly vocal about the importance of education. Why is education so important to you?

    Education opens doors that are critical to succeeding in any professional or personal pursuit. I have spoken publicly about the value of education a number of times and the word I use regarding its value is it provides you with freedom. Freedom to enter those doors and ful ll your dreams.

    Do you and your family speak Italian?

    Growing up with my grandparents who did not speak a word of English gave me the early foundation of some rudimentary Italian speaking skills. Unfortunately in my travels to Italy I found that there is a dialect for every region and true standard Italian was not what my grandparents taught me! I believe Italian and other European languages should be made available to those who wish to pursue them, but in today’s world dominant or emerging countries in the economy and culture have taken front stage.

    Finally, you are also known as a great philanthropist. Why is philanthropy important for a successful Italian man in today’s America?

    Successful people have the “gift” of being able to give back. Whether in support of education, critical health organizations like St. Jude and Sloan Kettering among others, giving to improve the quality of life for those less fortunate than we are in America. 
  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    The Venetian Cooking Countess

    The Financial Times dubbed her the “Cooking Countess.” And indeed, over the years, Enrica Rocca, a quintessentially Venetian and incredibly vivacious woman, has become an important authority on her native land’s cuisine. You understand why as soon as you meet her. Sure, she’s very passionate, but she’s also got a good nose for everything involved in running a family business.
     

    Not only will Enrica tell you her side of Veneto, she’ll serve you food in a unique ambience, teach you how to cook, and, if you’d like, put you up in one of her accommodations in the Venetian countryside. She restored her villa for that express purpose.

    Villa il Granaio is located in Mira, on the banks of the Brenta River, only about eight miles from Venice, in an area traditionally frequented by the Venetian elite. It’s a special place where you  can also enroll in her world- renowned cooking school or simply relax. 

    Of course, you might come across the Cooking Countess elsewhere in the world. For years she has taken her cooking around the globe, from Venice to London to Cape Town to the Big Apple. 

    We recently got the chance to participate in one of her lessons being held at Eataly New York. Her teaching style is very intimate and down to earth, even when dispensing secrets from her experience as an upscale chef. “I don’t teach recipes,” she tells us. “I’d rather teach you how to discover and combine ingredients.” 

    And with that, she imparts her first important lesson: “Only use in-season ingredients that you can find in the market.”

    Change and Tradition

    Listening to Erica talk about her brand of cooking is a delicacy in and of itself.

    “As our lifestyles have utterly changed (fewer manual jobs, more sedentary lives), Venetian cuisine has to adapt by incorporating lighter dishes with fewer calories. And for many dishes it would be impossible to use the original recipes because the public wouldn’t appreciate it. The flavors are too strong or too bitter (you hear older people often complain that radicchio isn’t as bitter as it was 30 years ago) or too fatty. That is why I try to lighten dishes while still hewing as close as I can to tradition.”
     

    Wise words. But what are the main features of Venetian cooking in Erica’s opinion? “Above all
    it is made with products from the region, which vary widely from place to place. We have
    the seaside, mountains and plains, meaning we can eat fish, and game from both the mountains and lagoons (duck, pigeon, pheasant). The vegetables are excellent, especially those products in the Venetian lagoon. The dishes themselves are simple, but rich in flavor, especially when you can get away from the tourist centers and venture out into the countryside and around the mountains...”

    And then of course there is the Oriental influence—one that dates back to the ancient tradition of the Eastern spice trade, when Venice was one of the first centers of the world. Back to the time of Marco Polo...
     

    “You Must Be Demanding”
    We wonder how easy it is to practice her way of cooking in New York. It’s not as though
    we can pick up the kinds of ingredients you find among the market stalls of the Rialto... But Enrica assures us “you can do it anywhere, as long as you use the best products possible. You must be demanding.”
     

    Being demanding is sort of the education mission of Enrica, especially abroad. “It’s very fashionable to cook nowadays— it’s all people talk about! The risk is that cooking turns into more of a show than something serious.” Recipes are, in fact, very trendy... “Yes. And to think that recipes are just a commodity of modern times! Our ancestors would make dishes with whatever they could find inside of “zero kilometers” (i.e., in the garden or chicken coop behind their houses). And everything had much more flavor! That’s why I teach my clients to go to the market, buy the freshest stuff there is, and then decide what dishes to make with what we have.”
     

    We often heard Rocca denounce the fact that Italian culinary culture is dying out, especially in the big cities and touristy areas. Is that—like everything else in our culture— becoming more mainstream?
    “Unfortunately it is. Personally, Itryto make the public understand that pasta, pizza and lasagna are but a very small part of Italian culture. Every region, every city has its specialties...” Lesson number 2: part of being demanding entails learning how to pick up the different flavors and subtleties of Italian cuisine. That’s not all. Venetians have always known how to host. “I think receiving guests is important in all of Italy,” says Rocca, rather modestly.

    “But the Venetians are definitely always happy to open their doors and offer a slice of salami and a glass of wineand share the specialties of their land. Of course, speaking fromexperience, Venice may not be the best example given that there are too many tourists with respect to the size of the city. But in the rest of Veneto you’ll never be disappointed.”
     

    Veneto, Wine’s Dominion
    We often talk about its food and tend to forget that the region produces some of the great wines. Any wine suggestions for discovering another side of Veneto?
    “First and foremost, Amarone, which is among the top three Italian wines. It is produced in the wine country of Valpolicella, in the province of Verona, east of Lake Garda. The name has an old historic meaning. Val for valley; poli means many in Greek; and cella for cellar. Because in ancient times the area was known as “the valley of many cellars.”
     

    The variety is little known abroad, another casualty of the way cultures and tastes go mainstream, right? “Right. Unfortunately you can only find a few examples of Soave a Valpolicella (and Prosecco) abroad, wines that really represent the potency and variety of this region. But if you happen to be in Veneto, I suggest dedicating a whole day in Valpolicella tasting the really great wines. There are restaurants here that have sensational wine lists.”
     

    A Simple Dish
    Rocca recommends one dish that all can make. Super easy. And we recommend bringing
    a slice of Venetian cuisine into your house with her latest book, Venice on a plate... But what a plate! (available at Amazon.com)