Italian Food For Thought Random Quizlet Import

Commensality

Sharing a meal with others; a social act that expresses relationships, belonging, and identity. Seating and food reflected rank and power during feasts or banquets.

Campanilismo

Local pride or loyalty to one's hometown; as Italy was divided into city-states, rivalries came from strong civic pride.

Subsistence farming

Farmers grow just enough food to feed themselves and their families; staple crops such as grains or maize.

Food and socioeconomic status

Food was seen as a status symbol; specific foods eaten by what classes had access to; presented carefully to show higher status.

Mediterranean diet

Founded by Dr. Ancel Keys; describes traditional dietary patterns of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; plant-based foods and healthy fats reduced health risks.

Otzi

Iceman found in the Otztal Alps; remains showed his diet allowed him to survive harsh alpine conditions; diet consisted of einkorn wheat, red deer, ibex meat, and animal fats.

Etruscan contributions

Produced many crops due to fallow field agriculture and irrigation systems; upper class threw banquets and feasts; established food as a status symbol.

Phoenician contributions

Set up large trade routes and influenced seafood production and curing; established mattanza fishing technique in Sicily.

Greek contributions

More urbanization with cultural distinctions; introduced a more noticeable distinction between social classes and the food they consumed.

Garum

Preserved fish sauce produced by the Phoenicians.

Puls

Rome’s economy produced a diet based on cereals and gruels (puls); anything added to puls was considered pulmentarium.

Triclinium

Formal dining room in ancient Roman houses, designed for eating while reclining on couches; only wealthy Romans had access.

Petronius

Roman courtier and writer.

Satyricon

Satire of a nouveau-riche freedman who throws an extravagant banquet; serves elaborate dishes to reflect his new status.

Apicius

High society gourmand who wrote for the upper classes.

De Re Coquinaria

Over 400 recipes for the wealthy elite (often highly seasoned with garum); focuses on techniques, ingredients, and flavor combinations; elaborate and luxurious.

Germanic influence

Included Lombards and Franks who appropriated Islamic culture/trade/agriculture; shifted from Mediterranean light foods to northern rich foods.

Muslim food influence

Turned Sicily into one of the most agriculturally productive and diverse regions in Europe; blended Mediterranean culture.

Sicily's importance to Mediterranean powers

Naval and trading hub; sea routes controlled flow of grain, goods, and military power.

Dried pasta (itriyya)

Made of durum wheat; brought to Sicily by Muslims; became a staple; pasta was twice the price of meat and could be stored long-term.

Cuccagna / Cockaigne

Mythical land of plenty where food is endless, work unnecessary, and pleasure free; parody and protest against labor systems and food scarcity.

Giovanni Boccaccio

Son of a merchant; studied in Florence and Naples; author of The Decameron.

The Decameron: Day 1, Story 5

King of France hopes to seduce the Marchioness; she prepares a banquet of chickens to remind him he’s acting like a rooster among hens.

The Decameron: Day 6, Story 4

Cook Chichibio gives one leg of a roasted crane to impress a woman; tricks his master Currado into thinking cranes have one leg; humor about wit and class.

The Decameron: Day 6, Story 2

Nobleman Geri Spina passes baker Cisti’s shop; invited to taste; shows how good manners and intelligence elevate social status.

Companatico ("companagium")

“What goes with bread”; bread was staple food; accompaniments included cabbage, leeks, cheese, oil, salt, etc.

Guilds (arti)

Associations of artisans, merchants, or professionals regulating their craft; shaped economic and cultural life.

City states

Northern Italians fended off feudal masters and formed city-states; markets became centers of social, political, and economic life.

Humanism

Focused on humans, not religion; emphasized potential, reason, and individuality; studia humanitatis: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history, moral philosophy.

Humors

Galenic medical theory; food had medicinal properties: blood (hot/wet), phlegm (cold/wet), yellow bile (hot/dry), black bile (cold/dry).

Maestro Martino

First celebrity chef of the Italian Renaissance; transformed medieval traditions into early modern cuisine.

Libro De Arte Coquinaria

“The Art of Cooking”; one of first Italian cookbooks to focus on techniques and natural flavors.

Platina (Bartolomeo Platina)

Renaissance humanist, scholar, and writer.

De honesta voluptate et valetudine

“Honest Pleasure and Health”; based on Maestro Martino’s recipes; merged religious and secular ideologies.

Scappi

One of the most famous Italian Renaissance chefs.

Opera dell'arte del cucinare

Six books containing over 1,000 recipes from all over Italy; most comprehensive of its time.

Leonardo da Vinci

Painter, engineer, architect, scientist, inventor.

La festa del paradiso

Celebratory banquet/festival with lavish food, decor, and mechanical theater; embodied Renaissance ideals of pleasure, beauty, and learning.

The Columbian Exchange

Exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world; transformed diets globally.

Pellegrino Artusi

Pioneer of modern Italian cuisine.

Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating

Collected recipes for middle-class family cooks; connected modernity with health, education, and science.

Risorgimento

“Resurgence”; 19th-century movement leading to Italian unification and end of political fragmentation.

Carlo Collodi

Italian author and journalist.

Pinocchio

Story of a wooden puppet created by Geppetto; teaches honesty, hard work, responsibility.

Italian migration abroad

Large-scale migration (19th–20th c.); driven by search for better economic, social, and political opportunities.

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Author of the Futurist Manifesto.

La cucina futurista

Called for rejection of tradition; embraced technology, war, and innovation in food and culture.

La battiglia del grano

“The Grain Battle”; campaign to boost wheat production; reduced imports and boosted national pride.

Autarchia

Economic policy of self-sufficiency; aimed to make Italy independent of foreign imports.

Fernanda Momigliano

Jewish housewife from Milan.

Mangiare all’italiana

“Eating Italian”; middle-class cooking in a national model; included many Jewish recipes.

Impacts of the Economic Miracle

Italy became one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies; transformed from rural and poor to modern and industrial.

Role of cookbooks in Italian history

Cookbooks reflected shifts in society, diet, regional identity, and class; linked power, knowledge, and communication across time.