Edibles & Potables: The “pizza effect”; Alberto Grandi; and debunking Italian culinary myths
Almost no one agrees when it comes to chatting about food.
However, just about everyone agrees that the stromboli was not invented in Italy, but at a restaurant near Philly.
Meanwhile in Pennsylvania explains.
The stromboli wasn’t born in Italy. It was born in Pennsylvania. Specifically, in 1950 at Romano’s Italian Restaurant in Essington, just outside Philadelphia, where Italian-American cooks did what Pennsylvania always does best. They took something good and made it bigger, heavier, and more practical. Instead of delicate layers, they rolled meats, cheese, and dough into one solid, portable unit that could survive a lunch break, a construction site, or a high school football game.
The stromboli became a Pennsylvania staple because it fits the culture perfectly. No nonsense. Filling. Built to last. And from there, evolution was inevitable. Eventually someone looked at that beautiful roll of carbs and thought, “What if the outside was a pretzel?” The pretzel-boli is exactly what it sounds like. That same molten core of meat and cheese, wrapped in soft pretzel dough with that dark crust and salt that makes everything better. If you ever see one on a Pennsylvania menu, order it. Immediately. It’s the natural progression of two of the Commonwealth’s greatest inventions combining forces.
The pretzel-boli is a clever culinary adaptation, which brings me to Alberto Grandi, the delightful shredder of myths who previously was mentioned in this space (see link above). Recently at The Guardian, Grandi discussed Italy’s ascension to the UNESCO intangible heritage list by reason of national cuisine.
It isn’t a shock to find Grandi unconvinced.
The strength of Italian cuisine has never rested on an ancient, coherent culinary canon. Most of what passes for ancient “regional tradition” was assembled in the late 20th century, largely for tourism and domestic reassurance. The real history of Italian food is turbulent: a saga of hunger, improvisation, migration, industrialisation and sheer survival instinct. It is not a serene lineage of grandmothers, sunlit tables and recipes carved in marble. It is closer to a national long-distance sprint from starvation – not quite the imagery Italy...Read more
