Taste: My Life Through Food

This is the kind of cooking—“poor cooking”—that Tucci appears to admire most in his travels. The simplicity and authenticity of locally sourced, usually humble ingredients prepared without a lot of fuss define this food that derives from necessity. Tucci describes the “canon of Cucina Povera” as “[u]sing very few ingredients” to create a “rich and hearty dish” (132). Respect for seasonality and the freshness of ingredients is also key. When he discusses the variety of seafood stews across the continent, he describes them in relation to Cucina Povera: “For the most part, seafood stews were created by fishermen to make use of the less marketable bits of their catch or any good bits that went unsold” (235). Thus, it is also defined by sustainability and little to zero waste.

One of the most traditional celebrations within the Italian Catholic calendar, this feast on Christmas Eve is in keeping with the Catholic rule of no meat before a feast day. Seven itself is a symbolic number, biblically speaking, though Tucci admits, “no one is quite sure why there are seven, other than it is the most used number in the Bible” (100). This feast represents tradition for even a “very un-practicing” Catholic family like Tucci’s, and it symbolizes the pinnacle of holiday cooking: “Homemade food from recipes passed down over many generations was our daily fare, but during Christmas this practice was elevated to even greater traditional culinary heights” (100). The Feast of the Seven Fishes is one of the best representatives of the family archive that is the traditional feast and the handed-down recipe.

The one sauce that Tucci provides both a detailed history of and a recipe for, ragù is one of the most traditional sauces in Italian cuisine—so much so that bowdlerized versions of it bother Tucci to the point of correcting the record. He writes that “[t]oday, ragù alla Bolognese is traditionally eaten (‘traditionally eaten’ in Italy means that if you eat it any other way, you will probably end up on a watch list) with fresh pasta like tagliatelle or maybe, maybe fettucine” (67). This is in response to the pervasive use of spaghetti with Bolognese (or “spag bol” in the disdainful diminutive), which is unfaithful to the authentic version of this renowned dish. He does admit that “there are countless variations” before noting that the “truest ragù” derives from a nineteenth-century Italian cookbook that resides in most Italian homes “like a second Bible” (68). Thus, the discussion on ragù encapsulates Tucci’s obsession with authenticity.