Italian cuisine abroad

There certain Italians who for many years have worked abroad with great commitment to spread the culture of Italian food and wine. But where were (and are) the institutions?

Many food and wine lovers know perfectly well who Bottura, Romito and Cannavacciuolo are. Fewer know the name Piero Selvaggio or knew who were Tony May or Marcella Hazan, all of whom for decades made Italian cuisine known in the United States. This came to mind a few days in Los Angeles when I was at Piero’s restaurant, Valentino in Santa Monica, which will probably close in a few months after more than 40 years. In the US this is almost a record given the life expectancy of a restaurant there is generally much shorter. But it is also a sign that many of those who from the 1970s onwards created a positive image for Italia cuisine and wine are now slowly disappearing.  Piero Selvaggio will probably open up elsewhere, maybe in Orange County, but the fact is there will no longer be an authentic institution like Valentino to offer fine food and, above all, a wine list that was for the most part composed of Italian wines of extraordinary interest.

I also thought about how Tony May’s San Domenico closed its doors some years ago and that Marcella Hazan, an exceptional author of Italian cookbooks in America, passed away five years ago without anyone in Italy of any official capacity bothering to remember who she was and what she did. Today there is actually a Ministry for protecting and promoting Italian goods and services and it is my hope that they will recognize the merits of those who with great efficiency have promoted Italian culture abroad, which in large part involves food.

Italian cuisine became popular in the US thanks to people like Selvaggio, May and Hazan and there are people of equal importance doing the same in other countries. Many of them are also producers of wine, pasta, cheese, coffee, olive oil and pastry.

Despite the personal efforts made that often went far beyond economic gain, there has almost always been a disturbing indifference on the part of Italy’s institutions. There have been some sporadic exceptions, also thanks to personal initiatives, likeCiao Italia by the Christian Democrat MP Bartolo Ciccardini over 30 years ago. However, the fact remains that no important politician has ever bothered to support those who have spent their lives spreading the culture of Italia food and wine abroad. All they do is talk, using big words like “excellence”, a rhetorical and generic term, which vanish into thin air as soon as they are pronounced.