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Reed Hutchinson UCLA Photographic
Services
Professor Luigi Ballerini can’t cook, but his books
do.
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Food For Thought
Poet revives classic cookery
BY Meg Sullivan
UCLA Today
Everybody knows that Marco Polo brought spaghetti back to Italy
from China, right?
“A total fallacy,” insists Luigi Ballerini, a professor
of Italian. “Dry pasta was invented in Sicily by the Arabs
in the 12th century. Fresh pasta has been done since Day One.”
Such tidbits of culinary wisdom are making a rising star of the
quick-witted poet who contributes to the snooty food journal Gastronomica
and who has had two cookbooks published in the past 18 months.
“He is, without a doubt, the most important Italian food
historian in America,” said Jeremy Parzen, a New York-based
food writer.
The Milan native maintains he would much rather be known for his
eight volumes of Italian poetry than for pushing 500-year-old recipes
for eel torte or kid with garlic — some of the delectables
in his latest book, “The Art of Cooking: The First Modern
Cookery Book” (University of California Press).
But some have culinary greatness thrust upon them. In 2002, the
prominent Italian publishing house Tommasi Editori hired Ballerini
to develop a series of books in Italian dedicated to historic gastronomy.
For the next and seventh volume of “Cum grano salis”
(“With A Grain of Salt”), Ballerini has enlisted UCLA
Professor of French Jean-Claude Carron to tackle the early 17th-century
classic “Le Cuisinier Francois,” considered the cornerstone
of French cuisine.
Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also recruited Ballerini
and Italian Department Chairman Massimo Ciavolella to develop a
series of English translations of classic Italian texts. The first
title, an unabridged English translation of Pellegrino Artusi’s
1891 classic “Scienza in cucina,” rolled off the presses
in 2003 with an introduction by Ballerini. Sometimes described as
“the cookbook that united Italy,” the 653-page behemoth
is recognized as the first Italian cookbook — in the sense
that it was the first to assemble recipes from all regions of the
newly unified country. Unabashedly patriotic, “Artusi”
— as Italian homemakers call it to this day — reclaims
Italian cooking traditions that had long been assumed to be French.
Last month, the University of California Press released yet another
historical cookbook edited by Ballerini. “The Art of Cooking”
presents 50 recipes written in the late 15th century by Maestro
Martino, who has been called the first celebrity chef. The private
chef of a prominent cardinal and gourmet, Martino distinguished
himself by creating sumptuous, convivial dinners for small groups
of people at a time when showy banquets prevailed.
“This is the first evidence we have of the dinner party,”
Ballerini said. Martino’s “De arte coquinaria”
(The Art of Cooking) was disseminated throughout Europe —
albeit under the name of another author — as the first mechanically
reproduced cookbook.
Ironically, Ballerini insists he can only cook eggs, but non c’è
problema! Salvatore Marino, the chef at Santa Monica’s Il
Grano, will tackle classic Martino concoctions for a special prix
fixe dinner on Feb. 22. Cost is $75 to the public, $50 to UCLA staff
and faculty. Also, the BookZone in the UCLA Store is planning a
smaller-scale signing/dining for March 10 at noon.
Buon appetito!
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