The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome is the first concise history of the food, gastronomy, and cuisine of Rome spanning from pre-Roman to modern times. It is a social history of the Eternal City seen through the lens of eating and feeding, as it advanced over the centuries in a city that fascinates like no other. The history of food in Rome unfolds as an engaging and enlightening narrative, recounting the human partnership with what was raised, picked, fished, caught, slaughtered, cooked, and served, as it was experienced and perceived along the continuum between excess and dearth by Romans and the many who passed through.
Like the city itself, Rome’s culinary history is multi-layered, both vertically and horizontally, from migrant shepherds to the senatorial aristocracy, from the papal court to the flow of pilgrims and Grand Tourists, from the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Italy to Fascism and the rise of the middle classes. The Eternal Table takes the reader on a culinary journey through the city streets, country kitchens, banquets, markets, festivals, osterias, and restaurants illuminating yet another facet of one of the most intriguing cities in the world.
The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome is the first concise history of the food, gastronomy, and cuisine of Rome spanning from pre-Roman to modern times. It is a social history of the Eternal City seen through the lens of eating and feeding, as it advanced over the centuries in a city that fascinates like no other. The history of food in Rome unfolds as an engaging and enlightening narrative, recounting the human partnership with what was raised, picked, fished, caught, slaughtered, cooked, and served, as it was experienced and perceived along the continuum between excess and dearth by Romans and the many who passed through.
Like the city itself, Rome’s culinary history is multi-layered, both vertically and horizontally, from migrant shepherds to the senatorial aristocracy, from the papal court to the flow of pilgrims and Grand Tourists, from the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Italy to Fascism and the rise of the middle classes. The Eternal Table takes the reader on a culinary journey through the city streets, country kitchens, banquets, markets, festivals, osterias, and restaurants illuminating yet another facet of one of the most intriguing cities in the world.
Chapter 1
The Roman Terrarium
Chapter 2
Quid Tum—Then What?
Chapter 3
Cooking from Books
Chapter 4
Mobility: The Ins and Outs
Chapter 5
Al Mercato—At the Marketplace
Chapter 6
Er da Magna'—Food: The Cucina Romanesca
Chapter 7
Eating and Drinking Out
Karima Moyer-Nocchi was born and raised in the US, immigrating to
the Italy in 1990. She is a professor at the University of Siena in
the Modern Languages department and lectures in Food Studies at the
University of Rome, Tor Vergata and the University of Oklahoma,
Arezzo. Her first book, Chewing the Fat – An Oral History of
Italian Foodways from Fascism to Dolce Vita, an exposé about the
mythologies regarding Italian food traditions was published in 2015
to critical acclaim. In the works is a cookbook of “assimilation
cuisine,” exploring her personal culinary experiences as a
permanent immigrant resident in Italy. She currently resides
in Umbria.
Giancarlo Rolandi is a native Roman, Vice President of Slow Food
Rome, and lectures in culinary history at the University of Rome.
He is the director of the award-winning film Così mangiavano, and
author of Hostaria cinema.
Only a handful of cities worldwide can lay claim to a food
tradition as long as Rome’s. Yet as Karima Moyer elegantly
demonstrates, while the table may have been near-eternal, the
vagaries of politics and war, religious belief and migration
brought one change after another to the food on that table. Like
the city itself, the food is a patchwork that combines the
startlingly new with pasts both gladly abandoned and fondly
remembered. Fascinating.
*Rachel Laudan, author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World
History*
Taking the stance that writing on Rome is often “prey to sentiment
and idealization,” the author adopts a studied approach, including
thorough chapters on the area’s terrain, historic marketplaces and
osterias, and the development of foodstuffs and eating traditions
alongside the rise and fall of the Empire. . . . Rome enthusiasts
will revel in this well-researched retrospective of a dynamic,
ever-evolving city.”
*Publishers Weekly*
While everyone knows that Rome’s food is appealing, few know just
how interesting it is - but now they can. Karima Moyer-Nocchi’s
tour de force places Roman cuisine firmly in the city’s complex
history. She shows that change as much as tradition underlies Roman
food, and that immigrants as much as natives have shaped what has
been eaten by the humble and the grand alike. A must-read for those
interested in the food of Italy and the history of food
generally.
*Andrew McGowan, Dean of the Berkley Divinity School, Yale
University, author of Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early
Christian Ritual Meals*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
