ICAP is pleased to announce a new publication titled, Italian Foodways Worldwide: The Dispersal of Italian Cuisine(s)(Soleil Publishing, 2020), co-edited by Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano who currently serves as Vice President of ICAP and the late Gabriele Scardellato, outgoing holder of The Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian-Canadian Studies and ICAP’s mastermind organizer at its inception in 2010.
“The important observation that ‘we are what we eat’ has profound implications for cultural identity not only for countries of immigration, where diverse foodways come into contact, but also for those from where the exported foodways originate,” said Iannacito-Provenzano.
In this light, the volume brings together scholarly papers on a variety of topics related to the culture and representation of Italian cuisine, ranging from menus and feasts in Toronto from the Fascist period, Italian foodways in Britain during the Second World War, Italian cookbooks, the Catelli Pasta Company, menus from Italian restaurants in Tokyo, Italian food branding in North America, the Mediterranean diet, foodways and film, food, immigration and ethnic identity in Ontario and Argentina, the first Italian restaurant in Calgary and the history of the famous Vesuvio restaurant in Toronto.
“In their global dispersal, both before and after unification, Italians may have carried with them only a memory of a cuisine but, wherever they settled, enclaves or Little Italies were established and efforts to recreate the memory began,” explained Scardellato. “That re-creation, however, always happened in the presence of other cultures and other foodstuffs. At the same time, the culture(s) of origin were far from static with regard to so-called ‘traditional’ cuisine.”
Iannacito-Provenzano and Scardellato acknowledged the support of York University’s Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian-Canadian Studies in making this project possible.
Those interested in more information and purchasing options can email Dr. Iannacito-Provenzano at roberta@ryerson.ca.
Carrie-Ann Smith est titulaire d’une maîtrise en bibliothéconomie et sciences de l’information de l’Université Dalhousie à Halifax. Elle est devenue membre de la Pier 21 Society à l’été 1998 et occupe actuellement le poste de Device-President, Public Engagement Officer au Musée canadien de l’immigration du Quai 21. Mme Smith (ne vous fiez pas à son nom de famille) est un descendant de Federico et Mabli Artuso de San Martino di Lupari; elle a écrit une histoire sur sa vie de jeune italo-canadienne grandissant à Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, paru dans Mamma Mia: Good Italian Girls Talk Back (ECW Press). L’objectif de Mme Smith de travailler au Musée, qui est d’aider à recueillir, préserver et faire connaître les souvenirs des immigrants qui sont venus au Canada, la motive également à contribuer au travail de l’ICAP.
Sandra Parmegiani enseigne les études italiennes et européennes à l’Université de Guelph et a été présidente de la Société canadienne d’études italiennes (juin 2014 à juin 2017). Dans le passé, elle a enseigné la littérature et la langue italiennes au Trinity College de Dublin (Irlande) et à l’Université de Western Ontario. Ses recherches portent sur la littérature et la culture italiennes du XVIIIe siècle et de la période contemporaine. Depuis 2013, grâce à une bourse obtenue de Mitacs, elle encadre des travaux postdoctoraux sur la cartographie des ressources culturelles immatérielles par l’analyse de la culture de la lecture.
