"Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, under the banner of story, art and folklore, the Roman publishing house Newton Compton published a series of 27 books about regional Italian cooking. Some, such as Jeanne Carola Francesconi's epic 1965 La Cucina Napoletana, were reprints of established books, while others were specially commissioned for the series. There is considerable variation; some of the 20 regions occupy 650 densely filled pages, sometimes spread over two volumes, while other regions have 236 pages with larger fonts,"
"Take pasta e fagioli, for which beans are boiled in water with fat, maybe fragrant herbs and vegetables, then pasta is added for a dense dish that probably needs a spoon. Almost all regions (and towns and individuals) have a version that is both extremely general, and specific white beans, potato, no rosemary in Lazio, say; lardo, sage and plenty of rosemary in Piedmont; nutmeg, bread and pasta in Liguria; lardo, marjoram, tomato and chilli in Abruzzo inviting a sort and pick and mix."
Between the 1990s and early 2000s, Newton Compton published 27 books on regional Italian cooking, varying widely in scale and presentation. Some volumes were reprints of classic works while others were newly commissioned. Book lengths range from compact guides to multi-volume region-spanning tomes, reflecting diverse culinary habits, rituals and ingredient stories. Common traditions persist across regions, exemplified by pasta e fagioli, which features boiled beans, fat, herbs and pasta but changes in bean type, seasonings and additional ingredients by locality. Cooking is portrayed as living and evolving, balancing custodianship of tradition with intelligent, creative reinterpretation, including cross-cultural inspirations.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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