Abstract
1. Introduction: An art that is becoming science
What was, once, considered to be an art was slowly becoming an object of scientific examination. Cooking like many other practical aspects of everyday life was changing and becoming modern. In the second part of the nineteenth century, science, medicine, technology and the idea of modernity became part of everyday culture and largely influenced the public imagination. In turn, the household became a place of experiments where it was possible to ‘practice’ and experience science. This was possible because of the increase in scientific and medical literacy across Europe and the rise of a new category: ‘the general public’. 1 A general public made predominantly of middle-class individuals, which found in popular science a series of useful and practical tools that directly influenced and actively changed their everyday life.
These useful and practical tools proved to be particularly effective in the kitchen. Here, the new science of hygiene helped individuals and families to benefit from a new culinary culture while also learning about medicine and science more broadly. The historian Massimo Montanari (2006: xi–xii) explains, in Food is Culture, the importance of considering food as a fundamental aspect of the cultural history of a nation. 2 This is particularly true for Italy where the history of food is intrinsically linked to the development of its culture, politics and economy after the unification (1861). But food is also a key aspect to consider in exploring the public dimension of science and medicine. After the unification, knowledge about food was used as a medical and communicative tool to improve/create a distinctively new Italian diet.
In this article, I will discuss how hygiene, science and the notion of modernity penetrated and shaped Italian recipes and food knowledge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. I will focus predominantly on one figure Pellegrino Artusi (1820–1911) who published in 1891 an extremely successful book about food, recipes and diet: La Scienza in Cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene (Figure 1, Artusi, 1908: front-page). In the volume, Artusi embraces the revolution brought by nineteenth century science to make the art of cooking an example of modern science. The first edition included 419 recipes and was a discreet success in the book market of the country. By the final edition published by Artusi in 1910, the number of recipes had grown to over 700 and the volume also included advice on various dietary requirements. 3
La Scienza in Cucina (1908): Front page
By looking at Artusi’s book we can tell three stories at once. First, there is a story about Italy and its unification. Second, there is a story about diet and how food knowledge was becoming more and more important for Italians. Third and finally, there is a story about science, medicine and public health where concepts like diet, food composition and health were beginning to be taken into account in the kitchen.
2. A recipe book for Italians: Cooking is becoming modern
In the nineteenth century, cooking like many other traditional practices was changing. As noted by historians, food has always been central to national identity (Capatti and Montanari, 2003a, 2003b; Scholliers, 2001; Sorcinelli, 1999). However, in Italy we cannot talk about national cuisine, or a proper culinary tradition, until the publication of La Scienza in Cucina. In 1891, for the first time we can really see how cooking was becoming Italian linguistically, traditionally and medically.
Both the national and linguistic dimension of Artusi’s work have already been explored by historians and Italian scholars (Callia, 2017; Cesaretti, 2013; Dalla Bona, 2013; Frosini and Montanari, 2012; Govi, 2012; Piacentini, 2016). However, little has been written about the scientific significance of the book and how Artusi’s work was part of an attempt to embrace and communicate scientific nationalism. My aim here is not just to tell a story that extends our understanding of how the practice of cooking became more modern. Rather, this article stresses the necessity to explore the political significance of the preparation of food and how the creation and communication of scientific knowledge about diet was intrinsically part of an attempt to bring the country together and to make Italians healthier. The question concerning food and health is significant in two different ways. First, it is a matter of production and access to fresh and healthy ingredients. These were key problems in nineteenth century Italy especially in the main rural areas. Second, the creation and communication of a new nationalised Italian diet contributed to spreading public health knowledge about the nutritional properties of different ingredients and how they could be combined in a healthy regime.
3. Food, disease and malnutrition in post-unified Italy
When Artusi’s book appeared, Italy had been in the grip of a nutritional crisis for at least two decades. After the unification, Italy was not an industrialised country like other European nations. Agriculture was the main source of employment of approximately three quarters of the population. Although attempts to modernise agriculture and food production were made by the scientist and Minister of Finance Quintino Sella, in the first decade after the unification, these proved to be not too effective (Farolfi and Fornasari, 2011: 13; Sella, 1877: 90–92). As observed by historians Fornasari and Farolfi, the agricultural crisis of the second part of the nineteenth century created huge economic problems that the government struggled to solve (Farolfi and Fornasari, 2011: 17–20). This had a clear impact on the production, distribution and access to food especially for the working classes. It follows that scarcity of food mixed with scientific/medical illiteracy and the general ignorance about the importance of a balanced diet made a large portion of the Italian population unhealthy.
In the 1870s, Luigi Tanari, a politician and agronomist from Bologna, conducted a small survey on the culinary tradition of his region. Tanari observed that, in rural areas, the diet was predominately made of ‘poor’ food. A traditional daily meal was largely made of bread, produced by the baking of various unrefined grains, and some vegetables or, not often, low quality cheese (Bairati and Scaraffia, 1988: 435–436). A general scarcity of any type of proteins on the table of the Italian working class was, as Tanari explained, the norm, excluding, of course, religious festivities like Christmas and Easter (Bairati and Scaraffia, 1988: 436).
Statistics are clear about the impact that poor diet had on the population’s health. Various articles published in the Royal Journal of Italian hygiene explain how endemic diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis and cretinism were spreading across the peninsula, and often enabled by general malnutrition. 4 In the year 1887 alone, a national report shows how the number of individuals dying of complications produced by malnutrition was around one-third of the yearly national deaths. 5 In all of this, a key problem was alcoholism. Especially among the working class it was common to integrate the daily calories of a very poor diet with wine. It was believed that a high consumption of wine was beneficial to the family finance as the average price of wine was lower compared to other more healthy ingredients. This is confirmed by Paolo Mantegazza (1874: 147) who noted, in the Elementi di Igiene, that the average consumption of wine in post-unified Italy was around 100–120 litres per head/year.
Another nutritional disease very common among Italians was pellagra. Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of vitamin B3 produced by the high consumption of corn and its by-products like the Italian traditional polenta. Pellagra was especially problematic in those areas like the Pianura Padana where corn production was at the centre of the local economy. In the second part of the nineteenth century, many physicians, including Luigi Sacchi and Cesare Lombroso, focused their attention on this disease to understand its origin and find a solution. 6 However, besides their personal endeavour, a proper state intervention aimed at changing the sanitary conditions of food and eating became necessary.
Agricultural production, food distribution and the general lack of knowledge about the importance of a healthy and balanced diet were key concerns of the Italian government. In 1877, the government issued a commission to look at the state of agriculture in the country. A President of the commission was appointed, the senator Stefano Jacini. The result of this survey was a 15-volume report, which, in respect to food, explains clearly how the Italian diet was something very different to what we know now. In particular, Jacini (1976) highlighted the very unhealthy living conditions of rural areas and stressed the necessity of a radical change in the relationship between Italians and food. Jacini (1976), described Italians living in rural areas by saying, ‘the general sanitary conditions are not satisfying: the air smells, the diet is not adequate and both their houses and clothes are dirty and generally unhealthy’ (p. 56). 7
This is the context in which we should discuss the work of Pellegrino Artusi. The importance of Artusi’s book for the Italian middle class is clearly explained by Carol Helstosky (2003) who writes ‘Artusi’s popularity among the fledgling middle class is not surprising: there were few cookbooks or domestic economy manuals available at the time and La scienza provided clear instructions in formal Italian, not local dialect’(p. 118). Helstosky is right in stressing the fundamental role of Artusi is transforming the language of food from regional to national. As historians have rightly observed, Artusi explained food to Italians while also contributing to the spread of the Italian language (Callia, 2017; Dalla Bona, 2013; Govi, 2012; Piacentini, 2016). However, the significance of Artusi’s work is much bigger.
4. A recipe for national identity: Science and politics in La Scienza in Cucina
The significance of Artusi’s book went far beyond teaching Italians how to cook. Artusi’s aim was to make cooking more scientific by embracing an experimental method. The Italian food expert crafted menus based on the equilibrium of various ingredients to satisfy both the palate and the needs of the body. In other words, La Scienza in Cucina made the practice of cooking a scientific experience for the Italian middle classes. Although originally aimed at a middle-class audience, La Scienza in Cucina became a mainstream book in any Italian kitchen in the first-half of the twentieth century. This is clear by simply looking at the number of sales: by 1912, Artusi’s book sold over 200,000 copies (Artusi, 1895: 7). This was an outstanding success considering the dimension of the Italian marketplace for popular science. 8
The use of science in the book, however, served a specific political purpose: the necessity to create a common culture for hygiene. In post-unified Italy, Artusi was, of course, not the only one to embrace the task of improving the hygienic condition of Italians. He was also one of many to use scientific nationalism to bring Italians together. Artusi’s book of recipes fits within the tradition of self-help/popular science books introduced in Italy by Mantegazza in 1865 with the series Almanacchi Igienico Popolari. 9 Like Mantegazza, Artusi strongly stressed the correlation between eating and politics although from a different perspective. 10 Unlike Mantegazza, Artusi did not want to make Italians ‘doctors at home’. Instead he wanted to show his fellow countrymen what a proper knowledge of food and recipes could do for their health. Indeed, Artusi saw Italians not as a political category but rather as a heterogeneous group of individuals with different languages, social statutes and culinary traditions which needed to be educated and guided in a common culinary culture. Only in this way, Artusi believed, Italians could be transformed into a healthy, well-nourished and more educated population. La Scienza in Cucina is, therefore, an example of culinary positivism and political activism. 11 This is clear from the three adjectives that describe the volume: ‘hygiene, economy and good taste’ (Figure 2, Artusi, 1895: front-page).
La Scienza in Cucina (1895): Front page
Several examples among the recipes selected by Artusi hit these political, economic and medical aims. Artusi is very keen to explain the importance of selecting fresh national ingredients, to eat seasonal products and to vary the types of proteins in the diet. At the very beginning of the book, the food connoisseur guides readers through the nutritional power of different proteins sources from game to fish; how the use of different medicinal plants is fundamental for cooking different types of meat and the importance of preparing a varied and well-balanced meal. For example, Artusi uses the ‘minestrone’ (vegetable soup), a traditional ‘poor’ dish especially common among the working classes, to stress how and why it is important to follow the current medical opinion about diet and to consume enough calories. Indeed, he explains that just eating ‘minestrone’ does not provide enough energy for the body. However, Artusi also explains that ‘minestrone’ is indicated for those with special dietary requirements or who simply would like to have a light dinner. Similarly in a section about eggs, Artusi provides some medical advice about digestion. Here, the author tells his readers about the work of the physiologist Maurizio Schiff (University of Florence), who explained: The white of the egg is more nutritious compared to the yolk, which is predominantly made of fats; cooked eggs are easier to digest compared to raw. This is because our stomach digests eggs in two passages instead of one: first the stomach has to coagulate them and, then, elaborate and absorb their nutritional powers. (Artusi, 1895: 86)
12
Beyond just food, Artusi also encouraged changes in housekeeping practices. He recommended, for instance, that the temperature of the house should always be kept above 12 degrees in the winter to help digestion; appropriate clothes should be worn and the house regularly cleaned, especially the kitchen. Using cooking and nutrition as entry points, Artusi tried to present in a clear and accessible way the importance of hygiene in the household. The second significant change Artusi proposed concerns the type of food available to Italians and the importance of changing their diet. Artusi stressed the need to move away from a diet predominately based on the consumption of wheat, corn and other cereals grown locally, to a more balanced, and healthy one, including aliments from around the entire new national territory. Looking through the various recipes presented in La Scienza in Cucina clearly shows how the author builds a national diet, which combines hygiene, nationalism and culinary expertise.
For the culinary expert it is important to eat seasonally fresh products but also to learn and embrace the national dimension of diet. By consulting Artusi’s manual, Italians learned that cooking an Italian dish meant reading part of the history of their unified nation. 13 In other words, the practice of preparing food was empowering nationalism by crossing and overcoming regional and class differences. From the first edition Artusi included menus designed to explain the seasonality of specific products or the traditional festivities of the country. For instance, the menus for the winter months (Figure 3, Artusi, 1895: 451), compared to the ones for the summer (Figure 4), do not include fresh fruit or vegetables and the proteins are often preserved (Artusi, 1895: 458).
La Scienza in Cucina (1895)
La Scienza in Cucina (1895)
These menus are cleverly designed to allow the cook to collect some of the main ingredients from his or her vegetable garden or to buy them in a local market. Here the importance of the locality and seasonality of the products; the need to balance the nutritional properties of various foods and the use of recipes exquisitely Italian made La Scienza in Cucina the most revolutionary, yet the traditional, culinary book of post-unified Italy.
In conclusion, we can fairly say that La Scienza in Cucina was a cultural, medical and political book. An example of how the creation of a social understanding of the science and culture of food was fundamental to start a revolution, aimed at changing the habit of Italians’ diet and health. In this respect, historians must see Artusi’s work as an example of how the communication of science often serves a political purpose. The practice of scientific communication, but also more broadly science itself, is, as Shapin (2010) suggests, ‘never pure’; it is always aimed towards a specific goal, social, cultural or political. In the case of La Scienza in Cucina, this goal was to bring Italians together, to make them better and healthier members of a new body politic. Artusi’s work fulfils the idea brought by modernity that politics and science should cooperate and overlap. In his endeavour to create a distinctly Italian culinary tradition, Artusi was both a communicator of science and a politician. He was the quintessential positivist.
In sum, La Scienza in Cucina largely contributed to the culinary tradition that made the Italian diet famous all around the world but, and more importantly, contributed to the spread of medical literacy among all Italians despite their class, status or wealth.