Thoughts on the Table Archives - Quatro Fromaggio and Other Disgraces on the Menu

[Episode 100] The Meta of Food – All About Food Besides Eating It!

Jason is back on the podcast for one last, final episode! Yes, Thoughts on the Table ends today as it hits its 100th episode with the biggest topic we could think of: the meta of food, i.e. anything that has to do with food besides the physical sensations of actually eating it. Join us in our journey through this fascinating subject as we touch on the concept of authenticity and on how culture influences our appreciation of flavor.

Conversely, in the second part of the episode, Jason and I discuss some cooking trends that affect the flavor of food. These include the tendency to finish cooking pasta in its sauce and to alter traditional recipes to make them visually pleasing for sharing on social media, more so than with our guests!

Special Thanks

I’d like to thank all of you who have been listening and the 65 amazing guests that I had the pleasure of interviewing and collaborating with. I’d like to make a special mention to those who have bought into the project and really helped drive it, starting with Jason, and including Gino De Blasio, Manu, Frank Fariello, Diana Zahuranec, Raffaella De Amici, Rick Zullo, David Scott Allen, Nick Zingale, Mark Preston, Simon Pagotto, Melinda King, Tina Prestia, Sim Salis, Eva, Diana Pinto – who also contributed to this last episode with her precious research and insight.

Episode References

72-Hour Beef Wellington, by Alvin Zhou
Angelina, Hackney
Double Dragon, Exmouth Market, by Scott Hallsworth
Shanghai Supper Club
Industrial tomato processing

Carbonaragate

Cookbooks

Marcella Cucina, by Marcella Hazan, William Morrow Cookbooks, 1997
Millericette, by Erina Gavotti, A.Vallardi, 1995
Mangiare e Bere all’Italiana, by Luigi Carnacina and Luigi Veronelli, Garzanti, 1962
Recipes and Memories, by Sophia Loren, GT Publishing Corporation, 2000
Le Quattro Stagioni in Cucina, by Lisa Biondi, AMZ Editrice, 1981

[Thoughts on the Table – 99] Taste and Flavor Flashbacks with Jason and Paolo

As Thoughts on the Table approaches 100 episodes, I chose to dedicate episode 99 to the series’ beginnings, dating back to August 2013. I was an avid podcast listener and, inspired by great productions like This American Life and Stuff You Should Know, I involved my friend and then-coworker, Jason, and branched off from my blog to try the more colloquial format of a podcast.

Today’s issue contains extracts from the first six episodes where Jason and I discuss taste and flavor, as well as cultural differences between Italy, North America, and Japan. Among other topics, we touched on why as an Italian I would never try to put salt on pasta, whether eating spicy food can damage our taste buds, the reason why desserts tend to end the meal, why many people learn to appreciate “spoiled” foods like Gorgonzola and Nattō, what exactly astringency is, and the path to appreciating subtle flavors. To wrap up the selection, I couldn’t help but include extracts from episode seven, a recording that took place right in the center of Milan on Jason’s impressions from visiting Italy for the first time.

After these seven episodes, Jason could no longer continue as a co-host. So I started looking for a new podcast partner by enlisting some of my dearest blogger friends as collaborators. This eventually gave me the idea to turn the podcast towards the format of the interview. I enjoyed it a lot. With practice, I learned to connect with my guests in a way that would capture their spontaneity in entertaining and informative chats, and I made many lasting connections as a result, for which I’m grateful. My guests included food bloggers, writers, cookbook authors, chefs, food professionals, food photographers, event organizers, cooking instructors, and fellow podcasters. Overall, in nearly nine years of activity, Thoughts on the Table saw a total of 65 collaborators for a combined playback time of 39 hours, 19 minutes, and 13 seconds.

[Thoughts on the Table – 98] Introducing Jasmina and Stefano from Bread and Spirits

Bread and Spirits is a successful Instagram project made of one measure food and two measures drinks that unites Italian cuisine and cocktails enthusiasts around the world.

Born out of the March 2020 lockdown from the combined talents of Jasmina and Stefano, Bread and Spirits is visually stunning, informative, entertaining, and very much unique. In this episode, I have the pleasure to record Jasmina and Stefano’s first audio interview and capture their incredible energy and passion for food & drinks, but also for human connections and communication.

You can connect with Jasmina and Stefano on Instagram: instagram.com/breadandspirits

The music in the episode is by www.purple-planet.com.

[Thoughts on the Table – 97] Cookbooks and the People They Were Written for, with Diana Pinto

Is a cookbook on a cuisine a mirror of what takes place in its people’s kitchens? Or does it reflect more the desires and needs of its intended audience? And if that’s the case, are these desires of a practical nature, or for something that people like to dream about? What is the relationship between cookbooks and the people they were written for?

These are some of the questions that Diana Pinto has been asking herself while going through lots of cookbooks as part of her “2-week cookbook project” – less-known cookbooks, cookbooks from the past, cookbooks written in Italian for Italians, cookbooks that were translated and adapted, and just plain out bad cookbooks as well!

Join us in our conversation and let us know your thoughts by adding your comments here or by connecting directly with Diana on Instagram.

To learn more about Diana Pinto, please check out her interview in Episode 92 – The Quest for Authentic & Original Recipes .

[Thoughts on the Table – 96] What makes a dish Italian? With Eva from Electric Blue Food

In this new episode of Thoughts on the Table, Eva from Electric Blue Food is back to help me break down a massive topic: What makes a dish Italian?

To non-Italians, Italian food may be what appears on the menus of Italian restaurants or anything tagged as Italian that goes viral on social networks, like Carbonara, Amatriciana, Neapolitan Pizza, egg-yolk ravioli. To the Italians, Italian food is what they naturally cook at home, and maybe the only thing they are able and equipped to cook. These are potentially two very different things!

With many cuisines, we see a set of iconic dishes that become famous around the world through some kind of selection (like Pad Thai, Chicken Vindaloo, Salmon Teriyaki). Despite helping to make those cuisines accessible to many, these dishes are really just a small sample of the foods originating in their native regions. Eva and I argue that the (often ill-formed) quest for “the original” or “the authentic” version of these recipes may contribute to weeding out all variations of those dishes except for their dominant ones. This is probably why abroad there tends to be only one kind of Tiramisu (the coffee/cocoa one), whereas in Italy important spin-offs happily co-exist.

Join us in this episode to hear more about the true cuisine of Italy by going over some unexpected Italian dishes, such as Mostarda, Bagna Cauda, Prosciutto and Cantaloupe, as well as evidence of many dishes sometimes labeled as “non-authentic” that are eaten daily all around the Peninsula, like Spaghetti alla Bolognese, Gnocchi al Pesto, Lasagne al Pesto, Carbonara with Pancetta, and Strawberry Tiramisu.

Finally, Eva describes her experience with the Polish cuisine of her grandmother and her encounter with Blueberry Pierogi, a sweet variation of the iconic potato dumpling that is equally unexpected outside of Poland.

You can learn more about Eva by visiting her website Electric Blue Food. You can also follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Please also check out Eva’s interview in episode 87!

[Thoughts on the Table – 93] Introducing Becca and Sarah from Unsavory Podcast

This episode’s guests are podcasters Becca and Sarah from Unsavory (formerly Dietetics After Dark), a highly trending podcast on food-related scandals, misconduct, fraud, and drama.

In the episode, we learn more about Becca and Sarah, how Unsavory came to be, and how it’s made behind the scenes.

You can find Unsavory anywhere you listen to podcasts and on unsavorypodcast.com. You can follow Becca and Sarah on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

[Thoughts on the Table – 92] The Quest for Authentic & Original Recipes, with Diana Pinto

Thoughts on the Table is back with a new guest, Diana Pinto, and a very special episode. As she describes it, Diana became interested in noting recipe variations across different cookbooks. Incidentally and unexpectedly, this brought her to challenge the concept of authenticity or at least the implication that there’s one true way to cook traditional Italian dishes, a claim that we see so frequently on social media and that risks having a deeply damaging effect.

Diana mentions several cookbooks and authors (though she doesn’t endorse them all necessarily!) Here is a written list for your reference, in order of “appearance”.

The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan
Anna del Conte
La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene by Pellegrino Artusi
Il Talismano della Felicita` by Ada Boni
Il Cucchiaio d’Argento / The Silver Spoon
Sauces and Shapes by Oretta Zanini de Vita
Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds by Oretta Zanini de Vita
The Italian Baker by Carol Field
Le Ricette Regionali Italiane by Anna Gosetti della Salda

During the show, we also mention bloggers Frank Fariello (Memorie di Angelina) and Tina Prestia (Tina’s Table) who were previous podcast guests and also touched on the theme of authenticity:

You can follow Diana Pinto on Instagram @cremafrangipane and on YouTube.

The music in the episode is by www.purple-planet.com.

[Thoughts on the Table – 90] Italian Words Gone Wrong – Mistakes on the Menu

This unusual episode is the audio version of the article Italian Words Gone Wrong – 6 Mistakes Native Italians Don’t Make.

Despite the broad title, the post focuses on the types of mistakes that are commonly found on the menus of Italian restaurants outside of Italy.

This spoken version of course adds the pronunciation of the Italian words used as examples. I hope this can be useful to some readers, rather than more confusing 🙂 Thanks for listening!

The music in the episode is by www.purple-planet.com.

[Thoughts on the Table – 89] Introducing Kristie Prada from Mammaprada

This episode’s guest is Kristie Prada, the author of Mammaprada – a blog on Italian travel, parenting, and raising bilingual children.

Join us in our chat to hear Kristie’s unique perspective on how much love and respect Italians have for their food, how much they honor even their humblest meals, and cherish the time spent with their families at the table.

In the second part of the episode, Kristie talks about the many challenges (and rewards) of raising her children while exposing them to both British and Italian cultures and languages.

You can follow Kristie Prada also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Addendum: Kristie just published an interview of Yours Truly! Please go check it out as I’m sure you’ll find her questions very interesting. Thanks Kristie for featuring me and my work here!