I just finished reading this book by an Italian author and large parts of it
were about food (stereotype: Italians love food and eating) and about how
there is so much tradition around certain dishes which have been cooked the
exact same way for generations and generations. These four ingredients, cooked
in this such and such way, and that is the definition of this dish and if you
deviate from the recipe then you are doing it wrong.
And the author went on to talk about "rebels". (It was in fact the central
theme and main topic of the book: rebellion.) and they made frequent reference
to a rebel chef who was a scandal and the talk of the town for modifying these
recipes.
Simple stuff. Like there's this dish that consists of pasta, cheese, salt, and
pepper. and that's it. and this chef was like, hold my Italian soda. And he
created a dish that was salt, pepper, RISOTTO, and a DIFFERENT KIND of cheese.
and it was a sensation.
When I try to imagine something like that happening here in the states, I
picture somebody trying to deepfry something in PEANUT oil instead of canola
oil.
Which may be unfair. Certainly there are regional cuisines. I know this to be
true as a Southerner with a healty appetite for soul food, bbq, garden
vegetables, cornbread, etc.
If I were to subvert and rebel against Southern food, I would open up a
totally vegan bbq house. And then promptly go out of business because
Southerners simply have no interest in not eating meat.
