Pamela Sheldon Johns - Cucina Povera: Tuscan Peasant Cooking

F OOD M EMORIES OF THE C OBBLER OF M ONTEPULCIANO

S ince 2001, Virio Neri , the calzolaio (cobbler) of Montepulcian , has been part of our family in a case of mutual adoption. He not only fills the role of grandfather for my daughter, but he has also brought Italian culture to life for us in an intimate way, sharing personal stories and remembrances of his life in our small hill town. The smell of a ciambellone ) fresh from the oven can send him into a reverie about his mothers stufa economica, the wood stove that she rose early every day to light with twigs and hay and hard wood that Virio cut exactly to size for her.

Oh! The fava beans, fresh with a bit of marzolino [the first sheeps milk cheese of the season], the chestnuts, and the chickpeas! We survived on these. Do you know how many figs I ate? Sometimes my mother would put an almond or a walnut in a dried fig and warm it in the wood oven. Heaven.

The best , he continued, the very best, was the . We would dip some dry bread in broth, then put boiled cavolo nero [dinosaur or lacinato kale] on top, and a blessing of oil. W e d have that for dinner, and sometimes also for lunch. My mother would say, Corpo pieno, anima consolata , which means
If your stomach is full, your spirit will be calm .

Virio, now in his late seventies, practically swoons when he talks about this food. It makes you wonder about his exceptionally positive memories, because he grew up in a time of poverty and intense hunger. Perhaps desire made the food taste better. Perhaps those simple, pure flavors are harder to find now.

G OOD F OOD FOR H ARD T IMES

Italy, a country now recognized for its excellent food, has a disturbing history of malnutrition and hunger, mainly sustained by the now-abolished class and sharecropping system known as mezzadria . While the landowners consumed a greater variety of food and nourishing proteins, the working class subsisted on what they could glean from their meager rations and gather from the land.

From these hard times came recipes that have endured and have even become exalted. More than the recipes, la cucina povera , the cooking of the poo r, or peasant cookin g , is based on the philosophy of not wasting anything edible and using a variety of simple techniques to make every bite as tasty as possible. It is a cuisine of ingenious creativity in using next to nothing while maintaining a reverence for everything. This lifestyle is not limited to Italy, of course: It has touched every culture that has ever been affected by war, famine, poverty, or natural disaster.