Synopses & Reviews
Best Food Book of 2014 by The Atlantic
Looking at the historic Italian American community of East Harlem in the 1920s and 30s, Simone Cinotto recreates the bustling world of Italian life in New York City and demonstrates how food was at the center of the lives of immigrants and their children. From generational conflicts resolved around the family table to a vibrant food-based economy of ethnic producers, importers, and restaurateurs, food was essential to the creation of an Italian American identity. Italian American foods offered not only sustenance but also powerful narratives of community and difference, tradition and innovation as immigrants made their way through a city divided by class conflict, ethnic hostility, and racialized inequalities.and#160;Drawing on a vast array of resources including fascinating, rarely explored primary documents and fresh approaches in the study of consumer culture, Cinotto argues that Italian immigrants created a distinctive culture of food as a symbolic response to the needs of immigrant life, from the struggle for personal and group identity to the pursuit of social and economic power. Adding a transnational dimension to the study of Italian American foodways, Cinotto recasts Italian American food culture as an American andquot;inventionandquot; resonant with traces of tradition.
Review
andquot;Full of rich analysis and insights, this first book-length scholarly study of Italian immigrant foodways in the United States offers an explanation for why and how food became so closely attached to the creation of Italian American ethnic identities. A convincing and significant contribution.andquot;
--Donna Gabaccia, coeditor of American Dreaming, Global Realities: Rethinking U.S. Immigration History
Review
"Insightful, pathbreaking research. . . . a new perspective on the linkage between food and family. Recommended."--Choice
Review
andquot;Written with passion and clarity,
The Italian American Table represents a stunning achievement.and#160; While tackling an irresistible topic--the meaning of food in the lives of Italian immigrants and their children--Simone Cinotto has managed to write a book that should please a wide range of interdisciplinary scholars and readers.andquot;--
The Journal of American History and#160;
andquot;Interesting insight on the culinary history of the Italian diaspora. The book introduces wider reflections on the role of food production, preparation, and consumption in immigrant communities, a theme that is as urgent today as it was in the past century.andquot;--Gastronomica
About the Author
Simone Cinotto teaches history at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy, where he is the director of the Master's Program in Food Culture and Communications: Food, Place, and Identity. He is the author of
Soft Soil, Black Grapes: The Birth of Italian Winemaking in California.