The Italian Culinary Aesthetic

[slkinsey]

Many of us have our own ideas about this, and it's been discussed here at some length... but I'd be curious to hear whatever thoughts you might have about what makes Italian food Italian beyond just the ingredients. I've always felt that your restaurants did not attempt to slavishly duplicate Italian dishes and flavors, and yet were very much Italian in spirit... almost as though you were treating New York City, its culture and available ingredients as just another region of Italy -- creating dishes that would seem "Italian" to any Italian (in contrast to most Italian-American cooking) and yet was distinctly New York as well. What is it about the Italian culinary philosophy/aesthetic that makes this possible, and how do you reflect this in your approach to cooking?

[Mario Batali]

i think that the most essential component to true italian cooking is its confidence in whatever product it may be whether it is an anchovy from ischia or a spot prawn from santa barbara the issue is not the actual ingredients provenance, but its exaltation, it ultimate saturation of flavor and locale... it existential expression of its place, its own food, its own air its true individuality unobfuscated by chef ego, or crappy oil or mere table salt... the problem in europe in the last 20 years and in america for the last 40 is that the greatest restaurants were always perceived to need to serve the greatest ingredients ie scottish salmon, iranian/rusian caviar, maine or breton lobster, foie gras from the sw france blah blah blah...what that reinforced was a homogenization of the food across the lands the true future both in italy and the rest of the world is the celebration of the exquisiteness of the local and supreme...king salmon and olympia oyster in washington striped bass and montauk lobsters in southhampton, whitefish and teal in northrn indiana and mussels and hot peppers in puglia, or tiny soft shell crabs, sole and little shrimp called schie in the venetian lagoon, or choucroute in alscace the essential aesthetic fo italina food is to appreciate and celebrate these things... the italians just do it better because of their penchant for ligthness in texture and flavor... i may be rambling here but the true itlian spirit is to serve the main flavor as its own self, its own mantra, without apology or even explanation hmm???? of course the pasta course becomes that to the nth degree oil, garlic, chili flakes and a touch of bread crumbs and the world parla italiano no?? mb