Articles by: Natasha Lardera

Approved on March 25 1995, the Italian Law 109/96 provided the allocation of goods, land and properties of illicit origin to all those, such as associations and co-operatives, able to return them to needy citizens, through services and socio economic activities. Ten years later, 2500 out of a total of 6500 have been allocated…
 

But let’s move back in time and explain from the beginning – the association Libera, founded to support civil societies against all mafias and committed in the creation of an alternative community by Don Ciotti, together with many relatives of Mafia victims collected over a million signatures for the approval of a law introducing the possibility to re-use the land confiscated from the mafia for social advantage. The chance of getting back what had been stolen from them represents to these people the actual possibility to create a different future

for their children, in their own territory, a future free from the culture of violence and corruption.
 

Another stepping stone was 2001, when in Sicily,  some of these lands were given, with a free loan,

to social co-operatives of type B (social groups that bring together permanent workers and previously unemployed people who wish to integrate into the labor market), who started producing pasta, olive oil, wine, honey, legumes and cereals following organic farming methods.
 

The first one was the Cooperativa Placido Rizzotto – Libera Terra in Sicily that brought back to life, after years of neglect, lands in the corleonese area. Rightly so, others followed in Sicily and later in Calabria and Puglia. All products, environmentally sustainable and made in the respect of the traditions of their territory of origin, are then put on the market under the Terra Libera label represented by Italy’s leading organic food company, Alce Nero.
 

But is this dangerous at all? Silvia Forte, representative of the company at the latest Fancy Food Show in New York, replied – “Yes, despite all they still get threats. I have spoken with many of these guys working the fields and the stories are endless. Machines are stolen, lands are set on fire…I was talking to one worker from Sicily who told me that in order to see what was happening at night he started sleeping in his car, parked by the field…every morning he would then find a single bullet on top of the car. At first he didn’t react but collected all the bullets. Later he made a necklace out of these bullets and started walking around town wearing it, just to show that he was not intimidated.” 
 

And business continues no matter what, so much that new products are regularly been added to the line., including delicious, high-quality wines. Centopassi, for example, is the name of the Sicilian line, dedicated to special fighters such as Peppino Impastato, Niccolo Azoti and Pio La Torre. “We have promised,” the company’s reps say, “One more step towards a higher quality level, achieved through the selection of the best grapes of our Nero d’Avola, as well as Catarratto and Grillo, the noblest white grape varieties of our land.” 

“This is a special project,” Silvia Forte continues, “We hope it will continue to grow and that the deserted lands of other regions will finally be fruitful again.”

Never as in the last few years, everything that orbits around food has been so trendy. A now-fashionable style of cooking, popularized by master chefs Mario Batali and Cesare Casella, is La Cucina Povera. Literally this Italian expression means "cooking of the poor," or "peasant cooking," and on a deeper level it reflects a philosophy that is common in all cultures: making do with what you have to transform humble ingredients into dishes that are not only good but absolutely exquisite.

The spirit of La Cucina Povera is about embracing constraints and discovering the delicious creativity that can arise from making do with what you have in the kitchen. Have you ever been to an upscale Italian restaurant and seen panzanella on the menu? Well, in case you didn’t know this nicely styled but rustic salad made with stale, old bread, red onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers is a staple of Tuscan and Umbrian peasant cooking. We can say the same about caponata, the delicious Sicilian eggplant-based salad.

Executive Chef Cesare Casella may live and work in the most cutting-edge and cosmopolitan city on earth, but at heart, and on his menu, he has never left behind the bucolic Tuscan countryside of his youth (indeed the Dean of The Italian Culinary Academy at The International Culinary Center in New York City is originally from Lucca). At his trendy yet rustic restaurant Maremma, Chef Cesare introduces his customers to his self-described "Free Range Tuscan Country Cooking." If that means serving prosciutto bianco (house-cured lard with rosemary and grilled bread), farrotto (Lucchese grain cooked risotto-style) and Tuscan "cowboy style" spare ribs, slow-cooked with tomatoes, garlic, and giant spagna beans, who are we to complain?

His mentors being his mother for her natural cooking talent and his father for his never-ending search for the best available products, Casella is a fanatic about the quality of the products he serves.

Beans are his favorite food and he has 19 Italian heirloom varieties grown especially for him on a farm in the state of New York. He is determined to get Americans on a bean craze, and may already have a few converts. He founded “The Bean Republic," a charitable organization where he produces and sells beans, vegetables, grain and Italian spices — all organically grown.

At his Roman-style trattoria Lupa, Mario Batali serves trippa alla romana (tripe with vegetables), bavette cacio & pepe (pasta with pecorino cheese and pepper) and spaghetti aglio & olio (pasta with oil and garlic), simple pasta dishes that are simple and simply of the highest quality at a moderate price. Pasta cacio & pepe is an old Roman recipe in the tradition of la cucina povera that has always been a favorite of the poor and rich alike. It is incredibly simple and quick to prepare, but its success relies on having good-quality Pecorino Romano, pasta, and fragrant peppercorns. At Babbo, Batali’s critically acclaimed West Village restaurant, Batali pampers diners with comfortable rustic Italian cooking at its best, at the same time daring them to savor some very unusual tastes…tripe, lamb's tongue, beef cheeks, crushed squab

livers, and stinging nettles. "No matter how it's cooked, tripe is an ordinary dish," wrote Pellegrino Artusi, the author of "The Art of Eating Well", a little more than a century ago. A bon vivant and a celebrated host, Artusi thought of tripe was something fit for a family meal, not the sort of dish one would offer guests. Many of his contemporaries (we are at the end of the 1800s) saw it in a considerably different light; it was cheap enough that almost anyone could afford to buy it.

In La Cucina Povera the cooking techniques are simple, the ingredients seasonal and at their best. “These chefs are keeping tradition alive,” says culinary instructor and culinary tour creator Renee Restivo, “and this is just amazing. Nowadays younger chefs go towards a more modern and inventive approach, often disregarding rustic tradition. I think it has to do with the definition of being a chef, as people feel that in order to stand out professionally they need to do something different. Fortunately there is this trend to help simple cooking be validated again and for that we must thank

movements like Slow Food.” In her tours to Sicily, Renee introduces people to the cooking of the peasants and home cooks during authentic meals in private homes and in her favorite restaurants. “Sicily is such a hot region for chefs right now,” she says, “that top culinary schools in the U.S. have chosen it for chef’s educational journeys.”

There are restaurants however that try to put humble food on the menu but for them it doesn’t work, why? “It’s a bit of a challenge, and education is key,” continues Renee. And that’s what chefs like Batali and Casella are doing…food lovers are slowly coming around. Slow Food’s motto is “Take it slow. Living the slow life with food, as the focus is as rewarding as it is easy. Everyday can be enriched by doing something slow.”

The singer and songwriter has personally chosen the songs, whose original releases span is from 1986 to the present, and some feature stellar guest performances from artists such Luciano Pavarotti, Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, and Vanessa Carlton.

All the Best includes a 1995 version of Senza una Donna, the track that brought him international fame when he recorded it in 1990 with Paul Young, Baila, Il Volo, and other successes. The new tracks are Wonderful Life, a cover of the 1980s hit by the British band Black, as well as I Won’t Let you Down, and You Are so Beautiful.


In a recent interview Zucchero confided that he was proud of the close bonds he’s formed with English-speaking artists such as Eric Clapton, Bono, ray Charles, and Miles Davis. “It’s not easy,” ha has said, “for a continental European artist to get the respect from an English or American artist. I think it’s different for me because my music is a little bit different. I have a lot of influences coming from the blues, soul, gospel, and Italian melodies. It’s a mixture of things they find interesting.”

How did Zucchero get to collaborate with so many international stars? The story is that in 1988 Davis stopped in Italy on a world tour and was very impressed when he heard his song Dune Mosse, which was a radio hit at the time. The obvious blues influences that Zucchero unabashedly with romantic, Italian melodies appealed to Davis so much that he proposed that they record Dune Mosse together in New York.
Ali D’Oro, recorded in 2001, also features another great American musician, John Lee Hooker, in the last recording of his career.


Back in Italy, one of Zucchero’s longtime collaborators was Luciano Pavarotti. The pair first recorded a track together in 1992, Miserere, and then started working together on annual charity events for over twenty years involving their many friends from the worlds of classical and pop music. “He left a great void in my life,” Zucchero has said.


There is an American tour planned for the fall of 2008, and we are sure he is going to woo the local audiences. “Americans are more open to Italian music now…and we are trying to do our best…” this is his promise.

“E balla il cha cha della medusa

chi l’ha provato piú non riposa

ballalo subito non hai una scusa

se non lo balli saró scontrosa…”


(LYRICS from Capossela’s song Medusa Cha Cha Cha)


Mythology was in the air at Vinicio Capossela’s concert a few nights ago.

That doesn’t really happen at Webster Hall, location of the fifth edition of Global Fest. Sure many international artists grace its stages but none is like Capossela.

Not to belittle anyone, but that’s the way it is.


“Twelve artists, three stages,” this is the motto of the New York-based event that every year welcomes major representatives of world music in search of business on the American market. Sure, the different performances can overlap, but who’s there to work needs to have a chance to sample as many artists as possible, thus needs to be able to move from one room to another easily. Those there just for fun can freely do the same or just stay for an entire set.


There really is something for every taste: in the first couple of hours I moved from the jovial mood of Chango Spasiuk, Argentine artist who experiments with traditional music from the north-eastern corner of his country, to an even more folkloristic ambiance created by the Korean group Dulsori, the 99% female ensemble plays with amazing percussions, to the circus of Vinicio Capossela. I, among others, was simply mesmerized.


Ironic, sentimental, audacious, and eclectic, Vinicio Capossela is an artist who started at the bottom doing the most disparate jobs just to be in the music business. Now he is one of the strongest representatives of Italian contemporary music and the shining star of an entire generation. His most evident music influences are Tom Waits and his blues, along with Paolo Conte and his chansons.


His musical repertoire mixes together aspects of Brecht’s theater, cinema (his song Zampanò is inspired by Fellini’s film La Strada), traditional Mediterranean tunes, literary works (Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose is responsible for the song Con una Rosa), pantomime and Greek mythology (a portrait of Medusa the character of Vinicio’s song Medusa Cha Cha Cha was actually admired by the singer at a German friend’s art show. He was thrilled by the image he saw but also by the painter’s theory on the snake-haired monster).


At the circus of Mastro Vinicio the singer is the protagonist of many little scenes where the alternating of masks and costumes leaves the public wondering what song he’s going to do next but also what cool outfit he’s going to wear for us. “New York is great for shopping,” Vinicio tells the microphone as he puts on a pink jacket with black furry lapels. Indeed I happen to know from secret sources, secret but safe, that right before the concert he was out shopping in the East Village, haven of second hand stores.

The mostly all-Italian audience welcomed numerous Americans who were completely unaware of what was going on. Right in front of me two guys from Brooklyn were mesmerized. Capossela had just put on a wooden mask representing a bull and they were smirking but enjoying what they were seeing. They couldn’t walk away. But they were dancing, overcome by the Ballo di San Vito, even though they didn’t know what it was.


“This is pure entertainment,” Matt Du Verger, one of the two, says to me, “Even though I have no idea of what he’s saying, I got the idea that it’s something important but said differently. Max, his friend, continues, “The program says that there’s a sense of desolation in his songs but delight as well, I just think it’s cool. Look at the people, they are in awe. It’s like being at a bacchanal.”


All this enthusiasm was cut short by the time limitations of the event, sets are indeed supposed to last 45 minutes. But the production allowed an encore despite the numerous requests to leave the stage that needed to be prepped for the following artist.


But for Mastro Vinicio they can do this and much more…