Revolution in the Italian Kitchen Marinetti, Futurism and Avant-garde cuisine Lunch-time talk, Clare Hall, Cambridge (UK), 29.1.2009 Marja Härmänmaa, University of Helsinki, Finland
Futurism: the centenary The Futurist manifesto the 20th of February, 1909 Writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) Artistic and literary movement One of the so-called historical Avant-garde movements (Cubism and Surrealism) Glorification of technology and future Rejection of past, history, traditions
”arte – vita” / ”art – life” Introduction of everyday life in arts Arts in direct contact with life Arts must be comprehensible to a wider public End of the intellectual in the ”ivory – tower” Socially and politically engaged artists and intellectuals
Extra-artistic activity Simultaneous sports Politics Political manifesto in 1913 Political party in 1918 Participation to the foundation of the Fascist movement in 1919
…and food!
Marinetti and eating First a metaphor of conquest
A play Re Baldoria (King Guzzle, 1910) People eat the king = revolution They vomit him = birth of a new society
Parody of romantic metaphor of ”drinking” = enjoying Eating becomes a new form of art
Eating as an artistic manifestation In 1910 in Trieste the Futurists enjoy the first reversed dinner starting with the dessert and ending up with appetizers In 1930 in Milan the restaurant ”La Penna d’Oca” (Goose’s feather) offers the first Futurist dinner In 1930 the manifesto of Futurist cuisine In 1931 in Turin, the Futurist restaurant ”La Taverna Santopalato” (The Tavern of Holy Palate) In 1932 The Futurist Cookbook
The Tavern of Holy Palate Parody of the Lateran pact between Mussolini and the pope Pius XI (1929) A place for artistic manifestations, exhibitions, poetry reading ect. Decorated by an architect Nicolai Diulgheroff and a painter Fillìa Interior: a box covered by aluminium
The Tavern of Holy Palate
The Futurist cuisine in the world during the 1930s
Conferences about the Futurist cuisine and Futurist dinners in many cities in Italy and abroad (Paris, Tunisi, Budapest, Sofia, Istanbul…) At the Fascist culture institute in Brescia and in Cremona Newspapers articles about the Futurist cuisine in Sweden
The different meanings of the Futurist cuisine Artistic manifestation: ”the best artistic joke of the century”
Political dimension: promotion of national products skeptisism towards the international situation
Social dimension: healthy diet
The Europe of the 1930s Healthy citizens for the new mass society: Prohibition laws Sports
Growing nationalism -> WW II The League of the Nations issued sanctions against Italy in 1936 after the conquest of Ethiopia
Against the pasta ”the absurd gastronomic religion” Marinetti Made of foreign wheat Italian rice Antivirile, for a full stomach destroyed all the interest towards a female body Pasta eaters are melancholic, slow and peaceful
Radio transmission from the Goose’s feather (1930)
”Although pasta is delicious, it is a passéist (outdated) dish, for it makes people dull, gives a wrong idea of nutrition values, makes people skeptical, slow, heavy and pessimistic. In addition, it is patriotic to eat rice.” Marinetti
Reactions ”pro pasta” Foreign press reported that Marinetti wants to banish pasta from the Italian kitchen In L’Aquila women signed a petition ”pro pasta” In Naples, parades to save pasta
Meal as an artistic experience All the 5 senses: touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing
Table decorated according ”the original harmony”: plates, glasses and decorations must match with the dishes
Special lighting: colour of the light switching lights on and off
Special clothing of the waiters: a collar made of bright blue celluloid
Different odeurs before the meal Poetry reading during the meals Music: suddenly a jazz band starts to play Joséphine Baker danced during a meal in Paris
No forks or knives were allowed, if touching the food was considered an artistic experience
”A tactile machine” A rectangular box Covered by tin foil, red silk and black velvet Specially invented to accompany some dishes While eating, you touch the box and feel the different materials
”Aerovivanda” ”Aerofood” (Fillìa) On the plate black olives, fennels’ heart, kumquats On the left hand side a tactile machine Waiters spray on the neck perfume of carnation From the kitchen comes simultaneously Bach’s music and aeroplane’s noice
Aesthetic dishes
Importance of the colour of the material The shape of the materials Originality of the dish ”plastic complexes”
”The dismayed sausages under the first snow and the zig-zag of the spinachs”
Pollo FIAT / FIAT Chicken
”Carneplastico” ”Plastic meat” (Fillìa) Masterpiece of the Futurist cuisine ”synthetic interpretation of the Italian kitchen gardens, gardens and meadows” In the middle of the plate, a cylinder made of roasted veal The cylinder filled with 11 different cooked vegetables Honey on the top of the cylinder On the bottom: a ring made of sausages on golden balls made of chicken meat
”a Man acts as he eats” Eating affects: the creativity of artists the fertility and the aggressiveness of the race
The target of the culinary revolution: Develop dishes that make the Italians corageous and optimistic towards the future
The Futurist cookbook published in 1932 when the Western world struggled with the economic crisis Futuristic solution: ”optimism at the table!”
Eating and international politics The wrong diet has an influence upon the international politics ”If every official meal starts with a tasteless soup in which 4-5 balls of pasta are desperately floating and ends with a trembling jellyish dessert, suitable for the palate of a sick person, it is logic that politicians cannot take any significant decisions.” Marinetti
The Official Futurist Lunch To avoid: The embarrasing silence caused by the hostility among the guests The rigidity of the diplomatic formality The moping because of the unresolved international problems and of the disputes about borders The banality of the traditional dishes
To abolish the formalities After the aperitives arrives The Amuser The Amuser does not belong to any political party or a diplomatic corps He is a young aristocratic ”dandy” Famous for his obscene jokes He whispers three jokes to his neighbour While the laugh goes around the table, milk and tapioca-soup is served from a bowl of a monastery
Three courses plus dessert 1. The Cannibals come to an agreement in Geneva 2. The League of the Nations 3. The Steady Agreement 4. The Dessert
1. The Cannibals come to an agreement in Geneva On the plate several pieces of raw meat that are to dipped in different sauces The sauces are made of oil, vinegar, honey, pepper, ginger, sugar, butter and Barolo-wine
2. The League of the Nations Black small salamis and chocolate pastries swim in a creme made of egg and vanilla Meanwhile a 12-years old black boy tickles the ladies feet and pinches their buttocks
3. The Steady Agreement
A castle made of nougat of different colours In the castle, tiny bombs of nitroglycerin explode filling the air with a smell of a battle
4. The Dessert For a half an hour the butler keeps coming to the dining room and with many excuses asks that the guests wait for a while longer for the exotic fruits coming from Africa and saying that the delay is due to problems with cars and railwayconnections And that the beautifully decorated ice cream cake just collapsed in the kitchen
Instead of the fruits, arrives a drunkard picked up from the street, who wants to have more to drink He is promised to be given the best wines of Italy if he will talk for two hours about disarmament, problems related to international agreements and to the economic crisis
Futurism, now? The concept of spatial and temporal simultaneity -> mobile phones and the Internet The linguistic reform -> use of mathematical sings -> Italian text messages The Futurist cuisine -> aesthetic dishes -> nouvelle cuisine Considering the actual economic situation, should we check the menu of the UN?