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Beppe Severgnini Interview
By Malcolm Jolley
Beppe Severgnini is a best selling author and one of Italy's most read columnists. Severgnini has lived for long periods in the United States and served as The Economist's Italian correspondent. As a result he brings an Italian's understanding of his country, the English speaking world and the interplay between the two. In his new book, La Bella Figura, he explains the Italian mind to all of us who trek to Tuscany and other parts of the peninsula in hopes of capturing la dolce vita. Visit his website at www.beppesevergnini.com.
[Note: This interview is very much an abridged version of our conversation. The trouble with interviewing journalists, especially good ones, is that they inevitably turn the tables and start interviewing their interrogators. I answered more of Beppe Severgnini's questions than he did mine! So, the exchange below is a condensed version of our discourse on matters gastronomical.]
Gremolata: How's your coffee? Did you expect an espresso, or a pressed coffee?
Beppe Severgnini: No, no. I love your coffee.
Gremolata: Of course you lived in Washington, so you know about it.
Beppe Severgnini Yes, to me it's something else. It's not really coffee. But whatever it is, it's good.
Gremolata: I'd like to talk about the cappuccino rule. Why it's forbidden to drink cappuccino after ten in the morning.
Beppe Severgnini Basically, it's one of these laws of nature. There are things in mathematics that you don't explain. In geometry it's called postulato. Anyway, it's a dogma: THOU SHALL NOT HAVE YOUR CAPPUCCINO AFTER TEN O'CLOCK.
Do you want to why?
Gremolata: Um, well... I think I know why.
Beppe Severgnini Why?
Gremolata: Um... OK... I understand why you wouldn't have it after a meal. You wouldn't want all that hot frothy milk after wine. That makes sense. But I'm not sure why I can't have one at 10:30 in the morning.
Beppe Severgnini Well, the rule can sometimes be extended to, maybe, eleven o'clock. And on a really cold, wet and miserable day and in particular circumstances with a loved one you could share a cappuccino in the afternoon. Sometimes.
Gremolata: OK, this reminds me of one of the other rules and exceptions you mention: no parmesan on seafood pasta.
Beppe Severgnini Right.
Gremolata: Except if the chef recommends it. Then, you say, you have to take it and
you must praise the chef for his novelty.
Beppe Severgnini That's right [laughs].
Gremolata: And that's also dogma? Is that really true? I wouldn't you say "this is very strange"?
Beppe Severgnini Well, it is very strange. And of course the other dogma is that you just can't have pizza for lunch. But this is changing. People now, including me, are having pizza for lunch. Sometimes.
Gremolata: OK, now why is that?
Beppe Severgnini I don't know. I'm not sure. It has to do with food - gastronomy- as tradition. Pizza started off as a poor man's fare in Naples. You put on it whatever you had: a morsel of this or that. But then it has become the quintessential student's luxury. In the evening you go out with a girl, with your friends, and have a pizza and a beer and to talk, to top off your day. So it is more of a social thing. It's something to share.
There is always this element of the way things look in Italy. Don't forget
the title of the book 'Bella Figura'. Pizza is a happy dish. I mean it looks
happy.
Gremolata: Where did you have dinner last night?
Beppe Severgnini Grano.
Gremolata: And how did you find it? [Owner] Roberto [Martella] is a champion of
Italian culture in Toronto.
Beppe Severgnini It was very good. I found the food was flawless. And I'm just saying that
because I was a guest there. I always remember what I eat. I don't remember
what I say, but I always remember what I eat.
Gremolata: OK good. This is a source of anxiety for Anglos. That you'd find the food here no good.
Beppe Severgnini It was very good. It was the real thing. You know, sometimes it didn't look spectacular like what you get with Italian dishes in America. But that reassured me. I don't want things to look spectacular; I want things to look like what they are. Gnocchi and pesto is gnocchi and pesto, you don't have to fuss around with that. And the prosciutto was excellent. and I really know prosciutto.
When you have an "Italian city" like Toronto, there are too many people who know what they're talking about. It's like what I said in the book: Italians and food is like some tribes on the Amazon river. they look at the sky and they know what's going to happen. You can't fool us with food.
Gremolata: We owe a lot to the Italian community in Toronto for helping us get over bad Anglo food habits. Some say they introduced the city to garlic.
Beppe Severgnini You have to be very careful with garlic, especially in [North] America. I am a great garlic fan, but...
Gremolata: We use too much?
Beppe Severgnini: [Shrugs affirmatively.] Garlic is a bit like justice for Mr. Berlusconi. You want it just a little and possibly on someone else's plate.
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