An Intolerance of Wheat

We were hanging on for dear life as the bus lurched forward and I accidently bumped into a large Polish student. Mi scusi. So we take the 17 to this loop over the railroad track. Right there I said pointing my finger on the spot balancing on the pole wrapped in the crook of my elbow. We get off right there and shop at the outdoor market and then pick up the 7 right here to go back.

Are you looking for a Supermarket said the fat cheeked Polish kid in perfect English. Yes we are, I lit up. I can show you the place I shop. It is right near my apartment so it’s no problem for me to show you. It’s good but not too expensive.

Sal looked skeptical trailing 10 paces behind as we got off the bus and followed Dimetri to his Supermarket. Our Polish friend was in Florence for the summer studying Italian. It was his last day and I waved goodbye to him as he headed home. The market was well stocked and Sal and I went quickly to work on collecting food for the next few days. I grabbed a handful of citronella candles for the sake of all of us suffering from mosquito bites. Sal tracked down the pasta and canned tomato sauce and then we both congregated at the meat and cheese counter. One could make the claim that Italy is the best place in the world to eat. It’s all very addictive stuff. The wine, pasta, bread, fresh vegetables, prepared meats and of course pizza. The smell is irresistible; especially if you are wheat intolerant celiac. In fact it’s pure torture. You might as well take the poor soul directly to the chambers where they do unspeakable acts. I had made it a practice when I got to a place to look for stuff for Nick to eat. A good staple was rice cakes and cream cheese as a failsafe. Found.

Things were not always this good. In 1860 the average life expectancy was 30 years old in Italy. By 1910 it had only improved to 47 years old. American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne noted Roman cooking to make him “sick at stomach of sour bread, sour wine, rancid butter, and bad cookery, needlessly bestowed on evil meats.” The variety and abundance of food declined steadily through the 19th century because the land could not support the size of the population, poor transportation and storage of foods, badly managed and corrupt food companies and excessive government taxes. It was estimated that 70 to 80 percent of the family budget was spent on food consumption. Italians found that they could make 10 times the salary in America and by the early 1900’s a quarter of the Italian population in a great diaspora left, which made available more food for those that stayed. Interestingly the food industry got its act together for awhile in Italy and exported olive oil, cured meats, dried pasta and canned tomatoes to all the those folks who still wanted the taste of the old country in the Americas. With the help of several inventions, the “semolarice” to sort and sift the wheat and the “impastatrice” a mechanical kneading machine, the dried pasta business was in full swing. But things hit a snag during the First World War. Like other European governments Italy stepped in to stretch wheat supplies by setting the cost and as a consequence riots ensued throughout the country protesting the 20% increase in the price of a loaf of bread.

There are certain things you don’t want to do wrong in Italy. From experience in Rome food seemed to make everyone a bit edgy. So I carefully bagged the vegetables and dutifully weighed each one and tagged them with the appropriate label. We quickly had more food than we could conceivably carry on the bus so the store called a taxi that whisked us off to Fattoria di Maiano.

Our Loggia apartment was up two flights of stairs delivering us to the front door of solid oak that had two leafs each barely a foot and a half wide. The 15th century marble steps were so worn we had to lean forward while carrying the sacks of groceries to keep our momentum going. The key passed through the ancient bronze lock and released a bolt that echoed throughout the staircase. Inside the temperature was the same as outside…very hot. The boys had already been to the pool and back and were now preoccupied with laptop mind meld. Rebecca lay on the couch with a cold wash cloth on her face. Not a good sign. Amid the complaints of sore feet, mosquito bites and swollen body parts emerged the greatest of all teenage plagues…hunger.

During the First World War, Italy in an effort to solve its wheat shortage, turned to the US and Canada. By the end of the war, wheat amounted to 50% of the national debt. Sentiment ran high to return to a prewar free market and do away with government pricing. To further complicate things, the Italian farmers who were growing wheat before the war had turned to raising meat products. The land was not big enough to support both and the interdependence on foreign grains persisted. The price of pasta and a loaf of bread continued to rise despite the reduction in world wheat prices which made Italians very upset. The government blamed the retailers and did nothing to solve the real problems of corruption and poor infrastructure.

Despite blistered feet, Sal rose heroically to the test of feeding everyone. He had on numerous occasions prepared pasta for us back home. What made his pasta so good was how much he enjoyed cooking it. Animatedly he would tell stories of his mother’s cooking and how much he learned from her. His parents were born in Calabria in the little hill town of Serra San Bruno and are now gone. His father was a prisoner of war. After WWII he married Fina and came to Canada. Preparing pasta for the first time in Italy was like channeling their spirits back to life.

A strong argument could be made that food was the central issue in the rise to power of the Fascists from 1922 to 1945. Mussolini never missed a photo opportunity to take his shirt off and work alongside the Italian laborers threshing wheat. While in reality many of the policies mirrored that of the former liberal government the Fascists distinguished themselves by launching a major propaganda campaign to nationalize the modern Italian diet of pasta, bread, produce, cheese and wine. Eating anything else especially foreign food was discouraged and considered unpatriotic. Protests of food prices were dispelled through brutal retribution. During WWII Italy had the lowest caloric diet in Europe as the cost of war and the need to feed the troops sent the entire country back to 19th century scarcity.

Sal’s family survived the war though the clever stockpiling of wheat and shrewd management of portions. Proudly Sal brought the platter of red hot pasta to the table along with another platter of rolled beef stuffed with ricotta cheese and topped with tomato sauce. We opened a bottle of Chianti and sliced the bread. Pouring olive oil in a plate with balsamic vinegar, we dipped the bread, sipped the wine and topped the pasta with grated parmesan. While everyone silently filled themselves with food I looked over at Nick frozen with an anguished look. I can’t eat any of this he said.

How about some rice crackers and cream cheese Nick, I said.