It’s Baloney!

Posted on May 23, 2019 by babbityjean

The mayor of the Italian city Bologna, Virginio Merola, prefers to call it “fake news.”  He’s incensed that tourists who come to his city ask for spaghetti Bolognese (or “spag bol”) at local restaurants.  He claims that it does not exist.  And he is launching an awareness campaign to teach people the truth.

“Dear residents, I am collecting photos of spaghetti Bolognese from around the world in relation to fake news,” Merola wrote on Twitter, alongside a picture of a blackboard of a London restaurant where it is the specialty of the house at 6.95 pounds sterling.  “This one is from London, please send me yours.  Thank you.”  Merola is collecting all the photos to display them at Bologna’s FICO Eataly World, which is the world’s largest food theme park that opened in November 2018.

Spaghetti Bolognese – or “spag bol” — doesn’t exist in Italy, yet it is famous the world over. Merola is happy that it draws attention to his city, but prefers that Bologna be known for the quality of food that is part of its culinary tradition, like tagliatelle, tortellini, and lasagne.  What you do find in Bologna is “ragù,” a meat-based sauce served most often with tagliatelle, a pasta with a greater surface area to hold the sauce.

Proud of its strong food culture, Bologna is also home to Mortadella, a large Italian sausage often sliced as charcuterie or luncheon meat.  It is made of finely ground pork and small cubes of port fat and is flavored with spices, such as whole or ground black pepper, myrtle berries and / or pistachios.  It is the cousin of “bologna,” the impossibly pink and perfectly round pork slices slapped between slices of white bread and served in the lunch boxes of school kids in the United States many years ago.  In Newfoundland, it is a popular breakfast food called the Newfie Steak. In Britain it goes by “Polony,” which may be derived from Polonia (Poland) or from the Italian city famous for its sausages.

In America, bologna deli meat is often pronounced and spelled “baloney,” which is also a common slang term.  The expression took off in the 1930s thanks for Alfred E. Smith, governor of New York, who often used the term “baloney” in reference to Washington bureaucracy.  To say that someone is “full of baloney” means that he is full of falsehoods, nonsense or foolishness.

So why do we pronounce the name of the meat “baloney” and not “bologna”?  One linguistic theory is that it follows the pattern of Italian words ending in “-ia” such as Italia, Sicilia, and Lombardia, which in English took on “-y” endings:  Italy, Sicily, and Lombardy.  But it’s “bologna” not “bolognia.”  Others believe that it could be derived from Italians’ penchant for shortening words like “prosciut” for “prosciutto,” or alterations that you often see in Italian dialects.

In summary, what is baloney? There are at least 3 answers: “spag bol,” Washington bureaucracy, and pink pork slathered with mustard.  And also nonsense.

Posted in Abitudini, Cucina italiana, Differenze culturali, English, Foto | 1 Comment

Il lungo braccio di Totò Riina

Posted on May 16, 2019 by babbityjean

Gli inquirenti lo consideravano il capo indiscusso di Cosa Nostra—“U curtu”, il boss delle stragi.  Quando morì nel novembre 2017 (vedete il post, “La lunga ombra di Salvatore ‘Totò’ Riina”, nel 14 dicembre 2017), Riina stava scontando una pena di 26 ergastoli. Il primo fu un delitto commesso a Corleone negli anni ’50.  L’accusa più famigerata nei suoi confronti erano gli attentati che costarono le vite ai magistrati Falcone e Borsellino nel 1992, che dedicarono la loro vita alla lotta contro la mafia (vedete due post, “Il coraggio di essere eroi”, nell’agosto 10 e 17, 2017).

Poi sono successi due eventi importanti nel gennaio 2019.  Primo, il governo italiano ha chiesto ai familiari di Riina di pagare due milioni euro per le spese sostenute nel carcere di Parma.  Questo importo è quello che è costato Riina allo Stato per i suoi 24 anni dietro le sbarre.  La società che riscuote i tributi in Sicilia ha presentato il “conto” alla vedova di Riina, Ninetta Bagarella.  La risposta della famiglia: “A noi sembra uno scherzo, perché la legge esclude espressamente che il rimborso per le spese di mantenimento in carcere si estenda agli eredi del condannato”.  Entrambe le parti stanno studiando ulteriormente la questione.

Poi, sempre in gennaio, l’ultimogenita di quattro figli di Riina, Lucia, ha annunciato su Facebook che aveva aperto un ristorante a Parigi nel novembre precedente. Chiamato “Corleone di Lucia Riina”, il ristorante promette “autentica cucina siciliana-italiana da scoprire in un ambiente elegante e accogliente”.  A due passi dall’Arco di Trionfo, il ristorante “Corleone” mostra anche i dipinti di Lucia all’interno.

Lucia, 39 anni, si era trasferita nella capitale francese nell’agosto del 2018 con suo marito, Vincenzo Bellomo, e sua figlia di 2 anni.  Ironia della sorte, il padre di Lucia utilizzava il nome “Vincenzo Bellomo” durante la latitanza.  Quando fu finalmente arrestato, il boss corleonese venne trovato in possesso di una carta di identità intestata proprio ad un Vincenzo Bellomo di Mazara del Vallo, ragioniere.  Da bambina, Lucia pensava di chiamarsi Lucia Bellomo.  Afferma di aver scoperto la vera identità del padre solo dopo l’arresto, il 15 gennaio 1993.  Tuttavia, Lucia usa il cognome Riina non solo per il ristorante, ma anche come la firma dei suoi quadri.

La notizia del nome del ristorante e l’uso dello stemma del paese di Corleone non sono senza polemiche.  Il sindaco del comune siciliano ha dichiarato, “Negli anni abbiamo assistito spesso all’abuso del marchio Corleone, servito per promuovere beni di ogni tipo.  Se questo uso viene fatto da aziende in regola, da persone perbene per far conoscere nel mondo le eccellenze del territorio, non possiamo che esserne felici. Non è ammissibile, invece, che a usare il nome del paese sia chi ha maltrattato Corleone, siano persone legate al boss Totò Riina, come in questo caso.  Faremo di tutto per neutralizzare questa iniziativa…e l’uso dello stemma del paese, il leone rampante con il cuore”.

Meno di una settimana dopo l’annuncio di Lucia del ristorante e la pubblicità sui giornali italiani (e non solo), la donna ha dichiarato al quotidiano francese Le Parisien che avrebbe tolto il nome di famiglia dall’insegna del ristorante: “Non ho cercato di provocare né di offendere nessuno,” spiega, “volevo soltanto valorizzare la mia identità di artista-pittrice, e anche mettere in risalto la cucina siciliana….Vi annuncio che ho deciso di ritirare il mio nome dall’insegna del ristorante e dalle pubblicità, anche se mi dispiace che la mia identità di pittrice e di donna venga negata….Ho una vita normale adesso.  Oggi sono pittrice e madre di una bambina.  Mio padre ha la sua storia, io la mia”.

Sospetto che non abbiamo ascoltato l’ultima di entrambe le storie.  Non sappiamo se sia stata davvero sincera Lucia, ma siamo abbastanza sicuri nell’affermare che lei abbia la stoffa del marketer.

Posted in Abitudini, Cucina italiana, Foto, Italia, Mafia, Sicilia, Storia | Leave a comment

The Long Arm of Totò Riina

Posted on May 16, 2019 by babbityjean

Investigators considered him the undisputed leader of Cosa Nostra—“U curtu,” the boss of massacres. When he died in November 2017 (see post, “The Long Shadow of ‘Totò’ Riina, December 14, 2017), Riina was serving 26 life sentences.  The first was for a crime committed in Corleone in the 1950s.  The most notorious were the attacks that cost the lives of the anti-mafia magistrates Falcone and Borsellino in 1992 (see 2 posts, “The Courage to be Heroes,” August 10 and 17, 2017).

Then came two announcements in January 2019.  First, the Italian government asked the family of Riina to pay 2 million euros (about $113 million) for expenses incurred while he was in a Parma prison. This amount is what it cost the State for his 24 years behind bars.  The tax collection agency in Sicily presented the accounting to Riina’s widow, Ninetta Bagarella. The family’s response: “To us it seems ridiculous because the law expressly excludes heirs of the condemned from reimbursing the government for the costs of his maintenance in prison.”  Both sides are studying the issue further.

Then, also in January, the youngest of Riina’s four children, Lucia, announced on Facebook that she had opened a restaurant in Paris the previous November.  Called “Corleone by Lucia Riina,” the restaurant promises “authentic Sicilian-Italian cuisine to be discovered in an elegant and welcoming environment.”  A stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe,the restaurant “Corleone” also displays Lucia’s paintings inside.

Lucia, 39, had moved to the French capital in August of 2018 with her husband, Vincenzo Bellomo, and her 2-year old daughter.  Ironically, Lucia’s father used the name “Vincenzo Bellomo” during his years on the lam. When he was finally arrested, he was in possession of an identity card that said Vincenzo Bellomo of Mazara del Vallo (a town in the province of Trapani in Sicily), accountant.  As a child, Lucia thought that her name was Lucia Bellomo.  She claims that she only discovered the true identity of her father on the day of his arrest in January of 1993.  Yet, Lucia uses the surname Riina not only for her restaurant but also as the signature on her paintings.

The news of the restaurant’s name and use of the coat of arms of the town of Corleone are not without controversy.  The mayor of the Sicilian town stated, “Over the years we have witnessed the abuse of the brand ‘Corleone,” which has served to promote goods of all kinds.  If used by companies in good standing and by respectable people to promote the name of our town, we cannot but be happy.  It is not permissible, however, to promote the name by people who mistreated our town—by people related to the mafia boss, in this case.  We will do everything we can to neutralize this initiative…and the use of the emblem of the town, the rampant lion with the heart.”

Less than a week after Lucia’s announcement of the restaurant and the publicity in the Italian newspapers, she announced to the French newspaper Le Parisien that she will remove the family name from the sign of the restaurant: “I did not try to provoke or offend anyone,” she explains, “I just wanted to enhance my identity as an artist-painter, and also highlight the Sicilian cuisine…. I announce that I have decided to withdraw my name from the sign of the restaurant and advertising, even if I regret that my identity as a painter and a woman is denied….I have a normal life now.  Today I am a painter and the mother of a child.  My father has his story, I have mine.”

I suspect that we haven’t heard the last of both of these stories—the request for payment from the government, and the name and emblem of the restaurant.  Who knows how sincere Lucia is, but we can be pretty sure that she is a good marketer.

Posted in Abitudini, Cucina italiana, English, Foto, Italia, Mafia, Sicilia, Storia | Leave a comment