The Elegance of Food

Posted on August 12, 2016 by babbityjean

Carol Del Cielo is our guest blogger this week.  On May 19, she reported here on Virtual Graffiti, about how Florence is fighting the vandalism of its monuments with an innovative tool—the tablet computer.  This time she reports on an exhibition she saw on a recent visit to New York City where she grew up.  Carol is an anesthesiologist in Santa Barbara, studies Italian, and has strong ties with her relatives in Italy.

 While I was in New York, I saw an exhibition called “The Elegance of Food.”  This show l_eleganza_del_cibo_largecelebrates the Italian love of both fashion and food.  After opening at the Museum of the Markets of Traiano in Rome in May 2015, The Elegance of Food arrived in New York City.  The exhibition is presented by the Italian Trade Commission in collaboration with L’Unindustria, the general confederation of Italian industry.  The objective is to explore the interchange between the cultures of food and creativity “Made in Italy.”  The show includes 58 dresses and accessories chosen by the curators Stefano Dominella and Bonizza Giordani Aragano.  It also includes photographic and video images that trace the contemporary creative journey where “beautiful and well made” Italian-style blends with culinary splendor.  The exhibition is a demonstration of how fashion has been able to draw inspiration from good food.

dress-with-apple-slice-the-elegance-of-food-RomeThe clothes fashioned by top designers, from 1950 to today, together with the creations of rising designers, tell the untold story of the seductive blend between fashion and taste.  The designers include Etro, Valentino, Gucci, Romeo Gigli, Gattinoni, Salvatore Ferragamo, Moschino, and Laura Biagiotti.  For example, Etro’s slogan is “We are What We Eat” hence the marvelous prints of the Fashion House are enlivened with pasta and raw shellfish, in graphic compositions created with digital images, where lunches, very Italian in their representation, are transformed into a kaleidoscope of colors and flavors.

The show has a surreal aspect because all of the things are not what people usually expect Gattinoni-by-Mariottoto see on outfits.  The first garment that people see as they enter the exhibition is “the bread dress” by Gattinoni.  The dress is composed of a sculpted bustier with real ears of corn and trousers embroidered with glazed and crystallized biscotti and pretzels.  Another designer, Tiziano Guardini, created a dress inspired by 19th century fashion which is accented with olive branches and leaves.

There is a gown by Giorgio Armani that is inspired by bamboo, a delicate and robust plant olive or bamboo?at the same time, more and more in vogue in the eco-friendly industry.  Salvatore Ferragamo, a pioneer in the use of poor materials like cork, raffia and hemp, chose to exhibit some of his most famous shoes taken from his precious historical archive.  Ken Scott, the gardener of fashion and only American designer, chose to praise food through bold prints the-elegance-of-food-Rome_3on his dresses, that is, peas, artichokes, and apples that became “a marvelous garden” to wear.

This exhibition is intended to strengthen Italian exports.  With $67.7 billion of exports annually, fashion is the industry leader in Italy.  Food is third with $45 billion of which $20 billion are in wine.  Interior design is second with $50 billion in exports.

Says the curator, Stefano Dominella, “I have often been questioned in recent years about the paroxysm that is focusing our attention…on the one hand, on hedonism, body care, being lean and fit at any cost…and on taste and gluttony generally springing from food anxiety.  It is in this climate of “Dolce Vita” that I developed the idea of a show that combined fashion and food.  To smile at this strange pairing, but also to deepen understanding and to raise awareness of the many shades tied to it, not the least of which is respect for nature and the environment.”

Posted in Abitudini, Arte, Cucina italiana, English, Foto, Italia, La Moda, New York | Leave a comment

Una Lingua o Un Dialetto?

Posted on August 4, 2016 by babbityjean

L’Italia è conosciuta come uno dei paesi più ricchi del mondo in termini del numero di dialetti.  Unificata per solo quasi 150 anni, l’Italia è stata un crocevia di popoli e culture diverse nel corso della sua storia.  Ogni regione ha il suo proprio dialetto unico, che si differenzia dall’italiano standard (fiorentino) in suoni e ortografia, grammatica, sintassi, e vocabolario.

Qual è la differenza tra una lingua e un dialetto?  Non c’è una definizione universalmente accettata.  Uso popolare suggerisce che le lingue sono scritte, sono standardizzate, e hanno una letteratura, mentre i dialetti sono orali, non hanno regole codificate, e non hanno una letteratura.  Ci sono diverse obiezioni a questa distinzione.  In primo luogo, c’è la letteratura orale; l’Illiade e l’Odissea probabilmente sono nate come poesie memorizzate.  In secondo luogo, il termine “dialetto,” in questo contesto suggerisce che è meno sofisticato o è più semplice.  Eppure ci sono dialetti che sono più grammaticalmente complicati che lingue.

C’è un famoso aforisma di Max Weinrich, un linguista Yiddish, che ha detto, “una lingua è un dialetto con un esercito e una marina.”  Questo suggerisce distinzioni sociali e politiche.  Hong Kong afferma che il cinese (il mandarino) e l’inglese sono le due lingue ufficiali.  Il cantonese, che è ampiamente parlato là, è considerato un dialetto.

I linguisti utilizzano la distinzione di “mutua intelligibilità.”  Se si può capire un discorso senza istruzione, è un dialetto della propria lingua.  Se non è possibile, è una lingua distinta.  In altre parole, se due tipi di linguaggio sono abbastanza vicini in modo che due persone possono avere una conversazione e capirsi, sono dialetti di un lingua unica.  Con questo criterio, il cantonese è un linguaggio perchè chi parla il mandarino non può capirlo.  Eppure, i parlanti dello svedese, danese, e norvegese possono conversare tra di loro, ciascuno nelle loro lingue native, senza prendere lezioni.  Quindi, questi linguaggi assomigliano più a dialetti che a una linguaggio.  Ma perchè sono parlati in nazioni diverse, sono chiamati lingue.

Torniamo in Italia, dove i dialetti parlati sono per lo più nei villaggi e nelle zone rurali oggi.  Sono più vivaci in alcune regioni, come il Veneto e nel Sud Italia.  Alcune regioni, come la Sardegna e il Friuli, hanno stabilito i loro dialetti locali come una lingua ufficiale.  Più lontano uno si sposta da Firenze, tanto più il dialetto varia. Nel dialetto romanesco, per esempio, l’articolo determinativo “il” diventa “er” e il pronome articolato “in + il = nel” diventa “ner.”

Ecco un altra esempio:  L’italiano standard: “I bambini giocavano nel parco.  Un ragazzo era sulla scala, è caduto e si è rotto la gamba.”  Nel dialetto Calabrese è: “I cotrari stavanu yocandu n’to parcu.  Nu cottraru era suppa scala e catti, e si ruppia la gamba.”  Molte parole sono irriconoscibili per i non iniziati.  Ecco il mio amico, Joel Garbarino, con una maglietta che dice, “Mi sun zeneize,” che nel dialetto ligure significa “Io sono Genovese.”

I dialetti hanno usi importanti in queste regioni.  Sono utilizzati per esprimere i sentimenti. E sono utilizzati in determinati contesti.  Per esempio, una persona che ordina il caffé in un bar locale o che saluta un amico sulla strada sembrerebbe freddo se usasse l’italiano standard.  O, se qualcuno ricevesse una telefonata nella presenza di altri, potrebbe evitare il dialetto per comunicare che non può parlare apertamente.

Per la maggior parte, la lingua italiana deriva dal latino, ma è influenzata dai paesi europei settentrionali e meridionali.  La Sicilia, d’altra parte, è più influenzata dal greco e dall’arabo; quindi “ragazzi” diventa “carusi” dal greco “kouri.”

Posted in Abitudini, Italia, Italiano, La Lingua, Politica | Leave a comment

Language and Dialect

Posted on August 4, 2016 by babbityjean

Italy is known as one of the richest countries in the world in terms of its many dialects.  Unified for only 150 years, Italy has been a crossroads of different peoples and cultures throughout its history.  Every region has its own unique dialect that differs from standard (Florentine) Italian in sounds and spelling, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.

What is the difference between a language and a dialect?  There is not one universally accepted definition.  Popular usage suggests that languages are written, standardized, and have a literature, while dialects are oral, do not have codified rules, and do not have a literature.  There are several objections to this distinction.  First, there is oral literature; the Iliad and the Odyssey probably originated as memorized poems.  Second, the term “dialect” in this context suggests that it is less sophisticated.  Yet there are dialects that are more grammatically complicated than languages.

There is a famous aphorism by Max Weinrich, a Yiddish linguist, who said, “language is a dialect with an army and a navy.”  This suggests social and political distinctions.  Hong Kong claims that Chinese (Mandarin) and English are its official languages.  Cantonese, which is widely spoken there, is considered a dialect.  Linguists use the distinction of “mutual intelligibility.”  If you can understand speech without training, it’s a dialect of your own language.  If you can’t, it’s a distinct language.  In other words, if two kinds of speech are close enough so that speakers of each can have a conversation and understand each other, they are dialects of a single language.  By this criterion, Cantonese is a language as Mandarin speakers cannot understand it.  Yet speakers of Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian can converse, each in their native tongues, without taking lessons.  Hence, these “languages” look more like dialects of one “language.”  But because they are spoken in distinct nations, they are called languages.

Let’s return to Italy where dialects are mostly spoken in villages and rural areas today.  They are more vibrant in certain regions, like the Veneto and Southern Italy.  Some regions, such as Sardinia and Friuli, have established their local dialects as an official language.  The farther you travel from Florence, the home of standard Italian, the more the dialect varies.  In the Roman dialect, for example, the definite article “il” becomes “er” and the articulated pronoun “in + il = nel” becomes “ner.”  While in standard Italian, most words end in a vowel, in Molise, these vowels are dropped.  In the Calabrese dialect, “o” becomes “u.”  In both many words are unrecognizable to the uninitiated.

Dialects have important uses in these regions.  They are used to express feelings.  And they are used in certain contexts.  For example, a person who orders coffee at a local bar or greets a friend on the street would appear cold if he used standard Italian.  If someone receives a telephone call in the presence of others, he might avoid dialect to convey that he cannot speak openly.

For the most part, the Italian language derives from Latin but is also influenced by northern and southern European countries.  Sicily, on the other hand, was more influenced by Greek and Arabic; hence “boys” became not “ragazzi” (standard Italian) but “carusi” from the Greek “kouri.”

Posted in Abitudini, English, Italia | 1 Comment