LECTURES BY RENOWNED FOOD HISTORIAN PROFESSOR MASSIMO MONTANARI: "ITALY BEFORE ITALY: HOW FOOD CREATED AN ITALIAN CULTURE"
November 14 at 6pm
DePaul University
Lecture Hall TBD
November 15 at 1pm
University of Illinois
UH 1501
On the occasion of the 2nd Annual Italian Cuisine Week in the World, Professor Massimo Montanari will present his lecture "Italy before Italy: How Food Created an Italian 'Culture' " at DePaul University on November 14th at 6pm and at University of Illinois on November 15th at 1pm. Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago.
During these lectures, Professor Montanari will investigate Italian identity from an historical, food-related perspective, starting from far before the 1861 unification: as early as the Middle-Ages, cities used to play a role in synthesizing rural culture and exporting it, thus sharing local identities in a broader national context, giving rise to a democratic gastronomy of exchange and knowledge which, through the ages, has become the Italian national gastronomy.
Professor Massimo Montanari teaches Medieval History and Food History at Bologna University, where he also heads the Master in "Food history and culture". He has taught seminars and lectures throughout Europe, Japan, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil. His books have been translated in several languages.