More than two decades ago, Katie Parla, a graduate of Yale, where she earned a degree in art history, has done a deep dive into her Italian heritage, first by moving to Rome.
Once there, she earned a master’s degree in Italian gastronomic culture from the Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata,” a sommelier certificate from the Federazione Italiana Sommelier Albergatori Ristoratori, and an archeological speleology certification from the city of Rome.
She’s also authored several New York Times bestselling cookbooks, including “Tasting Rome,” which earned an IACP award, and “The Foods of Southern Italy.” She leads tours of Rome, has a popular blog at katieparla.com and podcast, is a go-to expert on Rome for the History Channel and Travel Channel, and writes a food column for Saveur magazine.
Known as culinary historian, Parla’s latest cookbook, “Foods of the Italian Islands: Recipes from the Sunbaked Beaches, Coastal Villages, and Rolling Hillsides of Sicily, Sardinia, and Beyond,” is a chronicle of the numerous islands and archipelagos which dot the Italian coastline and the foods that typify each of the islands.
Most of us would be hard-pressed to name many Italian islands beyond Sicily and Sardinia, but actually the list is long and includes Le Isole Pontine, La Laguna Veneziana L’ Arcipelago Toscano, L’ Arcipelago Napoletano, Ventotene, Le Isole Tremiti, Sant’Erasmo, and Maurano. The latter is really a series of islands, all connected by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon.
Parla, who lives in Rome, keeps a turquoise fishing boat moored there which she named Laura. It’s perfect not only for fishing but also exploring the surrounding islands. Known for its glassware, Murano is also where her boyfriend Roberto Beltrami, the youngest glass maker on the island, owns Wave Murano Glass.
“The food of each island is, by the very nature of their topography, unique,” said Parla when we spoke on the phone. Parla, who grew up in an Italian family in New Jersey, which she describes as “Italy's unofficial 21st region” is back in the U.S. for a multi-city book tour. She also notes there are customs and traditions that go back centuries and are interwoven in the culture and influence the foods found there. When I ask which of the recipes in her book she would recommend for someone using her book for the first time, she recommends the caponata, a sweet and sour eggplant dish with olives, celery, and capers but tells me that there are as many recipes for the dish as there are families.
“Each has their own way of making it,” she said, adding that it is a super satisfying dish.
The differences in cooking can be extremely nuanced, though very important as how long to cook pasta.
Parla, who cooks every day, said that because of her Southern Italian heritage she likes hers very al dente, whereas in Venice they like it very soft.
Obviously that makes writing an Italian cookbook complicated, but for Parla, who likes the complexity of the cuisine, it’s not only a challenge but an enjoyment. Discovering and chronicling these distinctions is a way of preserving the heritage of the islands, and that’s what Parla, who says Italian food is written into her DNA, craves.
Post a Comment