A clip from Vittorio De Sica’s Umberto D A clip from Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicyle Thieves
From the ashes and pessimism of World War II came two incredible Italian exports; the pizza and the Italian neorealist movement. These two swept through the entire world and have changed our palates and films forever. While the invention of pizza dates back to the 18th century, it was only after the war that returning American and European soldiers took back with them the taste of this everyday Italian food. And just as we are indebted to the pizza that sailed across the oceans, we also have to pay our respects to a kind of cinematic movement that influenced post war sensibilities all over the world.
Italian neorealism was an answer to its times. When most people had lost everything in the war including hope, they needed art to find a way of expression that did justice to their cynical worldview. So directors all over Italy abandoned fantastical stories and took their cameras to the street where they captured stories of people struggling to come to grips with life each day. Neorealist gave up the studio settings, big budgets and heroic characters to focus instead on the small stories of its people played by non-actors. While the past had to be forgotten and the future looked bleak, the only option was to live in the present. These films abandoned conventional techniques of using flashbacks or flashforwards, and instead their stories unfolded in the present using new conventions of storytelling. These experiments in cinema gave us masterpieces like Bicycle Thieves, Umberto D, La Strada and Germany Ground Zero. Films filled with compaasion, humnaity and hope.
I spent most of last week revisiting many of these films while trying some classic Italian recipes to go along with them. And at the end of most meals I found myself with a full stomach and an inspired mind. And while these films have undoubtedly shaped my sensibility as a filmmaker over the years, the appetizing recipes I tried this week have definitely left me a bit of a changed cook too. Till recently I was a proud member of the ‘don’t mind eating preservative tasting foods’ group. But to my horror, at the end of this week you can accept this as my official resignation from this ‘eat out of store bought jars’ fraternity. I can’t help it. There is just something about a quick homemade pasta sauce or pizza with few and simple ingredients that feels right to me. And if good food and art can make better people out of us, then this week is a clear proof of that.
Some successful recipes from this week
Chicken Marsala – http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chicken-marsala-recipe/index.html
Ribollita – http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/ribollita-recipe/index.html
Spinach and Spring Onion Pasta Sauce – My uncle’s recipe
Important Films & Directors of this movement
The Bicyle Thieves – Vittorio De Sica
Umberto D – Vittorio De Sica
Germnay Year Zero – Roberto Rossellini
Stromboli – Roberto Rossellini
Paisa – Roberto Rossellini
Rome, Open City – Roberto Rossellini
La Strada – Fedrico Fellini
For this week, we take a quick train ride to SPAIN! See you there
Cooking and Cinema 