Sim Salis Archives - Quatro Fromaggio and Other Disgraces on the Menu

[Episode 100] The Meta of Food – All About Food Besides Eating It!

Jason is back on the podcast for one last, final episode! Yes, Thoughts on the Table ends today as it hits its 100th episode with the biggest topic we could think of: the meta of food, i.e. anything that has to do with food besides the physical sensations of actually eating it. Join us in our journey through this fascinating subject as we touch on the concept of authenticity and on how culture influences our appreciation of flavor.

Conversely, in the second part of the episode, Jason and I discuss some cooking trends that affect the flavor of food. These include the tendency to finish cooking pasta in its sauce and to alter traditional recipes to make them visually pleasing for sharing on social media, more so than with our guests!

Special Thanks

I’d like to thank all of you who have been listening and the 65 amazing guests that I had the pleasure of interviewing and collaborating with. I’d like to make a special mention to those who have bought into the project and really helped drive it, starting with Jason, and including Gino De Blasio, Manu, Frank Fariello, Diana Zahuranec, Raffaella De Amici, Rick Zullo, David Scott Allen, Nick Zingale, Mark Preston, Simon Pagotto, Melinda King, Tina Prestia, Sim Salis, Eva, Diana Pinto – who also contributed to this last episode with her precious research and insight.

Episode References

72-Hour Beef Wellington, by Alvin Zhou
Angelina, Hackney
Double Dragon, Exmouth Market, by Scott Hallsworth
Shanghai Supper Club
Industrial tomato processing

Carbonaragate

Cookbooks

Marcella Cucina, by Marcella Hazan, William Morrow Cookbooks, 1997
Millericette, by Erina Gavotti, A.Vallardi, 1995
Mangiare e Bere all’Italiana, by Luigi Carnacina and Luigi Veronelli, Garzanti, 1962
Recipes and Memories, by Sophia Loren, GT Publishing Corporation, 2000
Le Quattro Stagioni in Cucina, by Lisa Biondi, AMZ Editrice, 1981

Eleven years of blogging, eight of podcasting

Another year! The good news is that this blog is still active and luckily keeps being found by those searching for Italian specialties like pizzoccheri or canederli or Italian misconceptions like my 6 Italian myths. The bad news of course is that I haven’t posted any new articles or recipes this year. I know, it’s terrible – but it’s also okay, given that social media has taken the place of blogging in many ways.

But I did resume podcasting (yay!) and produced 16 new episodes with as many guests and collaborations this past year! This continues to be a lot of fun for me and I’ve already started to work on a new round of episodes to hopefully reach my dream milestone of 100 episodes very soon!

Here is a list of the episodes this year. Thanks again to all of my wonderful guests!

79 Introducing Valeria and Benedetta from Local Aromas with Valeria and Benedetta Bianchini
80 Dining Out and Traveling During a Pandemic with Raffaella de Amicis
81 Questions Italians in North America Can’t Help But Wonder About with Sim Salis
82 Dissecting Ragù alla Bolognese with Tina Prestia
83 Introducing Cooking with Mamma Marzia Cookbook with Marzia Bellotti Molatore
84 Introducing Christine from Italian Dish Podcast
85 Introducing Local Aromas’ Advent Calendar and More with Valeria and Benedetta Bianchini
86 Christmas Traditions from Growing up in Sicily, Canada, and Milan
87 Introducing Eva from Electric Blue Food with Eva Grosso
88 Chinotto – The Other Way of Drinking Dark, a solo podcast on the somewhat obscure Italian soda
89 Introducing Kristie Prada from Mammaprada
90 Italian Words Gone Wrong – Mistakes on the Menu, another solo podcast, a reading on one of my older blog posts
91 Introducing Podcaster Wendy Holloway from Flavor of Italy
92 The Quest for Authentic & Original Recipes, with Diana Pinto
93 Introducing Becca and Sarah from Dietetics After Dark Podcast
94 Podcast Recording, Editing, and Production, with Sound Designer Geoff Devine

On a personal level, we keep well here in southern England, still working from home and enjoying plenty of homecooked food. We pretty much spend our time planning meals, cooking, cleaning the kitchen, and being grateful for having a dishwasher. As the government lifted all social distancing measures exactly two weeks ago, we are far from back to normal, unfortunately. Traveling is still not really possible, including to and from Italy which of course breaks our hearts. But we enjoy our area, which is wonderfully green after a very wet summer, and spending time with our cat Rascal, who just turned 19, overall doing great and still a great source of comfort and inspiration to us both.

I hope you’re all well, wherever you are, and please get in touch for collaborations, to be on the podcast, or just to say hi – I’d love that 🙂

[Thoughts on the Table – 81] Questions Italians in North America Can’t Help But Wonder About

In this episode, Thoughts on the Table goes back to its quintessential nature: investigate the difference in food and food culture between Italy and North America.

My new partner in this journey is the multi-talented Sim Salis (radio host, writer, voice actor, video and podcast producer.)

Join the conversation to hear us dissect some of the most pressing questions Italians living in North America ask themselves, including why does fresh milk last three weeks? What is the difference between ice cream and gelato? How do Italians feel about the stereotypes associated with them? Why does Japanese food taste so good?

You can follow Sim on the web @ sim.show and through his podcast.