Think On It

Kitchen culture, different views

September 15th, 2007

I had a conversation with a woman in the market this morning. We were talking about which plums were the best to cook, and I mentioned having made the torta with plums and goat cheese.

Said she, “Oh, a savory torta. As a side dish?”

I assured her that it was a dessert.

“But with goat cheese in it? How can that be?”

All I could do was shrug, because the American taste for salty with sweet makes what are to me winning desserts, but most Italians think if it isn’t all sweet, it isn’t dessert. I fight them all the time to prevent them changing pie crusts to sweet crusts. When I make the original American pies, like lemon meringue, apple, peach, they love them. Swept away. But give them the recipe and they will make the crust sweet, cook the meringue separately so that it is dry and crunchy, they have a hard time breaking away from their kitchen culture.

I suspect that we do, too. I think you could tell me lots of ways in which my Italian recipes sound wrong from within your kitchen culture. I hope you will tell me, because this fascinates me at the moment.

Entry Filed under: Food, Italy, kitchen stuff, dessert, Italian food