Food history professor Alberto Grandi made some polarizing claims in a recent interview, saying many Italian dishes are actually more American in heritage.
Grandi, who teaches at the University of Parma in Italy, told the Financial Times that he had been questioning the authenticity of certain “Made in Italy” dishes for years, specifically naming pizza, carbonara and Parmesan cheese.
“When a community finds itself deprived of its sense of identity, because of whatever historical shock or fracture with its past, it invents traditions to act as founding myths,” he said, implying Italy’s food history could be more fiction than fact.
