A selection of the most important cookbooks in Italian culinary culture,
from Pellegrino Artusi on, will soon be digitalized and indexed to form The
Italian Kitchen, the first historical dictionary of Italian gastronomic
language.
Until now, there has been no comprehensive compilation of Italian culinary
terms. The dictionary, which records the names Italians have used for the
ingredients, cooking tools and processes inside their kitchens, is a project of
the Florence-based Accademia della Crusca, a highly regarded centre of
scientific research on the study and appreciation of the Italian language, in
collaboration with the Accademia Barilla from Parma, an
institution that promotes Italy’s culinary tradition around the world.
For the first phase of the project, 100 cookbooks, from the first
edition of Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in
the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (see TF 58) to
cookbooks from the World War II period will be scanned, transferred to digital
format and made accessible in an online database on a dedicated portal.
The Accademia della Crusca is also working with the University La Sapienza and Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta, both of Rome, the University of
Torino, the University of Foreigners of Siena and other Italian universities.
For more information, consult www.accademiadellacrusca.it and www.academiabarilla.it.