Dec 30, 2020 22:00:00

There has been a movement to 'eliminate national dish pasta from the Italian table'

Pasta made by kneading flour, such as spaghetti, macaroni,

linguine and vermicelli , is a staple food loved by the Italian people, which can be called a national dish. The annual consumption of pasta per capita is about 26 kg, and it is known as the most pasta-loving people in the world, but it seems that such Italians once tried to throw away pasta.

When Italian Futurists Tried to Ban Pasta | Mental Floss
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/635709/when-italian-futurists-tried-ban-pasta

It all started with a speech by poet and critic Filippo Tommaso Marinetti . Marinetti was one of the founders and promoters of the 'Futurist' avant-garde art movement, which completely denied the art of the past and praised the speed of a mechanized modern society.

Originally a member of the Italian right-wing militia '

Black Shirts ', Marinetti approaches the Fascist Party led by Benito Mussolini . It was inevitable that the militant futurist ideas that denied the past and affirmed war and destruction were linked to the fascism that emerged in the early 20th century.

At a speech in Milan on November 15, 1930, Marinetti said, 'I'm convinced that pasta is nutritious.' 'Pasta is a heavy and brutal food.' 'Pasta is skeptical and dull and ate. It's a preterist food that makes people pessimistic, 'he said, developing an anti-pasta movement.

The background of this speech was that in Italy at that time, wheat, which was the raw material for pasta, had to be imported, and the Mussolini administration planned to replace rice, which is easier to produce domestically than wheat, as a staple food. In fact, the Mussolini administration established the 'National US Commission' in the late 1920s, setting November 1st as 'National US Day.' The Mussolini administration did not completely ban pasta, but by the time Marinetti gave his speech, he was already preparing to take 'anti-pasta ideas' into the public.

About a month after the speech, on December 28, 1930, the Futurists led by Marinetti announced ' (PDF file)

Futurist Cuisine Manifest .' Among them, Futurists described pasta as 'an absurd religion in Italian gastronomy,' and pasta lovers 'tied to iron balls and chains like convicted vagrant, and stomached the ruins like archaeologists.' I'm carrying it to you. ' The Futurists seemed to think that 'a complete nutritional food that allows you to get all the necessary nutrition with pills or powder' is the ultimate solution.

Marinetti's speeches and futurist manifestos have sparked some controversy. Marinetti received a letter of protest from a woman in the city of

L'Aquila in central Italy, and the mayor of Naples at the time made a sarcastic comment that 'the angels of paradise only eat Vermicelli with tomato sauce.'

In addition, the fact that 'Italians are trying to eliminate pasta' is seen as shocking news overseas, and the Chicago Tribune, an American newspaper, said, 'A fascist poet is new to a tattered countryman due to health problems. This is reported in the articles 'Recommend the theory' and 'Failure in spaghetti, Italy?'

Also, the Capital Times, a local newspaper in Wisconsin, USA, said, 'Mr. Marinetti, you abolished pasta such as macaroni and vermicelli, and turned the Italian diet into ugly dissonances such as beans, cabbage, meat and chewing gum. Are you telling me to replace it? Signor (husband), your soul has no poetry and your taste has no wit. '

On the other hand, there were voices from non-Futurist Italian knowledgeers who accepted the anti-pasta movement. Also, for the Italian people, who were exhausted by the war with Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War due to the growing influence of Nazi Germany, the question of 'what to eat' became more important than 'what to eat'. It was said that it was. Therefore, the anti-pasta movement has been accepted in Italy, and it seems that pasta consumption has actually decreased.

However, the relationship between the Futurists and the Fascist Party deteriorated as Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, who had rejected modern art and avant-garde art as ' degenerate art, ' approached the Fascist Party. Futurists who push forward with avant-garde art share a sword with the Fascist Party. Since the 1940s, the Futurists led by Marinetti have stopped appealing for the elimination of pasta, and the anti-pasta movement has gradually diminished and forgotten.

Marinetti died of a heart attack in December 1944, months before Mussolini was executed.