Gadda was not only a locavore and foodie waaaayy back in the day (the fifties), he was also an engineer and one of the most prominent Italian writers of the twentieth century. Let me just say that he did not write the way you would expect an engineer to write. As proof, I will translate an excerpt from his recipe for risotto alla milanese (he was from Milan), published in the company magazine of Eni, Italy's giant petrochemical enterprise. Original text first." per il brodo, un lesso di manzo con carote-sedani, venuti tutti e tre dalla pianura padana, non un toro pensionato, di animo e di corna balcaniche: per lo zafferano consiglio Carlo Erba Milano in boccette sigillate: si tratterà di dieci dodici, al massimo quindici, lire a persona: mezza sigaretta.
Non ingannare gli dei, non obliare Asclepio, non tradire i familiari, né gli ospiti che Giove Xenio protegge, per contendere alla Carlo Erba il suo ragionevole guadagno. No! Per il burro, in mancanza di Lodi potranno sovvenire Melegnano, Casalbuttano, Soresina, Melzo, Casalpusterlengo, tutta la bassa milanese al disotto della zona delle risorgive, dal Ticino all'Adda e insino a Crema e Cremona. Alla margarina dico no! E al burro che ha il sapore delle saponette: no!"
" for the stock, boiled beef with carrots and celery, all three from the Po Valley, not a retired bull, with a Balkan spirit and horns: for the saffron I suggest Carlo Erba Milan in sealed vials: this will run you ten twelve, at most fifteen lire per person: half a cigarette.
Do not deceive the gods, do not forget Asclepius, do not betray your family, nor the guests protected by Jove Xenios, in order to deprive Carlo Erba of its reasonable profit. No! For the butter, in the absence of Lodi one can substitute Melegnano, Casalbuttano, Soresina, Melzo, Casalpusterlengo, the entire area south of Milan beyond the springs, from the Ticino to the Adda, to Crema and Cremona. To margarine I say no! And to butter that tastes like a bar of soap: no!"
The place names he lists are all small towns south of Milan, known for their dairy production. He even insists (with subtle anti-capitalist irony) on using saffron bought from a large local company, Carlo Erba, imported from Abruzzo. None of that Spanish stuff! Another way to look at it was that he was perhaps influenced by Mussolini's notion of autarchia, or economic self-sufficiency.
For the full text of the original recipe published in 1959, click here.
