Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Italian food in America or how Prohibition gave us the olive garden

2006; Elsevier BV; Volume: 47; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.appet.2006.08.008

1095-8304

Ilona Baughman,

American History and Culture

Providence's Federal Hill, one of America's first Italian–American communities, continues to thrive today, supporting a lively restaurant culture. Italian restaurants have become so popular in recent years that they are no longer restricted to “Little Italies,” with Italian dining options at every point in the dining spectrum, from fine dining to fast food and national chains. A case can be made that around the country in general, and in Providence in particular, this nearly universal appeal owes a significant debt to the Prohibition laws that went into effect in 1920. In Paradox of Plenty, historian Harvey Levenstein notes that Italian restaurateurs “regarded Prohibition as some kind of a sick joke”. The Italians did not fail to perceive the anti-immigrant and particularly anti-Catholic overtones of the new laws. Non-compliance was rampant. The restaurants that had opened to serve home-style “Italian” meals to fellow countrymen had always served their patrons homemade wine and grappa. Facing no competition from legal bars and saloons, they found a natural source of new profits. Local enforcement officials were frequently complicit. Newspaper reports of the period are full of stories about police officers charged with a “failure to prevent violation of state prohibition law”. Diners came from all over town to partake and in turn, learned to enjoy Italian food. If the Yankee elite had not left the East Side in search of a cocktail back in the 1920s, they might never have learned the joys of a good Marinara sauce or veal Saltimbocca.