{"id":194,"date":"2009-10-25T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2009-10-25T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=194"},"modified":"2009-10-25T08:00:28","modified_gmt":"2009-10-25T12:00:28","slug":"domina-l%e2%80%99angolo-cucina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/domina-l%e2%80%99angolo-cucina\/","title":{"rendered":"Domina L\u2019Angolo Cucina"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems that the good old Italian kitchen, quel locale per antonomasia<\/strong> (that quintessential room) which was once the traditional focal point\u00a0of the home, is slowly but surely being ousted by l\u2019angolo cucina<\/strong> (the corner kitchen).\u00a0In Italy the kitchen once represented il focolare e il cuore\u00a0della casa<\/strong> (the hearth, and the heart of the house), and for many, particularly those who live in the older houses in rural areas, it still does. In our village, for example,\u00a0to be invited into someone’s home is synonymous with being invited into their kitchen, where we inevitably\u00a0end up sitting\u00a0a fare due chiacchiere<\/strong>\u00a0(chatting),\u00a0a bere\u00a0un caff\u00e8<\/strong> (drinking a coffee),\u00a0o forse\u00a0un bicchiere di vino<\/strong> (or maybe\u00a0a glass of wine). <\/span>In the winter particularly,\u00a0little groups of\u00a0neighbors will gather at each others houses and sit around\u00a0la stufa<\/strong> (the stove) or il forno a legna<\/strong> (the wood fired oven) in the kitchen, passing the time of day. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here in Lunigiana we also have\u00a0il gradile<\/strong> (more commonly known as\u00a0il seccatoio<\/strong>), a small building in which\u00a0le<\/strong> castagne<\/strong> (the chestnuts) would be dried ready for grinding into farina di castagne<\/strong> (chestnut flour). Il gradile<\/strong> was also once used as a primitive kitchen, with an open fire in the middle of the room over which, supported by\u00a0un paio di alari<\/strong> (a pair of firedogs),\u00a0was placed il testo<\/strong> (a heavy iron skillet). This was the preferred method for cooking such traditional recipes as la pattona<\/strong>, la torta d\u2019erbe<\/strong>, and il testarolo<\/strong>. These days the use of il gradile<\/strong> as a kitchen is increasingly rare, but we have been lucky enough to sample these dishes cooked\u00a0in the traditional manner and I can testify, non c\u2019\u00e8 paragone!<\/strong> (there\u2019s nothing like it!)<\/span><\/p>\n

However, whether we like it or not, social trends change<\/span>, and with the migration of young people to larger towns and cities, where they tend to live in un\u00a0appartamento<\/strong> (an apartment)\u00a0as a much smaller family unit, the kitchen seems to have lost its relevance.\u00a0\u00a0A recent survey of 30,000 newly constructed habitations shows that the presence of\u00a0a separate room for the preparation of food is becoming increasingly rare. In northern Italy for example, only 9% of bilocali<\/strong> (two room apartments) have a separate kitchen. The figure goes up to 10% for central Italy,\u00a0and even in the more traditional south barely reaches 12%. Trilocali<\/strong> (three room apartments) don\u2019t fare much better, with only roughly a quarter possessing una cucina tradizionale<\/strong> (a traditional kitchen). Only\u00a0when we look at\u00a0quadrilocale<\/strong> (four room apartments) and larger does the presence of a kitchen reach 70%. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Italy, when we talk about the number of\u00a0rooms an apartment has we do not usually include the locali di sevizio<\/strong> (service rooms, such as\u00a0the kitchen, bathroom, or storage room), therefore an apartment described as a\u00a0bilocale<\/strong> may in reality consist of more than two rooms. However, for the majority of people these days, the use of an angolo cucina<\/strong> incorporated into il soggiorno<\/strong> (the living room) is more efficient and allows the creation of a smaller, more economical\u00a0apartment which serves the same function as the traditional home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another factor which has no doubt contributed to the decline of the kitchen is\u00a0the change in our eating habits. Whereas in the past the family would riunirsi<\/strong> (get together) around the kitchen table three times a day it seems that these days us Italians like to eat out much more frequently. A recent survey has shown that 80% of Italians regularly eat meals outside the home, and of these 44%\u00a0 do so at least once a day!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems that the good old Italian kitchen, quel locale per antonomasia (that quintessential room) which was once the traditional focal point\u00a0of the home, is slowly but surely being ousted by l\u2019angolo cucina (the corner kitchen).\u00a0In Italy the kitchen once represented il focolare e il cuore\u00a0della casa (the hearth, and the heart of the house)…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[784],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","tag-langolo-cucina"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}