The conversation paused for a few seconds when, in the middle of a dinner among journalists in Florence, someone reached for the grated Parmesan to accompany gnocchi with fish sauce. Pin, the Italian at the table, tried to cover it up, kept talking for a few seconds as if nothing were happening, but in the end she could not help it: “This is forbidden in Italy!”
She said it with a smile, but it sums up quite well something that anyone discovers sooner or later when traveling through the boot-shaped country. There are small unwritten rules at the Italian table. Some are fairly well known (such as avoiding cappuccino after a meal or getting a bit upset about pineapple on pizza) and others have more to do with common sense and a certain Italian way of understanding the table.
“En realidad no fue el parmesano”, explica Pin Cecchi, parte del equipo detrás de cafés históricos florentinos como Giacosa o Gilli. “Los italianos ponemos parmesano sobre muchísimas cosas, lo que me sorprendió fue verlo antes incluso de probar el plato. En la cocina italiana, especialmente en los platos de pescado, todo suele estar muy equilibrado, tanto el ajo, el aceite de oliva, las hierbas, la acidez… El parmesano cambia completamente el sabor”.
Aun así, Pin insiste en que los italianos están menos obsesionados con las reglas de lo que parece. “Lo que realmente molesta es cuando la comida pierde el cuidado detrás del plato”.
