Recipes of popular
origin are one of the most
widespread but unknown sources
that
exist.
these semi-cultured
notebooks deserve
to
find their place in the historical
investigation.
an investigation to be conducted as through a
keyhole,
to give
back voice to our
precious culinary traditions.
0
cookbooks
0
recipes
0
ingredientsfrom a forgotten box
in a cellar, the
idea of
bringing to light
those precious
culinary traditions
silenced by
time.
One day, emptying a cellar unexpectedly from a powder-covered box came out several handwritten notebooks. One was present neatly, all the household expenses. On the other were medical prescriptions and folded boxes of medicines. In a third, in perfect handwriting, was an orderly set of cooking recipes...
It was not known to whom that notebook belongs. But that discovery, without a name, generated thinking and interrogation.
Were there any studies highlighting that knowledge concerning food without names or necessary signatures? Was anyone who had cared to collect those anonymous resources from semi-literate authors so precious?
No one had considered it. And so that project started to take form.
from a single cookbook
to the
donation
of more than 80 handwritten
notebooks.
In the last few years, RAGU has travelled the world, propagating the importance of not losing the knowledge our family members have tried to pass on to us through these handwritten notebooks.
In any place where the project reached, people brought handwritten notebooks: the precious legacies received from grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters, and wives.
Findings were instantly photographed and then returned, not without remarking on their preciosity.
Travel through the places of the recipes by exploring the map
ingredients that are often measured by
eye
because they
are the result of
the experience
of generations of
women
If it is true that cooking is chemistry, for our grandmothers, it was alchemy!
The rhythm of the pages is sustained by an infinite number of recipes and alternatives. But the most incredible - and enjoyable for those from other culinary traditions - is the almost total absence of any indication of weights and measures.
Hover on the measuring cup to find out the most common terms for quantifying the ingredients.
these ingredients once
combined,
give
rise to
the
dishes
of
our tradition.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of dishes. Pastas, meats, fish, desserts (how many desserts!) to instruct cooking: from schools within high school home economics classes to notebooks written in beautiful handwriting to be given to young spouses.
The dishes of tradition, the inventions, the innovations of tradition: literally thousands of variations to arrive at the supreme quotidian ceremony that human beings do for one another: to care through nourishment.
Hover over the bubbles to see which combinations of ingredient categories are most commonly combined in the recipes.
dishes of different
types,
from the simple ones, not to waste money,
to
the
more refined ones, to celebrate.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of dishes. Pastas, meats, fish, desserts (how many desserts!) to instruct cooking: from schools within high school home economics classes to notebooks written in beautiful handwriting to be given to young spouses.
The dishes of tradition, the inventions, the innovations of tradition: literally thousands of variations to arrive at the supreme quotidian ceremony that human beings do for one another: to care through nourishment.
Hover over the bubbles to see which combinations of ingredient categories are most commonly combined in the recipes.
recipes often written by
women
for
women,
for
example
by a mother
for a daughter who
marries.
The notebooks are almost all by female hands. Of all those collected, just a few are written by men.
This tells us about many things: the government of household affairs, as attested by Renaissance sources, is in the hands of the women of the house.
cookbooks handed down from one
generation to
another
until the creation of this
digital archive
that continues to weave the red
thread of tradition.
Precisely because they are sources of women, illiterate and unnamed (except in their family circles or communities), these notebooks are in danger of being forgotten or not preserved.
That is, until the creation of this digital archive, which was designed to continue the red thread of wisdom that comes from the knowledge developed in our families.
