It is among the best known preparations of Italian cuisine, the pasta alla Norma. And it is a real pride, for Catania and Sicily. Now, the city's Fipe Confcommercio has launched a proposal: to elect it a World Heritage Site, to relaunch the post-pandemic economy and because it is deeply linked to the culture of the territory.
The proposal of the restaurateurs
For some time now, the restaurateurs gathered in the Fipe Confcommercio of Catania they were thinking of an award for pasta alla Norma. Then came the pandemic, the closures came, and the need for a revival for the sector made its way. "Thanks to the increasingly widespread interest in Sicilian gastronomy by foreign customers, pasta alla Norma has become the most popular dish of our land. It has made Sicily one of the most visited destinations in the Mediterranean area, where the link between food and place is strong. We have a duty to do what is right recognition to what is beautiful and good that represents us”Explained Dario Pistorio, president of Fipe-Confcommercio for Sicily.
The position of the Fipe
"We need to create a system around a quality brand that raises the level of knowledge of our restaurant also abroad. And that gives value tocommitment of the entrepreneurs and workers, chefs and cooks who work in our kitchens. All of this could be a good vehicle for giving more visibility to the typical features of our gastronomic supply chain in the city“, Echoed Giovanni Trimboli, president of the Fipe restaurateurs. Hence, the idea of nominating pasta to the Norma for Humanity, such as gastronomic heritage of Italian cuisine, to be protected and preserved.
Recipe and history of pasta alla Norma
Pasta alla Norma has very specific ingredients: pasta (strictly short), eggplant, sauce tomatoes, salted ricotta, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, basil. Legend has it that the writer coined his name Nino martoglio. "Chista is a true Norma!“, He would have exclaimed in front of that dish, so good as to compare it to Norma by Bellini. In those days, in fact, Catania was in turmoil for the inauguration of its theater, named after Bellini and opened to the public in 1890 with the Norma. But there are also those who believe that Bellini himself invented the dish. To make pasta alla Norma, as is done in Catania, the aubergines cut into slices are fried while the tomato sauce is prepared. Macaroni are seasoned with the sauce and aubergines, then covered with a generous grating of salted ricotta.
Not just pasta alla Norma, Unesco World Heritage foods
If pasta alla Norma is only a “candidate” for now, there are Italian foods and production methods that have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for some time. First of all the pizza, the tricolor dish par excellence. And then there cultivation of the Zibibbo vine from Pantelleria, and the Mediterranean diet. Internationally, intangible assets include:
- Turkish keskek, a meat and wheat based dish served during weddings and religious ceremonies
- French cuisine
- Mexican cuisine
- the Japanese washoku
- South Korean kimchi, a typical dish based on macerated and spiced cabbage
- Belgian beer
Could pasta alla Norma be about to join?
