The great and wise Pellegrino Artusi wrote: “Don't think that I have the pretense of teaching you how to make meatballs. This is a dish that everyone knows how to make, starting with the donkey”. Right. The meatball, the most loved food in the worldis part of the DNA. It is not learned. You know. It is handed down. Most of the time you learn by watching. Certainly no one consults the Talisman of happiness to make meatballs.
So why write a book? The key is in the title: “Polpettology", history, philosophy and recipes of the meatball, published by Manni. More ironic than a recipe book. A little more sophisticated than a cookery history book. More fun than a food philosophy book. A different book for a different reading, which I hope will make you smile.
The title - someone says - recalls Scientology. As authors we are not ambitious enough to start some kind of church, a self-help organization. Also because there's no need: meatball lovers from all over the world already recognize each other. You say meatballs and immediately the eye comes alive, the senses awaken. The conversation revives. Recipes bounce from sofa to sofa. While talking about duck au orange is a bit selective, it requires an expertise that not everyone has; the beauty of meatballs is that everyone can talk about it with the right haughtiness, given that every family has its own meatballs and no one can dispute it. The dictatorship of the chef does not suit this dish which is truly democratic: every recipe has equal dignity.
The meatball is global, if it is true that in the known world there is no country that does not have its meatball. But it is also ethical and socially responsible: it follows the trend of reuse and recycling. Mostly you do it with what you have at home or in close proximity.
But above all, meatballs are traditional (the only dish in which grandma prevails over mom: the authentic meatballs come from grandma), with some concessions to personal innovation.
The meatball is the hope of company: the meatball for one? Does not exist! And consolation: if you're in a bad mood on a rainy day, make meatballs and already the gesture of meatballing reconciles you with the world: take, mix, amalgamate, make what was formless round. And in the meantime, your hands are full and your brain is free: it's meat loaf therapy. And in order not to get rid of the desire to read the book anticipating too much, I'll close here with a pretentious motto: meatballs are like life. Choosing the ingredients well is not a guarantee of success, but it certainly helps.
