The domain of the south
(Il regno del sud)
Southern Italians have traditionally eaten more dried pasta than central and northern Italians. In fact, southern Italians don’t even use the word pasta but pasta asciutta (dried pasta) when referring to pasta. Growing up, I thought that the north–south ‘pasta divide’ had evolved because southern Italy was much poorer than northern Italy. Given that fresh pasta is generally made with eggs and dried pasta with water, I believed that cost was the main reason for this, and my conclusion was that fresh pasta made with eggs was better. I was mistaken.
In reality, it really comes down to the type and quality of flour used. Egg really only appears in pasta-making in certain regions of Italy as a result of necessity. It was introduced as a way to successfully make pasta using plain flour rather than semolina flour (made from hard durum wheat). Plain flour does not work very well when it comes to making pasta with water alone, particularly if you are intending to dry it, as the pasta has less protein in it than hard durum wheat flour. Egg increases the protein in the dough and helps plain flour pasta remain intact and not become brittle and fall apart. If you ever try to make dried pasta with plain flour using water instead of eggs, you will see very quickly how the pasta is rendered virtually unusable as soon as it dries.
Historically, an abundance of high-quality hard durum wheat and ideal climatic conditions—such as coastal maritime breezes in places like Naples and Sicily—drove the development of the dried pasta industry in southern Italy. The relative cheapness of dried pasta and its marvellous versatility saw it become central to the southern Italian diet.
Even though northern Italy now dominates the production of dried pasta (Parma boasts the world’s largest dried pasta producer), its consumption still tends towards southern styles of cooking. Additionally, a large internal migration process from southern to northern Italy through the period of the Italian post-war industrial revolution, along with the explosion of communications and media, have accentuated this.
Nowadays, it is no more difficult to find linguini alle vongole in a restaurant in Milan as it is to find it in Naples. And if there was a national Italian dish, spaghetti al pomodoro (spaghetti with tomato sauce) would have to come close to winning the prize. Like the ever-present ragù di carne (meat sauce), every region in Italy has a version of it or has incorporated it into its repertoire of regularly eaten dishes. This is significant in a place with such strong regional culinary heritage. Traditions tend to die slowly in Italy, and if they are strong, full of flavour and high in quality, they simply migrate! For obvious reasons, the dishes in this section are greatly influenced by the south.
