The ICC is pleased to present
ITALIAN IMMIGRANT CUISINE IN THE UNITED STATES: A History of Food and Diaspora
by Prof. Simone Cinotto
Doors 10:30 AM
Talk 11:00 AM
Complimentary cappuccino & espresso,
cornetti and biscotti
will be served by our
Italian baristi Massimo & Gigi.
Do you have stories to share on the local Italian American food scene of the Twin Cities or elsewhere in the U.S.?
Join us, we would love to hear from you.
As part of our series ITALIAN AMERICANS: MORE THAN 200 YEARS IN THE MAKING, dedicated to exploring the history and heritage of the millions of Italians who emigrated to the United States and demystifying stereotypes, we are delighted to announce our 3rd talk: Italian Immigrant Cuisine in the United States: A History of Food and Diaspora, live from Italy with Prof. Simone Cinotto. Presented in English.
Food was at the center of the lives of Italian immigrants in the United States and their children in the early twentieth century. From generational conflicts resolved around the family table to a vibrant food-based economy of ethnic producers, importers, and restaurateurs, food was essential to the creation of an Italian American identity. Italian American foods offered not only sustenance but also powerful narratives of community and difference, tradition and innovation as immigrants made their way in American society, in the process inventing in the New World a widely popular Italian cuisine that did not exist yet in their country of origin.
Join us on Saturday, November 5th, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM (Doors: 10:30 AM) at ICC. Prof. Simone Cinotto will connect remotely from Italy (presented in English) with ICC members and friends listening together from our location in the vibrant North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis.
This will be a fascinating morning, providing participants with an opportunity to discover ICC's new location, reconnect and enjoy a good cappuccino or espresso, cornetti and biscotti. Doors: 10:30 AM; Presentation: 11:00 AM.
IMPORTANT: Masking will be optional but proof of vaccination or a negative test performed within 72 hours of the event will be required upon entry. Click here for details on our COVID 19 policy.
All cancellations must be received at least 72 hours in advance to receive a refund less an administrative fee.
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Simone Cinotto is Associate Professor of Modern History at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, where he is the Director of the master’s program, “Master of Gastronomy: World Food Cultures and Mobility”, the Coordinator of the Graduate Degree in “International Gastronomies and Food Geo-Politics,” and Reference Professor for Fulbright cultural exchange programs between Italy and the United States. Cinotto holds a Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Genoa. He is the Coordinator of the Local Research Unit of the National Interest Research Project (PRIN) “Transatlantic Transfers: The Italian Presence in Postwar America” (2019-2023). He is currently an affiliate research scholar at Indiana University Bloomington.
Cinotto is the author of The Italian American Table: Food, Family, and Community in New York City (University of Illinois Press, 2013), Soft Soil Black Grapes: The Birth of Italian Winemaking in California (New York University Press, 2012), and Gastrofascismo e Impero: Il cibo nell’Africa Orientale Italiana, 1935-1941 (Mimesis, 2022); the editor of Making Italian America: Consumer Culture and the Production of Ethnic Identities (Fordham University Press, 2014), which won the 2015 John G. Cawelti Award for the Best Textbook/Primer of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association; and the coeditor, with Hasia Diner, of Global Jewish Foodways: A History (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), and, with Daniel Bender, of Food Mobilities: Making World Cuisines (University of Toronto Press, 2023). His article “Leonard Covello, the Covello Papers, and the Eating Habits of Italian Immigrants in New York” won the 2004 David Thelen Prize awarded by the Organization of American Historians for the best article on American History published in a language other than English, and was published in the Journal of American History.
Cinotto has been Visiting Professor at Indiana University (2017-2018), Visiting Professor at University of London SOAS (2014-2019), Visiting Scholar of the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies (CEMS) at New York University (2013-2015), Visiting Professor at the Department of Italian Studies at New York University (2008-2009), Fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University (2004), Visiting Scholar at the History Department at Columbia University (2007, 2000, 1998), Fellow of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University (2000), and Scholar-in-Residence of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies-Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (2009, 2000, 1998).
Cinotto is on the Editorial Collective of and on the Editorial Board of several journals, among which Food, Culture, and Society, Gastronomica, Global Food History, and the Italian American Review.
Cinotto current research interests include the global history of food, migration, and mobility and the history of transatlantic consumer cultures in the twentieth century, with a focus on Italian America. He has four books in preparation: Fascist Coffee, Imperial Bananas: Food in Italian East Africa, 1935-1941; Birth of a Cultural Superpower: Italian Products and Cultures in Postwar United States and the Transatlantic Origins of Made in Italy; The Puerto Ricans and Italians of New York: Migration and Mobilization in the Atlantic World; and Transatlantic Emotions: The Mental and Intimate Biography of an Italian Immigrant to America, 1905-1942.
Cinotto has a long and significant administrative experience, having created and directed for sixteen years what is now the master’s program, “Master of Gastronomy: World Food Cultures and Mobility,” (previously “Food Culture and Communications: Food, Place, and Identities”), at UNISG Pollenzo. The program has so far enrolled and graduated about 750 students from about 60 countries. Through the years, Cinotto has invited to teach in the program many of the top international food studies scholars as well as experts and activists. The planning and management of the program has included the organization of some 50 study trips to different parts of Italy, Europe, and the rest of the world and the creation of a very large database of opportunities for student internships.
RESEARCH TOPICS
Food History and Culture
Italian American Studies
Modern Italian History
History of Consumer Culture
Migration History
U.S. and Transatlantic History
Website https://www.unisg.it/en/docenti/simone-cinotto/
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3519-5437
Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=96DonDQAAAAJ&hl=en
