Karima Moyer-Nocchi, "The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2019)

Karima Moyer-Nocchi is a professor of modern languages at the University of Siena and a lecturer for the Master in Culinary Studies program at the University of Rome, Tor Vergata. Her first book, Chewing the Fat – An Oral History of Italian Food from Fascism to Dolce Vita (Medea, 2015) explored the folklore and foodways of Italy in the twentieth century through the first-hand accounts of women who lived through the twenty-year fascist regime. Moyer-Nocchi’s new book, The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), covers the entirety of Roman (or romanesco) food history from pre-Roman times to the present day.

According to Moyer-Nocchi, the cucina romanesca is multi-layered from the papal court to the flow of pilgrims and Grand Tourists, from the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Italy to Fascism and the rise of the middle classes. It is not a cuisine frozen in time, but a cuisine that’s as fluid and changeable as the city’s inhabitants. Indeed, human, plant, and animal migration is one of the recurring themes of this book that places food in a rich social history.

“Rome enthusiasts will revel in this well-researched retrospective of a dynamic, ever-evolving city” - Publisher’s Weekly

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