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NERAM spreads an Italian table

July 06, 2005

LeoniLally.thumb.jpgA truly “delectable” exhibition is on its way to the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) in Armidale.

Titled “Fifty Years of Italian Cuisine”, the exhibition features images and documents that illustrate life in Italy, from the mid-20th century to the present day, from the perspective of culinary art and culture.

NERAM and the Italian Section at The University of New England have cooperated in bringing this travelling exhibition to Armidale. It will be on show at NERAM from Saturday 9 to Tuesday 12 July. Professor Michael Macklin, Dean of UNE’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, will officially open the exhibition in a ceremony to begin at 10.30 am on the 9th (with light refreshments to follow). “Fifty Years of Italian Cuisine” has been brought to Australia under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy, the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the Italian Institute of Culture, and the Italian Trade Commission.

“This exhibition will give people of the New England region an insight into the development of a cuisine that has had, in its turn, a major impact on the development of Australian cuisine over the past 50 years,” said Dr Franko Leoni, Convener of Italian at UNE. (Dr Leoni is pictured here with the Director of NERAM, Dr Janice Lally.)

The exhibition includes images of Italian farm produce and its harvesting, as well as of classic Italian dishes. The structure of the exhibition, however, is based on images such as those used in advertising, in magazines, in restaurant guides, and on the covers of cookbooks, that reflect the history of Italy through its food: from a country suffering the privations of war and its aftermath in the 1940s through the changing fashions and preoccupations of more prosperous decades to the present day. Images from Italian cinema and television illustrate the evolution of food-related culture as portrayed in those media.

“One reason for the ready acceptance of Italian cuisine in other countries is its simplicity,” Dr Leoni explained. “It is essentially a cuisine derived from the kitchens of poor people working with a limited range of ingredients. The genius of Italian cooking lies in what they have managed to do with those ingredients.”

“Fifty Years of Italian Cuisine” charts the activities of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, since its foundation in 1953, in protecting the rich heritage of Italian food.


Media contact: Dr Franko Leoni, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, UNE, on 0403 293 048, or Helen at NERAM on (02) 6772 5255.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at July 6, 2005 10:24 AM