In Los Angeles IMAFestival and the Exhibition Eat Art are presented by the Italian Cultural Institute that will host the big closing event of the 26th of May. We met the new Director of the Institute, Alberto di Mauro.
Tell us something about your hometown and why you moved to Los Angeles.
I was born in Messina, on the Straits of the same name between Italy and Sicily, a geographical location but also a symbolic place of transit, just like my life, since I have travelled a lot. I lived most of my student life between Rome, where I went to College, and Norway where I went to Graduate school in Literature. My position as Cultural Promoter at Italian Cultural Institutes all over the world gave me the opportunity to meet different cultures and live in many cities: Tel Aviv, Edinburgh, Berlin, Dakar, Jakarta, Tokyo, Moscow and now Los Angeles. Working for the Italian Ministry of Foreign affairs means that I could not always choose the destination. Sometimes, I could express my preferences and apply for a specific post, I actually asked for Los Angeles because I wanted to have a working experience in the United States. I think that Los Angeles is a very interesting city, not only because it is the world capital of the movie business, but also for many other aspects of cultural life. Moreover many different cultures live together in LA and the Italian presence is very much alive such as the interest of Americans towards our culture. I can see this interest myself from the numerous people that attend the events organized by our Institute.
Who is the migrant for you?
The migrant is a person who lives a somewhat ambivalent situation. On one side he has abandoned the place where he used to live and all the certainties that surrounded him, on the other side he has to act in a different environment where he can discover new values and in which he needs to integrate.
Name two of your favorite dishes, one from your own tradition/culture and another from a tradition/culture different from yours.
La parmigianais a typical Sicilian recipe whose principal ingredients are: eggplant, tomato sauce and mozzarella. It is a very elaborated dish that my mother taught me to love since I was a child! In my travels, I tasted and appreciated many different dishes coming from different cooking traditions: the Indonesian nasi goreng made of fried rice with vegetables and fish, the Japanese sashimi and sushi, or the Russian soup broth. Many flavors, many tastes each one of them telling a story linked to the territory, the climate, and the society of the country they come from.
How much the mutual Exchange of food and art can enrich both the migrants and their receiving countries?
Food is a reference element for whoever migrates to another country and it always represents a very rooted part of everyone’s identity. Sometimes it happens that the culinary tradition of the migrants becomes also part of the tradition of the new country. The example of Italian food is actually in this sense very pertinent. Pizza, just to name one dish, has become part of the diet of many different countries in the world. The exchange between food and art can become very fruitful for creativity. As in a work of art, the inspiration comes from the artist, also in the preparation of food the colors, forms and flavors intertwine to transmit sensory messages from the person cooking the dish. Therefore, it’s a very fertile field they have in common.
