A fellow’s forum with Karima Moyer-Nocchi, culinary historian and professor, University of Siena, Italy from July 27, 2023.
About the Presentation
Few would hesitate to use the word “iconic” in conjunction with the dish macaroni and cheese. Yet, despite the rank it enjoys in the panoply of American foods, and the celebratory status it commands in magazine articles, blogs entries, YouTube videos, cookbooks and on T-shirts, its history has never been subjected to rigorous, long-form scholarly scrutiny from a longue durée perspective. To remedy this, Dr. Moyer-Nocchi has dedicated the last three years to intensive study of the history of macaroni and cheese from its earliest tracings in Ancient Rome to its modern manifestation in the United States. Her objective has been not only to bring to light the fascinating journey it has made in time and space on route to becoming one of the principal markers of the American culinary identity, but also to reveal how its history is deeply intertwined with pertinent issues of gender, class, race, and economics that have repercussions in society today.
The aspect of her research that brought her to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation should surprise no one. Thomas Jefferson and James Hemings, Jefferson’s enslaved chef, have both been implicated –– sometimes together, sometimes individually –– as the principal agent(s) responsible for the introduction, diffusion and popularization of the dish in the United States. The Jeffersonian Age is therefore the topic of the fourth chapter of her upcoming book (under contract for publication in 2025) on the history of macaroni and cheese. In Moyer-Nocchi's presentation, she will give an overview of the project in general and discuss more specifically: the methodology involved in ascertaining how or whether the assertions about Jefferson and Hemings stand up to scholarly scrutiny; the repercussions that can result from probing firmly held, cultural beliefs, and the responsibility of the scholar to respectfully redirect the public’s affective investment towards more substantive findings or speculation
About Karima Moyer-Nocchi
Karima Moyer-Nocchi is a culinary historian specializing in Italian food, and is professor at the University of Siena, Italy. In her work, she uses food as a lens to reconstruct social histories, as seen in her books Chewing the Fat – An oral history of Italian foodways from Fascism to Dolce Vita, and The Eternal Table – A cultural history of food in Rome. She is has a popular account on Instagram: @historicalitalianfood, where she promotes “hands-on history” – the preparation and consumption of historical dishes as a portal to experiencing history by cooking and eating it. On her website The Eternal Table, she presents longer historical culinary explorations as well as her own original “code-switching cuisine” recipes, fruit of her 33-years of experience as an American living in Italy. Moyer-Nocchi is currently working on a history of macaroni and cheese, to be published by Columbia University Press in 2025.