Eating Italian Il linguaggio culinario I love everything about la cucina italiana, whether you translate it according to a 13th-century definition as the place where food is prepared (a kitchen) or according to a 14th-century definition as "l'arte di preparare i cibi" (the art of preparing food). (The photo above displays the artistry of Susy, a cook from Torino who can transform a simple Caprese salad into a scrumptious sculpture). Italy's food and language meld together into il linguaggio culinario (the language of cooking) as smoothly as cacio sui maccheroni (cheese on macaroni). Both boast a rich and rollicking history dating back to ancient times. Both vary greatly from region to region, even from village to village. Both reflect centuries of invasion, assimilation, and conquest. And both can transform daily necessities into vibrant celebrations. Alta cucina (haute cuisine) descends from la cucina principesca, the refined dishes prepared by the cooks of the nobility. Cucina povera (cooking of the poor or peasant cooking) refers to a now-fashionable mode of Italian cooking that uses the basic ingredients that were the only things available to i poveri (the poor). Italians' (and my) favorite cooking is cucina casalinga (home-cooking). In cucina (in the kitchen) I like to read aloud the lilting words for simple culinary techniques such as rosolare (make golden), sbriciolare (crumble), and sciacquare (rinse). But Italian's gastronomic words do more than tease or appease the appetite. They spice up daily conversations. "Cosa bolle in pentola?" (What's boiling in the pot, or cooking?) Italians ask when they want to know if something is going on. Gotten yourself into a mess? You've made an omelette (fatto una frittata). Fed up and can't take any more? You're at the final dinner course, or in the fruit (alla frutta). Have a crush on someone? You're cooked (cotto). Italians call a busybody who noses into everything prezzemolo (parsley); someone uptight, a baccalà (dried cod); a silly fool, a salame (salami); and a bore, a pizza. They dismiss a story told time and again as fritta e rifritta (fried and refried) and something that's all sizzle and no steak as tutto fumo e niente arrosto (all smoke and no roast). When a speech, book or movie is slapped together in a hodgepodge manner, critics find it as hard to digest as a polpettone (big meat ball). Cucinare qualcuno (to cook someone) means treating him as he deserves—cooking his goose, so to speak. But if you're told to farti i cavoli tuoi, that has nothing to do with making cabbage (cavoli). This idiom translates as, "Mind your own business." Other Words and Expressions cucina a gas—gas cooker cucina economica—kitchen range libro di cucina, ricettario—cook book cuocere a fuoco lento / a fiamma bassa—to cook on a slow fire or low flame cuocere a fuoco alto / a fiamma alta—to cook on a high fire or flame cuocere al microonde—to microwave fare qualcuno a polpette or fare polpette di qualcuno—to make mincemeat of someone, to beat somebody to a pulp.