Minestrone

Homemade minestrone in a bowl

Minestrone (Italian: minestra [soup] + -one [augmentative suffix] hence "the big soup," the one with many ingredients) is the name for a variety of thick Italian soups made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes.

There is no set recipe for minestrone, since it is usually made out of whatever vegetables are in season. It can be vegetarian, contain meat, or contain a meat-based broth (such as chicken stock). Angelo Pellegrini, however, argued that the base of minestrone is bean broth, and that Roman beans "are the beans to use for genuine minestrone".^[1]

Minestrone is one of the cornerstones of Italian cuisine, and is almost as common as pasta on Italian tables.^[2]

History

Some of the earliest origins of minestrone soup pre-date the expansion of the Latin tribes of Rome into what became the Roman Republic and later Roman Empire, when the local diet was "vegetarian by necessity"^[3] and consisted mostly of vegetables, such as onions, lentils, cabbage, garlic, fava beans, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus and turnips.^[3]

During this time, the main dish of a meal would have been "pulte" or puls in English, a simple but filling porridge of spelt flour cooked in salt water, to which whatever vegetables were available would have been added.^[3]

It wasn't until the 2nd century B.C., when Rome had conquered Italy and monopolized the commercial and road networks, that a huge diversity of products flooded the capital and began to change their diet, and by association, the diet of Italy^[4] most notably with the more frequent inclusion of meats, including as a stock for soups.

Spelt flour was also removed from soups, as bread had been introduced into the Roman diet by the Greeks, and Rome had opened their first commercial "fornaio", or bakery, in 171 B.C^[5] and puls became a meal largely for the poor.^[6]

However, the ancient Romans recognized the health benefits of simple or "frugal" diet (from the Latin fruges, the common name given to cereals, vegetables and legumes)^[7] and thick vegetable soups and vegetables remained a staple.^[7]

Marcus Apicius's ancient cookbook De Re Coquinaria described polus, a Roman soup dating back to 30 AD made up of farro, chickpeas, and fava beans, with onions, garlic, lard, and greens thrown in.^[8]

The Roman army is said to have marched on minestrone and pasta e ceci (or a European kind of beans and pasta), the former making use of local and seasonal ingredients, the latter due to the longevity of dried goods.^{[citation needed]}

However, as eating habits and ingredients changed in Italy, so did their minestrone. Apicius updates the pultes and pulticulae with fancy trimmings such as cooked brains and wine, "illustrating the ever-present desire to improve — to glorify, as it were, a thing which once was or still is of vital importance in the daily life of humans. The nouveaux-riches of the ancient and the modern world cannot find it easy to separate themselves from their traditions nor are they wont to put up with their plainness, hence the fancy trimmings", according to researchers on the subject.^[6]

The introduction of tomatoes and potatoes from the Americas in the Mid 16th Century changed the soup by making available two ingredients which have since become staples.

However, the tradition of not losing rural roots continues today, and minestrone is now known in Italy as belonging to the style of cooking called "cucina povera" (literally "poor kitchen") meaning dishes that have rustic, rural roots, as opposed to "cucina nobile" or the cooking style of the artistocracy and nobles.^[9][10]

Like many Italian dishes, minestrone was probably originally not a dish made for its own sake, like for example the ancient Roman green onion soup "Patella Lucretiana", or Lucrezio's dish, though this point is argued.^{[by whom?]} In other words, whereas one might set about gathering green onions, anchovies, herring sauce and honey, as called for by the recipe for Lucrezio's green onion soup, one did not gather the ingredients of minestrone with the intention of making minestrone, as evidenced by the fact the name "minestrone" did not appear until the 14th century (see Etymology). The ingredients were pooled from ingredients for other dishes, often side dishes or "contorni" plus whatever was left over, rather like the "pulte".

There are two schools of thought on when the recipe for minestrone became more formalized. One argues that in the 17th and 18th centuries minestrone emerged as a soup using exclusively fresh vegetables and was made for its own sake (meaning it no longer relied on left-overs), while the other school of thought argues that the dish had always been prepared exclusively with fresh vegetables for its own sake since the pre-Roman "pulte", but the name minestrone lost its meaning of being made with left-overs.

Etymology

The word minestrone has its root in the Latin word "minus" or minor or less, which was applied to servants, as they were considered subordinates. Hence, the word "minestrone" originates from the Latin word "minestrare" or literally "that which is served,". The verb is from circa 1300, originally "to serve (food or drink)" and shares the same root as the verb and noun "minister".^[11]

Modern usage

Due to its unique origins and the absence of a fixed recipe, minestrone is not particularly similar across Italy: it varies depending on traditional cooking times, ingredients, and season. Minestrone ranges from a thick and dense texture with very boiled-down vegetables, to a more brothy soup with large quantities of diced and lightly cooked vegetables that may include meats.

In modern Italian there are three words corresponding to the English word 'soup': zuppa, which is used in the sense of tomato soup, or fish soup; minestra, which is used in the sense of a more substantial soup such as a vegetable soup, and also for 'dry' soups, namely pasta dishes; and minestrone, which means a very substantial or large soup or stew, though the meaning has now come to be associated with this particular dish.

Regional variations

Minestrone alla Genovese is a variant typical of Liguria, which contains greater use of herbs, including pesto.

References

1. ^ Angelo Pellegrini, The Unprejudiced Palate (New York: Modern Library, 2005), 153.
2. ^ Palombo, Claudia. "Brodi, Zuppe e Spezzatini". Italian Broths, Soups and Stews. flavorsandmemories.com. http://flavorsandmemories.com/brodi/. Retrieved 2008-11-06. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ ^{a b c} Magna Roma, cibi e bevande di Roma antica, by Francesca di Mattia and Federico Zucchelli, Scipioni publishers Oct 2003, page 9
4. ^ Magna Roma, cibi e bevande di Roma antica, by Francesca di Mattia and Federico Zucchelli, Scipioni publishers Oct 2003, page 15
5. ^ Magna Roma, cibi e bevande di Roma antica, by Francesca di Mattia and Federico Zucchelli, Scipioni publishers Oct 2003, page 16
6. ^ ^{a b} http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Apicius/5*.html
7. ^ ^{a b} Magna Roma, cibi e bevande di Roma antica, by Francesca di Mattia and Federico Zucchelli, Scipioni publishers Oct 2003, page 12
8. ^ Norma Wasserman-Miller's Soups of Italy (NY: William Morrow, 1998)
9. ^ http://www.wordnik.com/words/cucina%20povera
10. ^ Italian Country Cooking: The Secrets of Cucina Povera by Loukie Werle, Publisher: Metro Books ISBN 9781435101265
11. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=minestrone