PicoBlog

Vanessa Vaio is a fabulous “heritage interpreter” from Como in Northern Italy. And we met on stage at a wine tourism conference in Moldova. I listen to Vanessa as she gives her speech on the heritage of the Bialetti “Moka”; the iconic, octagonal, Italian stove-top coffee maker. It’s a fascinating lecture about the importance that seemingly mundane, everyday objects and daily rituals can have on us. Between sessions we talk about Italy. Vanessa lives in Como. My family - the Fattorini’s - come from Bellagio, a few kilometres to the north. In the middle of Como’s famous lake. Vanessa and I talk about the village, and in passing I mention it was where the leader of The Futurists, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, died. Vanessa then says “did you know that Marinetti and the Futurists popularised espresso?” I did not. Vanessa explains how.

Only later do I realise something more profound. Marinetti and the Futurists didn’t popularise espresso everywhere. And those places tell us something important. And the way Marinetti changed coffee for the rest of us, tells us something important about how we can change wine. For the better.

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) was an Italian poet, editor, and the founder of the Futurist movement. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, he was educated in Italy and France. Marinetti began his career in literature, subsequently becoming famous for his poetry and plays. And then becoming infamous for being a Fascist.

In 1909, Marinetti published the "Futurist Manifesto" in the French newspaper Le Figaro. It caused a storm. It was the start of a movement that celebrated the modern world of industry and technology. And one of its leading artists was Umberto Boccioni, who created “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” in 1913, which now appears on Italian 20 cent coins. Like Boccioni, Marinetti advocated a rejection of the past and a celebration of speed, machinery, violence, youth, and industry. He wanted to goad. To incite. To rouse Italians. To wake them up. He called himself “The caffeine of Europe”.

Through the 20’s and 30’s Marinetti saw Mussolini and the Fascist regime as an extension of his futurist ideals. It was an association that would tarnish his legacy after World War II, and overshadow his contributions to modernist literature and art.

And coffee too.

Coffee arrived in Europe - in Hungary - in the early 16th century. By the mid-17th century it had spread to coffee shops in northern Italy. It almost certainly wasn’t as appetising as it is today. But it gave millions of workers a caffeinated boost to the start of a long day in the innovative mass production factories that sprang up in newly industrialised economies. It also had the benefit of not being alcohol. Coffee houses became a place to meet, and talk, and socialise that didn’t involve booze.

Although before you could do anything you first had to have your coffee. Which took about five minutes because you had to wait for it to filter. That was until in 1901 Luigi Bezzera patented a new sort of coffee machine. This forced steam through the grounds. Making a drink in seconds rather than minutes. The patent was bought and perfected by Desiderio Pavoni - a name you’ll still see on espresso machines. Pavoni showed the machines at the Milan Exposition of 1906.

With the new espresso machine, coffee houses could serve 1000 cups an hour. (By comparison, a good Starbucks barista can turn out between 20 and 30 drinks an hour). It was possible to give more caffeine to more workers more quickly. To move forward. To advance. To the future. Which was exactly what Marinetti wanted for society.

"The Futurist Cookbook" (originally "La Cucina Futurista"), published in 1932, is not really a cookbook at all. It’s a collection of recipes, experiments, and philosophy by Marinetti.

The Futurists, by declaring themselves against pasta and indicating new developments in Italian cooking, are not only assisting the important goal of national savings, but intend to change the tastes and eating habits of the Italians.

It's an extension of the Futurist philosophy into the realm of gastronomy. If romantics believe the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, Marinetti believed it was also the way to social change. Marinetti’s Cookbook reflected the Futurist disdain for tradition and their passion for innovation and modernity. It proposed a radical transformation of dining, emphasising sensory experience, unusual combinations of ingredients, and the presenting of meals in innovative and often provocative ways.

What Marinetti did with food was powerful. But also timeless. Religions have used food as a way of communicating and embedding morality, rules, norms, and community since the dawn of religion itself. (I know, I wrote an MPhil thesis on it). For Marinetti, espresso coffee wasn’t better because it was tastier. Or more caffeinated. (It’s actually less caffeinated). Or cheaper. But he saw food and coffee could MEAN more. Espresso coffee could come to embody the changes he sought for society. And that you could use espresso coffee to change society.

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