Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American

242 Pages·2022·1.845 MB·English

by  Ian MacAllen

Red Sauce

Red Sauce
How Italian Food Became American
Ian MacAllen
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
86-90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2022 by Ian MacAllen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: MacAllen, Ian, 1981– author.
Title: Red sauce : how Italian food became American / Ian MacAllen.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2022] | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “A narrative social
history tracing the evolution of traditional Italian American cuisine
from its origins in Italy and its transformation in America into a
distinct new cuisine”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021042830 (print) | LCCN 2021042831 (ebook) | ISBN
9781538162347 (cloth) | ISBN 9781538162354 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Tomato sauces—United States—History. | Italian
Americans—Foods—History. | Cooking, Italian—History. | Cooking,
American—History. | Food habits—Italy—History. | Food habits—United
States—History.
Classification: LCC TX819.T65 M33 2022 (print) | LCC TX819.T65 (ebook) |
DDC 641.81/4—dc23/eng/20211004
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021042830
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021042831
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
For Annmarie, who wanted to read a book.

Contents
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Salty Like the Sea 3
Chapter 2 The Great Arrival 9
Chapter 3 A Macaroni by Any Other Name 19
Chapter 4 We Are What We Read 33
Chapter 5 Red Sauce Fundamentals 43
Chapter 6 One Fruit to Rule Them All 51
Chapter 7 The Opening Acts 63
Chapter 8 Meat and Tomatoes 75
Chapter 9 Red Sauce Enters a Golden Age 83
Chapter 10 The Other Red Sauce 95
Chapter 11 As American as Pizza Pie 101
Chapter 12 Curds and Whey 113
vii
viii Contents
Chapter 13 One Lasagna, Many Lasagne 121
Chapter 14 A Taste of Rome 127
Chapter 15 The Last Red Sauce 141
Chapter 16 The Fall of Rome 151
Chapter 17 The Search for Authenticity 157
Chapter 18 The Red Sauce Renaissance: An Epilogue 163
Appendix: Historic Recipes 165
Notes 173
Bibliography 201
Index 217
About the Author 231
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
Writing a book begins as a solitary endeavor, but it never concludes
that way. I am so grateful to the numerous people who have helped
over the years of research and writing.
First, I need to thank my writing and workshopping group: Jonathan
Corcoran, Max Gray, and Mark Labowskie for their support with craft and
literary gossip. I am also grateful to Marisa Siegel and everyone at The
Rumpus, who have all supported my growth as a writer, and Catherine
LaSota and the Cabana Club, who have been essential for kvetching about
the pandemic and supportive through the final phases of preparing the book.
I am forever grateful to Clayton Lamar, who is always willing to be
my first reader, and to Kristen Majewski, Heather Pharo, Cyriaque Lamar,
Annick Lamar, and Peter Geller, who have put up with hearing about many
obscure macaroni and tomato sauce facts.
Thank you to Brian Gresko for his guidance preparing the book proposal.
Thank you to Jonathan Agin and O’Connor Literary for believing in the
project and guiding me through this process, as well as Suzanne Staszak-
Silva and everyone else at Rowman & Littlefield for trusting me. Thank
you to Sabrina Cartan for your insights to publicize the book and to Emily
Epstein for connecting me to the right people. I am, of course, indebted
to the New York Public Library for maintaining many rare and expensive
books and online database access. Thank you also to my parents, Arlene
and Tom Mac Allen, and my in-laws, Joe and Judy Pisano, for serving
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