Throughout most of Italian history, most Italians rarely ate pasta. It was a regional habit, limited to a few areas and a few forms. Pasta only became central to the nation’s cuisine in the 20th century, once the country industrialized, a middle class emerged, and people started eating beyond whatever grew down the road.
Panettone tells a similar story. Sweet, fruit-studded breads go back to the Renaissance, but the towering boxed panettone sold around the world is mostly a 20th-century creation of a few big companies. “All of the dishes that we associate with Italian-ness are either Italian-American inventions or more recent Italian inventions that aren’t really anchored in this super deep history,” says Danielle Callegari, associate professor of Italian.
