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ABSTRACT
This article analyses how Gorgonzola cheese achieved widespread success among the upper and middle classes in continental Europe, the British Isles, and North America between the 1850s and 1930s. Drawing on social history, the history of science and technology, and cultural history, the article highlights the important role played by hotels, restaurants, clubs, and ocean liners, on the one hand, and the circuit of industrial and agricultural exhibitions, on the other, in the nearly simultaneous growth in popularity of Gorgonzola among the upper and middle classes. Joining the consolidated historiographical and sociological vein that examines the interplay among class, food, and social capital, the novel analysis of documents such as newspaper articles, restaurant menus, literary sources, and exhibition catalogues offers a new perspective on the unique Gorgonzola phenomenon.
RIASSUNTO
L’articolo analizza come il Gorgonzola abbia raggiunto il successo tra le classi medie e alte dell’Europa continentale, delle Isole britanniche e del Nord America tra gli anni Cinquanta dell’Ottocento e gli anni Trenta del Novecento. Attingendo alla storia sociale, alla storia della scienza e della tecnica e alla storia culturale, l’articolo evidenzia l’importante ruolo svolto da alberghi, ristoranti, club e transatlantici da un lato, e dal circuito delle esposizioni industriali e agricole dall’altro, nella crescita della popolarità del Gorgonzola quasi simultaneamente tra le classi alte e medie. Inserendosi nel consolidato filone storiografico e sociologico che esamina l’interazione tra classe, cibo e capitale sociale, l’inedita analisi di documenti come articoli di giornale, menu di ristoranti, fonti letterarie e cataloghi di mostre offre una nuova prospettiva sul singolare fenomeno di cui il Gorgonzola è protagonista.
Newspapers and menus in chronological order
La Salle à Manger, July 20, 1865.
Hawaiian Gazette, December 7, 1886.
The Pittsburgh Dispatch, November 24, 1889.
Waterbury Evening Democrat, May 2, 1895.
La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, April 7, 1897.
Indianapolis Journal, April 17, 1898.
Menu of the SS Königin Luise, March 12, 1899.
The Evening Star, January 12, 1900.
Menu of the Kempinski Restaurant, August 27, 1900.
Menu of the SS Barbarossa, September 7, 1900.
Menu of the Hudson River School Masters’ Club, April 19, 1901.
Menu of the SS Friedrich der Grosse, August 26, 1901.
Menu of the Magnetic Club, November 20, 1901.
Luncheon given in honor of the President of the Unites States Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, May 10, 1905.
Dinner in honor of His Excellency Sir Chentung Liang-Cheng […] by the Merchants Club of Chicago, Saturday November the eleventh nineteen hundred and five.
Hopkinsville Kentuckian, June 14, 1906.
White Pine News, July 5, 1907.
Menu of the Crescent Athletic Club, November 15, 1907.
Menu of the Grand Hotel Hungaria, November 30, 1907.
New York Daily Tribune, May 18, 1908.
Menu of the SS Barbarossa, March 13, 1910.
Menu of the SS George Washington, March 13, 1910.
Tenth annual dinner of the representatives of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York given by William B. Carlile, manager, Congress Hotel, Friday March eighteenth 1910.
Bill of Fare of La Moderne Rotisserie, with the handwritten “9. April. 1913.”
Menu of the City Midday Club, July 6, 1914.
Menu of the SS Frederik VIII, July 10, 1915.
Menu of the Louis Sherry Restaurant, November 17, 1917.
Menu of the SS Paris, April 29, 1934.
Menu of the steamer Watussi June 16, 1935.
Menu of the steamer Watussi, June 30, 1835.
Menu of the Vancouver Hotel, March 10, 1937.
Menu of a dinner organized by the Camp Fire Club, November 20, no year.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. A loose translation would be ‘We already dispatch from Torino / vermouth with quinine to the Chinese / the town of Gorgonzola gives them stracchino / even Monza sausages go there.’ Vattelapesca (Citation1857), ‘Il taglio dell’Istmo di Suez.’
2. Strenna-Album Citation1881, 51.
3. In this regard, please see to the rich existing bibliography, of which the most significant works for the subject treated here are reported: Findlay and O’Rourke (Citation2003), Crafts and Venable (Citation2003), Marks (Citation2015), Pini (Citation1991) and Sasso (Citation1985). On food topics in global history: Pilcher (Citation2017), Kindstedt (Citation2012), Dalby (Citation2009) and Nuetzenadel and Trentmann (Citation2008).
4. Romeo (Citation2019). Many similarities in the production process of Gorgonzola can also be seen in that of another important European cheese, the French Camembert. In this regard, see Boisard (Citation2003).
5. ‘Correspondance.’ The writer signed himself ‘Avvocato Santini,’ but the publisher was sure of the author’s identity. Regarding the hotel ‘L’Italia,’ as mentioned in the magazine article, this was located in the former Palazzo Murat-Bonaparte and was owned by the Swiss man Giuseppe Augier. See Guida civile Citation1862, 338.
6. Jerrold Citation1876, 695. For Jerrold’s biography, see Slater (Citation2004).
7. Supplement to Encyclopaedia Britannica (Citation1885, 514).
8. Hawaiian Gazette, December 7,1886, sheet 1.
9. Report of the Minister of Agriculture (Citation1887, 297).
10. For all the details, see Banquet (Citation1888).
11. Quoted in The Pittsburgh Dispatch, November 24, 1889, 7.
12. For Johnson’s biography, see Bowerman (Citation1933), ‘Johnson, Virginia Wales.’
13. Duncan (Citation1891, 13). For Duncan’s biography, see Dean (Citation2005).
14. Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, (Citation1981, 431).
15. Waterbury Evening Democrat, May 2, 1895, sheet 3.
16. About Cerecedo Hermanos & Co. see Annuario d’Italia (Citation1896, 2631). Regarding a dispute in which the company was involved in 1900–1903, see the detailed report in Porto Rico Federal Reports (Citation1906, 53–58).
17. La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico, April 7, 1897, sheet 3. A loose translation by the authors of this article could be ‘Let us laugh of the persons who hate us and let us eat a morsel of Gorgonzola or Roquefort, pategrás cream, cream balls, and Gruyere’.
18. Indianapolis Journal, April 17, 1898, 4.
19. Menu of the SS Königin Luise, March 12, 1899.
20. The Evening Star, January 12, 1900, 7.
21. Menu of the Kempinski Restaurant, August 27, 1900.
22. Menu of the SS Barbarossa, September 7, 1900.
23. Menu of the SS Friedrich der Grosse, August 26, 1901.
24. Menu of the Magnetic Club, November 20, 1901.
25. Menu of the Hudson River School Masters’ Club, April 19, 1901.
26. Menu of a dinner organized by the Camp Fire Club, November 20. We can’t read the year, but the New York Library archivists classified it as a 1900–1901 document. On the foundation of the Club, please refer to Gronauer (Citation2011), ‘The Camp Fire Club.’
27. Luncheon given in honor of the President of the Unites States Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, May 10, 1905. The menu does not indicate the place where the lunch was given, but note that the publisher of the menu was A.C.M. Clurg & Co., Chicago.
28. Dinner in honor of His Excellency Sir Chentung Liang-Cheng […] by the Merchants Club of Chicago, Saturday November the eleventh nineteen hundred and five.
29. Hopkinsville Kentuckian, June 14, 1906, 7.
30. White Pine News, July 5, 1907, 4. Many other issues in the same summer advertised the sale of Gorgonzola at Graham’s.
31. Menu of the Grand Hotel Hungaria, November 30, 1907.
32. Menu of the Crescent Athletic Club, November 15, 1907.
33. Menus of the SS Barbarossa and SS George Washington, both March 13, 1910.
34. Tenth annual dinner of the representatives of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York given by William B. Carlile, manager, Congress Hotel, Friday March eighteenth 1910.
35. For a socio-cultural framework of the history of the Titanic, see Howells Citation2012. For the presence of Gorgonzola in menu of the Titanic, see Archbold et al. Citation1997, 90.
36. ‘Produits du midi.’ The excerpt was signed with the pseudonym ‘Le Ramasseur des ragots’.
37. Menu of the City Midday Club, July 6, 1914. About this Club is very interesting Butler Citation1921, 18, quoted in Pertilla Citation2015.
38. Menu of the SS Frederik VIII, July 10, 1915.
39. Bill of Fare of La Moderne Rotisserie, with the handwritten ‘9. April. 1913.’
40. Menu of Louis Sherry Restaurant, November 17, 1917.
41. Menu of the SS Paris, April 29, 1934.
42. Menus of the Watussi, June 16, 1935, and June 30, 1835.
43. Menu of the Vancouver Hotel, March 10, 1937.
44. About the Zazzera e Polenghi company, see Besana (Citation2015).
45. Reports of the United States Commissioners Citation1891, 614. Gorgonzola was also mentioned, among many other Italian cheeses, in Report of the Commissioner-General Citation1901, 337.
46. See his obituary in the New York Daily Tribune, May 18, 1908, 5.
47. About Crain’s report see Reports of the United States Commissioners 1891, 588–589. In addition to the typo ‘Train’ (instead of ‘Crain’), the initials T.C.T. clearly referred to Thomas Crowell Taylor Crain (1860–1942), Dunham Jones’s son. About Thomas, see Burke’s Distinguished Families (Citation1948, 2637). Nonetheless, we can say that, during his father’s stay in Italy, Thomas resided in Milan until 1881, which could make him quite competent in some Italian socio-economic traits, even though he was quite young. The report is also mentioned in Transactions Citation1884, 252–253.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Luciano Maffi
Luciano Maffi is a Lecturer in Economic and Global History at the University of Parma, Italy. He also teaches Economic History and Tourism History at the Catholic University of Milan.
Martino Lorenzo Fagnani is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Modern History at the University of Pavia. His main research interests are the history of science and the history of travel.