Eat like a ‘fascist’: How Australia’s first Italian cookbook imagined culinary utopia

Abstract

The First Australian Continental Cookery Book (1937) appears to be a simple collection of European recipes presented as an alternative to the British-based preparations that dominated the kitchen repertoire of the typical 1930s Australian cook. However, closer inspection reveals the book, produced by a group of Italian migrants with strong links to fascism, is actually a revolutionary culinary manifesto. It seeks to persuade Australians to look at how other nations, predominantly Italy, approached cooking and eating. It urges Australians to consider changing their diet and emulating Italians, not for any nostalgic or romantic reason, but rather because logic and reason suggested doing so would result in a better culinary future. By analysing the book in detail and researching the context in which it was created, this paper will explore the link between the cookbook and utopian thinking specifically applying an Italian fascist framework. The paper will reflect upon the migrants who produced the book, what their desires and motivations may have been, and show just how the first Italian cookbook published in Australia differs significantly from the many Italian-migrant produced cookbooks which eventually followed it.