The expression “there are no accidents” pretty much sums up how farinata was born. In 1284, after Genoa won the Battle of Meloria, barrels of chickpea flour and oil broke in their ships during a violent storm. The sailors then put this mixture on the decks to dry in the sun and farinata was born.
Fast forward to 2016, when I discovered farinata in all its glory at a pizzeria in Genoa. Before I left Genoa, I bought chickpea flour at an Italian supermarket and brought it back in my suitcase to Oakland. I thought farinata would be easy to make since I have the real chickpea flour. I just needed to get a recipe online. (I later discovered that the Whole Foods up my street also has chickpea flour and more recently found a recipe for chickpea flour to make at home.)
However, my Oakland chickpea thing was nothing like the farinata I had tried before. How could something with only three ingredients be so hard to make? The taste and texture of farinata continued to live on my tongue and in my brain. And, when I went to the London Book Fair, I thought with all the Italian expats there someone must know a restaurant that served it. But no one did.
See A Meeting in London: A Short Story About an Italian Expat
And again, by no accident, last October, I ran into an Italian friend who I hadn’t seen in eight years. He was with his friend from Italy and for some reason I asked this man from La Spezia if he knew how to make farinata. And he said he did. Now, many times people say they know how to do or make things (check LinkedIn, for example) and then you come later to discover that they have exaggerated a fragment of their truth. This happened when I asked someone to show me how to make a tortilla española which turned into an empty-stomach fiasco. But I thought would take a gamble and ask anyway for a farinata lesson.
The day of the lesson had arrived and I made sure to eat something before the lesson remembering what happened with the tortilla espanola situation. But this man from La Spezia proved to be incredibly knowledgeable about the history of farinata (see above) and in the kitchen. In the end, I learned how to make authentic farinata – the one that I had thought about for two years – and can’t wait to make it again soon.
Thanks to Johnnie F. and special thanks to Chef Vaictor for sharing your time and knowledge!
Short story by L.B. Lewis for February 8, 2018. Copyrighted. All rights reserved.