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The Food Chain

Factual: Food & Drink

Examining what it takes to put food on your plate

The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate.

The Little Italy story

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The Food Chain: The Little Italy story

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10/08/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, The Little Italy story

How the world first discovered Italian food

How the world first discovered Italian food.

Italian food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world, but how did it first make its way out of Italy? 

In this edition of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander uncovers stories of migration, food culture and legacy in the Italian diaspora.  

Academic Donna Gabaccia explains why millions of Italians left their home country in the 1800s, creating new communities around the world that came to be known as ‘Little Italy’. 

Ruth visits one of them, in London’s Clerkenwell, to discover its history and how a delicatessen founded in the late 1800s – still busy today – sparked a love for Italian cuisine. 

We hear from an Italian restaurant owner in Buenos Aires, whose Genoese ancestors put their stamp on the local food scene more than 90 years ago.

And reporter Kizzy Cox takes a trip around some eateries in the world-famous Little Italy in New York City to see how the local community is moving with the times.  

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk 

(Picture: Five contributors in the programme, from left to right: Lou di Palo, Luca Fadda, Hugo Banchero, Giorgia Fadda and Nico Paganelli, in front of a Little Italy sign. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Presenter: Ruth Alexander 
Producer: Elisabeth Mahy 
Reporter: Kizzy Cox 
Additional production: Veronica Smink and Matías Zibell Garcia

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