By Valeria Petrocchi

Artusi’s cookbook La scienza del tradurre e l’arte del mangiar bene² of 1891 is today still considered an unquestionable source for professional cooks, and not only in Italy but also in the world when referring to Italian cuisine. It was translated for the first time in the United States in 1940. Many other translations followed using different approaches and strategies, but always keeping in mind an American audience³. Before analyzing the specific versions, it is necessary to define the book as a literary text in order to understand the register and style which are required for a faithful translation. Artusi’s cookbook is not only a means to spread Italian cuisine, it is also a pleasant reading gifted with narrative value: a text able to fascinate the reader thanks to the numerous anecdotes and personal opinions where humor is key.
All the translations examined prove to be essentially aimed at transferring Italianness into the target language beyond the recipes. However, the first translations—by Joseph Di Cecco and Olga Ragusa—only focus on a selection of recipes, including ingredients and preparation, but omitting the anecdotes, literary citations, and other short stories Artusi loved telling to enrich the text and help the reader/cook understand the meaning of some dishes. They use a domesticating method, which tends to adapt the translation to the American target audience. That occurs, for example, when they translate the names of dishes without specifying the Italian ones, or when they omit the meaning of the recipes and their origins often linked to oral tradition, or when they convert measures (inches) and temperatures (Fahrenheit). In light of this, the book results in a simple cookbook and nothing else. The regional names of some dishes are important because they identify the specific recipes in a geographical area. In Italy the local variety of dishes is fundamental. Let us just think of the differences between tortellini, cappelletti, ravioli and cappellacci, all untranslatable as unique and specific of the Italian culinary tradition.
The latest translations—particularly the one translated in 1997 by Murtha Baca and Stephen Sartarelli—are able to convey Artusi’s original intent. The volume is translated entirely in all parts, also respecting its textual organization and composition. The geographical names are appropriately added to the Italian names, such as Triglie alla livornese or Coratella d’agnello alla bolognese respectively translated as Red Mullet Livorno Style and Lamb’s Liver and Offal Bolognese Style. They use a foreignizing method to introduce the Italian feature of the recipes and for this purpose they often add footnotes to explain special technical terms or local Italian traditions. In this way every cultural aspect is respected, and the literary value is safe.
From a pedagogical perspective, a contrastive examination of the translations (or retranslations if considered at a diachronic level) through brainstorming is useful to enhance students’ critical and analytical skills along with the approach they must take before translating a specialized text—which is highly rich in the terminology used for ingredients, cooking utensils, cooking methods, culinary preparations, traditional and regional recipes’ names—and currently at the very forefront of media attention. Teachers can assess students’ translation quality making them translate by themselves Artusi’s original text and successively carry out collaborative proofreading and editing to point out the translation strategies. A comparison with the official translations is also a valid tool to highlight the most appropriate terms. In addition to this, knowing the lives and educational backgrounds of Artusi’s official translators is fruitful to understand their choices and consequently the strategies adopted. Translators never act like machines but always convey their personality and mindset in the translating process.

Biographical note

Valeria Petrocchi teaches English < > Italian Translation in the undergraduate program in Applied Linguistics at Carlo Bo Higher Education Institute for Translators and Interpreters in Rome (Italy). She also works as a freelance interpreter and translator at the High Court of Justice of Rome and is a professional translator approved by the British Embassy. Her research areas are mainly in English Literature, Comparative Studies, and Translation Studies. She is the founder and editor of the book series TPTI: Teoria & Prassi della Traduzione e dell’Interpretariato (Theory & Practice of Translation and Interpreting).

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¹ The topic was fully analysed in a study published recently, V. Petrocchi La scienza del tradurre in alcune versioni inglesi dell’Artusi, in V. Petrocchi (editor), Spunti e riflessioni per una didattica della traduzione e dell’interpretariato nelle SSML, Configni, Compomat, 2022: 21-50.
² P. Artusi, La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene, Firenze, Salvatore Landi, 1891.
³ P. Artusi, Italian Cook Book / adapted from the Italian of Pellegrino Artusi by Joseph V. Di Cecco, New York, S.F. Vanni, 1940; P. Artusi, Italian Cook Book / adapted from the Italian of Pellegrino Artusi by Olga Ragusa, New York, S.F. Vanni, 1945; P. Artusi, Italianissimo: Italian cooking at its best, translated by E. Abbott, New York, Liveright, 1975; P. Artusi, The Art of Eating Well, translated by K.M. Phillips, New York, Random House, 1996; P. Artusi, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, translated by M. Baca and S. Sartarelli, New York, Marsilio, c1997; P. Artusi, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, translated by M. Baca and S. Sartarelli, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2003; P. Artusi, Exciting Food for Southern Types, London, Penguin, 2011; P. Artusi, Italian Cook Book / adapted from the Italian of Pellegrino Artusi by Olga Ragusa, Martino Publishing, Mansfield Centre, CT, 2012.