Being a child of the West Coast who lived on the East coast
and is now curbed in the middle (depending on the election cycle, it is either referred
to as the "Heartland of America", or in the down cycle it's simply "Flyover country").
But for a moment let’s leave great unwashed midsection of America to it’s own
devices.
What really strikes me are the differences between Italian-Americans
who were brought up on the two coasts. Perhaps there is a graph somewhere indicating
the trends of who left where in Italy to come to another where in America. Did
more Calabrese settle in New York? More Lucchese in Northern California? I am sure
there are patterns of emigration that set the scene respectively for the
contrasts.
For my part, observing, living and working with Italian-Americans on both coasts, I am going to make some glaring observations.
Sauce: East Coasters loved to can their New Jersey tomatoes
in a time-honored tradition on a Sunday with all the uncles and cousins and
music and hard-crusted white bread to sop. Some of them still call it suga,
fewer call it gravy. It is canned and cooked and very much like it has been for
generations. West coasters have gone more to the style one finds in Italy;
fresher, less cooked, confined or cloistered by canning. Tomatoes were made for
California. And there are the usual vegan, vegetarian offerings. Wait, tomatoes
are not vegetables. Well, anyone who has traveled in the contemporary West
Coast elite dining bubble coach knows what I am talking about.
Bread: Pretty big battle ground here. East Coasters have
great traditions of bread. Just walk around Brooklyn for a day and you will
understand. West Coasters have the long queues at Acme in Berkeley and a whole
range of grain types, from sourdough to crunchy Birkenstock-inspired crusted whole grains.
San Francisco vs. New York? That’s probably even a more contentious subject
than the current election choices here in the States. Next.
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| Via AP / World Wide Photos |
Speaking of cars: East coasters prefer the 6, the 5, the 2,
the F and the A. West Coasters prefer a Porsche or a Mercedes, in sports, SUV
or vintage version.
Sex: Eats Coasters prefer to keep doing it the way it was
handed down from one generation to the next, as it ever was. West Coasters have
tapped into the Tantric streams that float in on the prevailing easterlies.
Every day in Ojai and Mill Valley is a “new” day.
Wine: East Coast loves their Chianti; The Westerners haven’t
gotten tired of their Pinot Noir. Yet. Nebbiolo is still waiting in the wings.
Cheese: East = burrata from Italy. West = burrata, locally
sourced.
Preferred method of Saving: West Coast = Bank of America. East Coast = Chock Full O'nuts cans in the back yard.
Retirement: East Coasters are still heading to God’s waiting
room, Florida, to live out their last days eating pastrami and spaghetti con
vongole. West Coasters dream of retiring to an Oregon where the suns shines everyday
like it does in San Diego and the political climate is bluer than the skies of
the 1800’s. Better yet, they get their medial marijuana prescription and take
long weekends at Sea Ranch sitting in isolation tanks, taking in "the moment". After all, is it really any better somewhere else than California?
Whatever your thoughts are on the subject, the Italian brawl of the
North vs. South just isn’t as dramatic to us Italian-Americans as our West vs.
East fracas. After all, just ask any
American and they’ll tell, it’s all about US.
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