Eating History: Italy: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

The history of Italian food is an adventure that takes us a long, long way from advertising's cosy tales of mamma rolling gnocchi for the bambini, or the peasants eating pizza under the pergola. The idea that Italian food issues from a world of timeless rustic simplicity is false.

This six-part series focuses on Italian identity, and with it the Italian flair for food. It's also rather funny - host John Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London, and the author of several books including Delizia - the epic history of the Italians and their food, Mafia Republic: Italy's Criminal Curse and Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia, but he's far from a dusty academic. He brings to the series wit and a rather entertaining willingness to throw himself into all manner of unexpected situations, from donning painfully authentic recreations of Roman sandals to drinking a vile "sports" drink. Happily for our adventurous host, there are also some fine meals and meetings with good cooks and leading chefs.

Series details

• Title: Eating History: Italy
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 2016-07-21
• Final broadcast date listed: 2016-08-25
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: SBS
• Network country: Australia
• Typical episode runtime: 52 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 20150

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2016-07-21; final listed air date 2016-08-25.

Source and licence

Adapted from Eating History: Italy on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.