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Mortadella

Mortadella with pistachios

Mortadella with olives from Portugal

Mortadella (Italian pronunciation: [mor-ta-ˈdɛl-la]) is a large Italian sausage^[1] or cold cut (salume /sa-'lu-me/) made of finely hashed or ground, heat-cured pork sausage, which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). Mortadella is a staple product of Bologna, Italy. It is flavored with spices, including whole or ground black pepper, myrtle berries, nutmeg and pistachios, jalapeños and/or olives, though those with flavours other than ground pepper and myrtle are not made with the original recipe from Bologna.

History[link]

Traditionally, the pork filling was ground to a paste using a large mortar (mortaio /mor-'ta-jo/) and pestle. Two Roman funerary steles in the archaeological museum of Bologna show such mortars. Alternatively, according to Cortelazzo and Zolli Dizionario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana 1979-88, mortadella gets its name from a Roman sausage flavored with myrtle in place of pepper.

The Romans called the sausage farcimen mirtatum (myrtle sausage), because the sausage was flavored with myrtle berries, a popular spice before pepper became available to European markets. Anna Del Conte (The Gastronomy of Italy 2001) found a sausage mentioned in a document of the official body of meat preservers in Bologna dated 1376 that may be mortadella.

Mortadella originated in Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna; elsewhere in Italy it may be made either in the Bolognese manner or in a distinctively local style. The mortadella of Prato is a Tuscan speciality flavoured with pounded garlic. The mortadella of Amatrice, high in the Apennines of northern Lazio, is unusual in being lightly smoked. Because it originated in Bologna, this contributed to the naming of the American meat bologna.

Mortadella Bologna has Protected Geographical Indication status under European Union Law. The zone of production is extensive: as well as Emilia-Romagna and the neighbouring regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Marche and Tuscany, it includes Lazio and Trentino.

Abroad[link]

US[link]

A similar commercial product that omits the cubes of pork fat, called bologna, is popular in the United States. A variety that includes olives and pimentos is called olive loaf.

Iberian and Hispanic cultures[link]

Mortadella is very popular in Spain and Portugal, where a variety with pepper and olives is widely consumed, especially in sandwiches. Sometimes, in eastern Spain, the standard mortadella is referred to as mortadela italiana (Italian mortadella), because there is a local variant named catalana.

Mortadella is also very popular in Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile and Uruguay, thanks to the Italian immigrants who settled in these countries in the early 20th century. The normal spelling in these countries, however, is mortadela, and its recipe is quite similar to the traditional Italian, with additional pepper grains. São Paulo has a very popular mortadela sandwich sold in the Mercado Municipal.

In Puerto Rico, people consume "smoked mortadella", but some confuse it as commercial salami, or salami cotto because only cafeterias, panaderias, colmados and restaurant buy the bulk or whole smoked mortadella. While Salami may contain pork, beef ,veal and small pieces of fat uniformly distributed within the sausage, Mortadella has the traditional larger chunks, not so uniformly distributed. Its diameter is much larger than that of hard salami and resembles more salami cotto (cooked) in size, hence the confusion of some people. It is smaller in diameter to the traditional mortadella de Bologna because it has been smoked causing some shrinkage. It is best served at room temperature to bring out its rich flavor.

Central Europe[link]

In Romania (Romanian) a similar cold-cut it is also known as "pariser" or "parizer". It is a type of artisan bologna. In Hungary, a similar product is called, in Hungarian, mortadella and a plain variety called pariser, parizer or párizsi. In Croatia and Slovenia, the product known as mortadela is widely eaten all over both countries. In Poland, mortadela slices are sometimes dipped in batter, fried and served with potatoes and salads as a quicker (and cheaper) alternative to traditional pork chops.

Russia[link]

In Russia, a very similar product is called "doctor's sausage," however this product is normally made from beef and pork mixture, and does not include pieces of fat and myrtle as a primary spice, being instead flavored with just coriander and nutmeg. It also traditionally contains eggs and milk, usually absent in classical mortadella.

Middle East[link]

In several Arab countries, such as the UAE, Palestine, Qatar and Syria, halal mortadella is sold, which is made from chicken, beef, or turkey. Saniora is a typical Palestinian mortedella with sliced olives, pistachios or pepper.

It is also popular in Iran, albeit usually made with beef or lamb, and called martadella or, more commonly, kaalbas.

East Asia[link]

Chả lụa or Vietnamese mortadella is sometimes used as an accompaniment to the Vietnamese dish bánh cuốn.^[2]

See also[link]

• Mortadella sandwich

References[link]

External links[link]

• Istituto per Valorizzazione dei Salumi: Mortadella (in English)
• Clifford A. Wright, "Sausage Peddlers, Vagabonds, and Bandits: Part 1": types of Italian sausage
• Carlo Cantoni and Patrizia Cattaneo, "La mortadella: aspetti attuali tecnici della sua produzione" (in Italian)
• Mortadella di Bologna (in Italian)

Chris Cosentino is an American chef noted for his specialty, offal dishes, now considered haute cuisine by many,^[1] and his eco-consciousness. He is chef-partner^[2] at Incanto in San Francisco. He was a competitor on The Next Iron Chef and has appeared on Iron Chef America. As of September 2009, he is writing a book on offal cookery, and he maintains an offal-themed website, Offal Good. Forbes Traveler calls Incanto "perhaps America’s most adventurous nose-to-tail restaurant … On offer are lamb’s necks, pig trotters and a five-course nose-to-tail tasting menu perhaps including venison kidneys and chocolate-blood panna cotta."

Early life[link]

Chris was raised in Rhode Island and is a 1994 graduate of Johnson & Wales University.^[3] Raised in an Italian American community, he has stated that he hated offal as a child, especially the tripe his Italian grandmother prepared.^[4] Since becoming a chef himself, however, he has embraced a "whole-animal" ethic. He explains, "What I try to do is make people understand a whole-animal ethic. When people realize that this is a whole animal, that there is more than just the skeletal meats, sometimes that makes people step back, and they might not order any meat. They might have a vegetable entrée. Putting a face on what you’re eating sometimes opens your eyes a lot."^[5]

Career[link]

Cosentino worked at Mark Miller’s Red Sage and later at Kinkead’s, in Washington, D.C. He then moved to San Francisco’s Rubicon, which was owned by Francis Ford Coppola, Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. He went on to work at several prestigious restaurants, such as the Coach House on Martha’s Vineyard, and, in the San Francisco area, Chez Panisse and Belon. He was then hired as a consultant to the Aqua restaurant group. While working with them, he opened several restaurants, including the highly acclaimed Nobhill at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

Since 2002, Cosentino has worked at San Francisco’s Incanto, in Noe Valley, serving as the executive chef.^[6] Reviewers in the area noticed a definite upturn in the food quality at Incanto after Cosentino took over.^[7] Working with co-owner, Mark Pastore, he has created a rustic Italian menu that includes all cuts of meat, the whole animal or whole fish, including what would usually be discarded or used as an ingredient in animal feed. Chitterlings would be an example of the kind of food he uses, one which is more familiar to the general public than some examples.^[8] In 2007, they had their fourth annual "Head-to-Tail Dinner."^[9]

In fall, 2007, Chris started selling sausage under the name Boccalone: Tasty Salted Pig Parts.^[10] His Boccalone shop is found in the Ferry Building of San Francisco, California. This new line was a natural outgrowth from family tradition, because his mother’s family, named Easton, founded Newport’s Easton’s Sausage Company, a company which developed a very devoted clientele. Under Chris’s direction, Incanto has launched a charcuterie selection, all selections cured in-house, and ranging from mortadella to fennel salame, including even a sweetbread terrine. There is also a salt-cured pork liver with especially intense flavor. This effort is based on the community-supported agriculture (CSA) concept in which providing locally grown produce is the focus. Chris credits the late chef Jean-Louis Palladin with teaching him never to cook for reviews, but for the diners and for himself. Palladin was an avid hunter and taught Chris to be realistic and respectful about the fate of an animal going from the farmyard or the forest to the dinner plate.

Starting in October 2007 he was a contestant on The Next Iron Chef, competing with erstwhile mentor at Rubicon, Traci Des Jardins, who is still a close friend.^[11] By the third episode, his cooking style had emerged enough and was distinct enough that, when Michael Symon gave him squab as a secret ingredient, his first action was to check the cavities for offal. It was implied that Symon had removed the innards; when Cosentino discovered this, Symon quipped, "No guts, no glory."^[12] He was the last chef eliminated before the final battle, being eliminated in Episode 7, 'Lead and Inspire'. In November 2007, he was featured at the end of a Modern Marvels pig episode, in which he showed his expertise in cooking pig brain.^[13]

In August, 2009, he and fellow The Next Iron Chef contestant Aarón Sánchez began hosting Chefs vs. City on the Food Network. Each week they travel to different cities, taking on two local chefs in a variety of food-related challenges.

In addition, Cosentino is regularly featured on episodes of the Food Network series, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate."

He considers single-varietal extra-virgin olive oils, each having a distinct flavor, his culinary secret weapon.^[14] His involvement with local farmers' markets has enabled him to develop close relationships with local food producers, relationships which are very important to him and allow him to be involved in the production and butchering of meat he uses and of other ingredients in his many specialties. He has been especially dedicated to the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market.^[15]

In his spare time he cycles on rugged Northern California mountain-biking trails on a one-speed, does endurance rides, and spends time with his wife and young son.^[16]

It was announced in 2011 that Cosentino is teaming up with the publishers of Wolverine to write a comic. In addition to helping out with the story, he'll also be featured as a character.^[17] He has authored a cookbook, Beginnings: My Way to Start a Meal, which became available in May 2012. Michael Harlan Turkell is the photographer for the book, and Traci Des Jardin wrote the foreword. ^[18] The book contains recipes for dishes for first courses (most vegetable-based, not meat-based, despite Chris's specialty), but also includes philosophy and reproduced handwritten notes and sketches; it is laid out by seasons.^[19]

In March of 2012 Chris opened PIGG, "a tribute to all things pork around the world," at UMAMIcatessen in Los Angeles ^[20]. UMAMIcatessen is a three-part cafeteria-style dining establishment on the ground floor of the Orpheum Lofts at 9th and Broadway.

Television appearances[link]

• 2005, Check Please! Bay Area^[21]
• 2005, Martha Stewart^[3]
• 2007, Iron Chef America^[22]
• 2007, The Next Iron Chef
• 2007, Modern Marvels - Episode: The Pig^[13]
• 2008, Iron Chef America^[23]
• 2008, At The Table With... ^[24]
• 2009, Chefs vs. City Food Network^[25]
• 2009, No Reservations" Travel Channel, August 10
• 2009, The Best Thing I Ever Ate" Food Network
• 2011, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" Travel Channel, March 1
• 2012, The Layover, San Francisco, Travel Channel, January 9
• 2012, Top Chef Canada-Episode 4, Food Network Canada, April 1

References[link]

External links[link]

• Offal Good - Cosentino's professional blog
• Q&A With Chris Cosentino - AllYourTV.com
• Boccalone
• Incanto
• Offal Incanto Dinner with Anthony Bourdain Mission District writer Mary Ladd recounts eating an offal tasting menu at Incanto with Anthony Bourdain
• [1] Joshua M. Bernstein discusses Incanto/Cosentino and other US restaurants/chefs specializing in serving the whole animal.
• KCRW radio's Good Food program 03/10/2012 Titled: Foie Gras and Jelly Doughnuts (Jonathan Gold reviews UMAMIcatessen, a collaborative restaurant featuring food by Adam Fleischman, Chris Cosentino and Micah Wexler, as well as cocktails by Adrian Biggs. He describes it as the ultimate dude food with dishes like fried pig's ears with brainaise and foie gras and jelly doughnuts, both of which are delicious.

See also[link]

• Local food
• Sustainable agriculture
• Sustainable food system
• Offal
• Locavores
• Animal husbandry
• Italian-American cuisine
• Pork

Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren in June 2009
Born	Sofia Villani Scicolone (1934-09-20) 20 September 1934 (age 77) Pozzuoli, Italy.
Residence	Geneva, Switzerland and Naples, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Other names	Sofia Lazzaro Sofia Scicolone
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–present
Spouse	Carlo Ponti (m. 1957-62, annulled; 1966-2007, his death)
Children	Carlo Ponti, Jr., Edoardo Ponti
Relatives	Alessandra Mussolini (niece)

Sophia Loren, OMRI (born Sofia Villani Scicolone; 20 September 1934) is an Italian actress.^[1]

In 1962, Loren, among 21 other awards, won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance. Loren has won several international awards, including one Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Laurel Award. Her other films include: Houseboat (1958), El Cid (1961), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963), Marriage Italian-Style (1964), and A Special Day (1977). She has received critical and commercial success in TV movies such as Courage (1986) and in American blockbusters such as Grumpier Old Men (1995), and Nine (2009). In 1994 she starred in Robert Altman's Ready to Wear, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination the same year. In 1995 she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements. In 2011 she dubbed one of the characters of Pixar blockbuster Cars 2 for non-English speaking markets.

In 1999, Loren was listed by the American Film Institute on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars as #21 of 25 American female screen legends of all time. In 2002, she was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) at its annual Anniversary Gala and was inducted into its Italian American Hall of Fame. In 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized her as "Italy's Most Awarded Actress".^[2] In 1991, she received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievements.

The same year, the Republic of France awarded her a Distinction of la Légion d'honneur (the Legion of Honor) with the grade of Chevalier (Knight). In 1994, she was awarded with the Honorary Golden Bear at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.^[3] In 1997, Loren was invested Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic). In 2010, she was awarded the Praemium Imperiale by the Imperial Family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association.^[2]

Early life[link]

I'm not Italian, I am Neapolitan! It's another thing!

—Sophia Loren -interview with Barbara Walters ^[4]

Loren was born in the Clinica Regina Margherita in Pozzuoli Italy ^[5][6] daughter of Romilda Villani (1914–1991) and Riccardo Scicolone, a construction engineer.^[7] Scicolone refused to marry Villani, leaving her, a piano teacher and aspiring actress, without support.^[8] Loren's parents had another child together, her sister Anna Maria Villani Scicolone, in 1938. Loren has two younger paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe.^[9] Romilda, Loren, and Maria lived with Loren's grandmother in Pozzuoli, near Naples, to survive.^[10]

During World War II, the harbour and munitions plant in Pozzuoli was a frequent bombing target of the Allies. During one raid, as Loren ran to the shelter, she was struck by shrapnel and wounded in the chin. After that, the family moved to Naples, where they were taken in by distant relatives.^{[citation needed]}

After the war, Loren and her family returned to Pozzuoli. Grandmother Luisa opened a pub in their living room, selling homemade cherry liquor. Villani played the piano, Maria sang and Loren waited on tables and washed dishes. The place was very popular with the American GIs stationed nearby.

When she was 14 years old, Loren entered a beauty contest in Naples and, while not winning, was selected as one of the finalists. Later she enrolled in acting class and was selected as an extra in Mervyn LeRoy's 1951 film Quo Vadis, launching her career as a motion picture actress.

Career[link]

1950-1957(beginnings and Hollywood stardom)[link]

After being credited professionally as Sofia Lazzaro, she began using her current stage name in 1952's La Favorita. Her first starring role was in Aida (1953), for which she received critical acclaim.^[11] After playing the lead role in Two Nights with Cleopatra (1953), her breakthrough role was in The Gold of Naples (1954), directed by Vittorio De Sica.^[11] Too Bad She's Bad, also released in 1954, became the first of many films in which Loren co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni. Over the next three years she acted in many films such as Scandal in Sorrento (1955) and Lucky to Be a Woman (1956). In 1957, Loren's star had begun to rise in Hollywood, with the films Boy on a Dolphin (her U.S. film debut), Legend of the Lost with John Wayne, and The Pride and the Passion in which she starred opposite Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra.

International fame[link]

Sophia Loren star on Walk of Fame

Sophia Loren in It Started in Naples, where she sang Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano

Loren in the trailer for Five Miles to Midnight (1962)

Loren became an international film star following her five-picture contract with Paramount Pictures in 1958. Among her films at this time were Desire Under the Elms with Anthony Perkins, based upon the Eugene O'Neill play; Houseboat, a romantic comedy co-starring Cary Grant; and George Cukor's Heller in Pink Tights, in which she appeared as a blonde for the first time.

In 1961, she starred in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women, a stark, gritty story of a mother who is raped while trying to protect her daughter in war-torn Italy. Originally cast as the daughter, Loren fought against type and was re-cast as the mother (actress Eleonora Brown would portray the daughter). Loren's performance earned her many awards, including the Cannes Film Festival's best performance prize, and an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first major Academy Award for a non-English-language performance and to an Italian actress. She won 22 international awards for Two Women. The film proved to be extremely well accepted by the critics and it was a huge commercial success.

Loren is known for her sharp wit and insight. One of her most frequently quoted sayings is a quip about her famously voluptuous figure: "Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti." However, on the December 20, 2009, episode of CBS News Sunday Morning, Loren denied ever quoting the line.

During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the world, and she continued to make films in both the U.S. and Europe, starring with prominent leading men. In 1964, her career reached its pinnacle when she received $1 million to appear in The Fall of the Roman Empire. In 1965, she received a second Academy Award nomination for her performance in Marriage Italian-Style.

Among Loren's best-known films of this period are Samuel Bronston's epic production of El Cid (1961) with Charlton Heston, The Millionairess (1960) with Peter Sellers, It Started in Naples (1960) with Clark Gable, Vittorio De Sica's triptych Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni, Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965) with Paul Newman, the 1966 classic Arabesque with Gregory Peck, and Charlie Chaplin's final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) with Marlon Brando.

Loren received four Golden Globe Awards between 1964 and 1977 as "World Film Favorite - Female."^[12]

1970-1988[link]

Once she became a mother, Loren worked less. During the next decade, most of her roles were in Italian features. During the 1970s, she was paired with Richard Burton in the last De Sica-directed film, The Voyage (1974), and a remake of the film Brief Encounter (1974). The film had its premiere on U.S. television on 12 November 1974 as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame series on NBC. In 1976 she starred in The Cassandra Crossing, a classic disaster film featuring such veteran stars as Richard Harris, Martin Sheen, and Ava Gardner. It fared extremely well internationally, and was a respectable box office success in US market. She also co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977). This movie was nominated for eleven international awards such as two Oscars (best actor in leading role, best foreign picture). It won a Golden Globe award and a César award for best foreign movie. Loren's performance was awarded with a David di Donatello award, the seventh in her career. In addition the movie was extremely well received by American reviewers and was a box office smash.

Following this success, Loren starred in an American thriller Brass Target. This movie received mixed reviews, although it was moderately successful in the US and internationally. In 1978 she won her fourth Golden Globe for "world film favourite". Other movies of this decade were Academy award nominee Sunflower (1970) which was a critical success and Arthur Hiller's Man of La Mancha (1972) which was a critical and commercial failure despite being nominated for several awards including two Golden Globes awards. O'Toole and James Coco were nominated for two NBR awards, in addition the NBR listed Man of La Mancha in its best 10 pictures of 1972 list.

In 1980, after the international success the biography Sophia Loren: Living and Loving, Her Own Story by A. Hotchner, Loren portrayed herself and her mother in a made-for-television biopic adaptation of her autobiography entitled Sophia Loren: Her Own Story. Ritza Brown and Chiara Ferrari each portrayed the younger Loren. In 1981, she became the first female celebrity to launch her own perfume, Sophia, and a brand of eyewear soon followed.^[11] In 1982, while in Italy, she made headlines after serving an 18-day prison sentence on tax evasion charges—a fact that failed to hamper her popularity or career. In fact, Bill Moore, then employed at Pickle Packers International advertising department, sent her a pink pickle-shaped trophy for being "the prettiest lady in the prettiest pickle".

She acted infrequently during the 1980s and turned down the role of Alexis Carrington in 1981 for the TV series Dynasty. Although she was set to star in thirteen episodes of CBS's Falcon Crest in 1984 as Angela Channing's half-sister Francesca Gioberti, negotiations fell through at the last moment and the role went to Gina Lollobrigida instead. Sophia preferred devoting more time to raising her sons.^[13][14] In 1988 she starred in the miniseries The Fortunate Pilgrim.

Loren has also recorded well over two dozen songs throughout her career, including a best-selling album of comedic songs with Peter Sellers; reportedly, she had to fend off his romantic advances. It was partly owing to Sellers' infatuation with Loren that he split with his first wife, Anne Howe. Loren has made it clear to numerous biographers that Sellers' affections were reciprocated only platonically. This collaboration was covered in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers where actress Sonia Aquino portrayed Loren. It is said that the song "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" by Peter Sarstedt was inspired by Loren.^{[citation needed]}

Later career[link]

Loren in Paris at the César Awards 1991.

Loren in Kenya while serving as Goodwill Ambassador in 1992

In 1991, Loren received the Academy Honorary Award for her contributions to world cinema and was declared "one of the world cinema's treasures." In 1995, she received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.

She presented Federico Fellini with his Honorary Oscar. In 2009 Loren stated on Larry King Live that Fellini had planned to direct her in a film shortly before his death in 1993.^[15]

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Loren was selective about choosing her films and ventured into various areas of business, including cook books, eyewear, jewellery and perfume.

She received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Robert Altman's film Ready to Wear (1994), co-starring Julia Roberts.

In the comedy Grumpier Old Men (1995), Loren played a femme fatale opposite Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, and Ann-Margret. The film was a box-office success and became Loren's biggest U.S. hit in years.^[11]

In 2001, Loren received a Special Grand Prix of the Americas Award at the Montreal World Film Festival for her body of work.^[16] She filmed two projects in Canada during this time: the independent film Between Strangers (2002), directed by her son Edoardo and co-starring Mira Sorvino, and the television miniseries Lives of the Saints (2004).

In 2009, after five years off the set and fourteen years since she starred in a prominent US theatrical film, Loren starred in Rob Marshall's film version of Nine, based on the Broadway musical that tells the story of a director whose midlife crisis causes him to struggle to complete his latest film; he is forced to balance the influences of numerous formative women in his life, including his deceased mother. Loren was Marshall's first and only choice for the role. The film also stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard, and Nicole Kidman. As a part of the cast she received her first nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

In 2010, Loren played her own mother in a two-part Italian television miniseries about her early life, directed by Vittorio Sindoni, entitled La Mia Casa È Piena di Specchi (translated My House Is Full of Mirrors), based on the memoir written by her sister Maria.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Loren in 1986, by Allan Warren

Loren's primary residence has been in Geneva, Switzerland since late 2006.^[18] She also owns homes in Naples and Rome.

In September 1999, Loren filed a lawsuit against 76 adult websites for posting altered nude photos of her on the internet.^[19][20]

Loren is a huge fan of the football club S.S.C. Napoli. In May 2007, when the team was third in Serie B, she told the Gazzetta dello Sport that she would do a striptease if the team won.^[21]

Loren posed scantily-clad at 72 for the 2007 Pirelli Calendar along with such actresses as Penelope Cruz and Hilary Swank.^[22]

Loren is a devout Roman Catholic.^[23]

Marriage and family[link]

Loren first met Carlo Ponti in 1950 when she was 15 and he was 37. They married on 17 September 1957. However, Ponti was still officially married to his first wife Giuliana under Italian law because Italy did not recognize divorce at that time. The couple had their marriage annulled in 1962 to escape bigamy charges.^[24] In 1965, Ponti obtained a divorce from Giuliana in France, allowing him to marry Loren on 9 April 1966.^[25] They later became French citizens after their application was approved by then French President Georges Pompidou.^[26]

The couple had two sons: Carlo Ponti Jr. (born 29 December 1968) and Edoardo Ponti (born 6 January 1973).

Loren remained married to Carlo Ponti until his death on 10 January 2007 of pulmonary complications.^[27]

When asked in a November 2009 interview if she is ever likely to marry again, Loren replied "No, never again. It would be impossible to love anyone else."^[28]

Her daughters-in-law are Sasha Alexander and Andrea Meszaros.^[9][29] Loren has four grandchildren: Lucia Ponti (born 12 May 2006),^[30] Vittorio Ponti (born 3 April 2007).^[9] Leonardo Fortunato Ponti (born 20 December 2010) and Beatrice Lara Ponti (born 15 March 2012).

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sophia Loren

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sophia Loren

• Sophia Loren at the Internet Movie Database
• Sophia Loren at the TCM Movie Database

Paul Bocuse

in Stavanger 2008
Born	(1926-02-11) 11 February 1926 (age 86) Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, France
Cooking style	Nouvelle Cuisine
Rating(s) Michelin stars 3 !
Current restaurant(s) l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges
Official website
http://www.bocuse.fr/

Paul Bocuse (pronounced: [pɔl bokyz]) (born 11 February 1926) is a French chef based in Lyon who is famous for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. He is one of the most prominent chefs associated with the nouvelle cuisine, which is less opulent and calorific than the traditional cuisine classique, and stresses the importance of fresh ingredients of the highest quality. Paul Bocuse claimed that Henri Gault first used the term, nouvelle cuisine, to describe food prepared by Bocuse and other top chefs for the maiden flight of the Concorde airliner in 1969.^[1]

Contribution to French gastronomy[link]

Bocuse has made many contributions to French gastronomy both directly and indirectly, because he has had numerous students, many of whom have become famous chefs themselves. One of his students was Austrian Eckart Witzigmann, one of four Chefs of the Century and the first German-speaking and the third non-French-speaking chef to receive three Michelin stars. Since 1987, the Bocuse d'Or has been regarded as the most prestigious award for chefs in the world (at least when French food is considered), and is sometimes seen as the unofficial world championship for chefs. Paul Bocuse has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the medal of Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur.

The Culinary Institute of America honored Bocuse in their Leadership Awards Gala on 30 March 2011. He has received the "Chef of the Century" award.

In 1975, he created the world famous soupe aux truffes (truffle soup) for a presidential dinner at the Elysée Palace. Since then, the soup has been served in Bocuse's restaurant near Lyon as Soupe V.G.E., V.G.E. being the initials of former president of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

Restaurants[link]

Le Nord, one of Bocuse's chain of brasseries in central Lyon

l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, the main Restaurant in Lyon

Bocuse's main restaurant is the luxury restaurant l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near Lyon, which has been serving a traditional menu for decades. It is one of a small number of restaurants in France to receive the coveted three-star rating by the Michelin Guide. He also operates a chain of brasseries in Lyon, named Le Nord, l'Est, Le Sud and l'Ouest, each of which specializes in a different aspect of French cuisine. His son, Jérôme, manages the Chefs de France restaurant inside the French pavilion at Walt Disney World's EPCOT in Orlando, Florida^[2]

Bocuse is considered an ambassador of modern French Cuisine. He was honored in 1961 with the title Meilleur Ouvrier de France. He had been apprenticed to Fernand Point, a master of classic French cuisine; and Bocuse dedicated his first book to him.

Institute Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance[link]

The Institute Paul Bocuse Worldwide Alliance brings together 10 universities in the United States, Peru, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, Singapore, China and Finland. Each university selects its best students to follow a four-month intensive training at the Institut Paul Bocuse in subjects such as:

• French Regional Cuisine
• the arts de la table
• wine selection
• cheeses
• French cooking terminology
• pastry techniques

The only culinary Institute in the United States with an agreement with Institut Paul Bocuse is the Chef John Folse culinary Institute at Nicholls State University.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Bocuse

• Paul Bocuse's Official site
• Photos of Le Sud
• Bocuse d'Or Official site
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Corrado Guzzanti
Born	May 17, 1965 Rome
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Actor, director, writer and satirist

Guzzanti and the cast of Fascisti su marte.

Corrado Guzzanti (born May 17, 1965) is an Italian actor, director, writer and satirist. He has been described as "the most interesting satirical author and actor today"^[1] and "among the comedians best loved by the Italian public."^[2]

Biography[link]

Born in Rome, he is the son of journalist and Senator Paolo Guzzanti, great-nephew of former Minister of Health Elio Guzzanti, and brother of Sabina and Caterina, both also Italian television personalities and satirical actresses.

After beginning his career as writer for his sister Sabina, he debuted with roles for himself in Avanzi, hosted by Serena Dandini, with whom he collaborated in almost all his subsequent TV shows. These include Tunnel, Maddecheaò, Pippo Chennedy Show and L'ottavo nano.

He is famous for his corrosive imitations of Italian politicians and personalities: an incomplete list include Emilio Fede, Antonello Venditti, Francesco Rutelli, Romano Prodi, Fausto Bertinotti, Gianfranco Funari, Gianni Baget Bozzo, Giulio Tremonti and many others. He has also notoriously sent up Berlusconi's lauding of "freedom," which he and other critics of the Prime Minister view cynically, in a sketch in which he urinated on a couch.^[3][4]

Guzzanti has also created characters of his own, including avantgarde cinema director Rokko Smithersons (who appeared more like a leather-clad biker); Quelo, a comedic version of a new age guru with a number of catchphrases; Vulvia, the linkwoman of the Discovery Channel-like Re-Educational Channel; Lorenzo, a spoof of the "typical" late 1980s teenager, obsessed with Mtv, heavy metal, playing football and getting stoned; and the poet Brunello Robertetti, a satire of a typical Italian selfish and pseudo-profound intellectual. His latest character is Don Florestano Pizzarro, a powerful priest, in 2008.

In 2006 he debuted as movie director with Fascisti su Marte ("Fascists on Mars"), which features an anachronistic and heavily satirical plot about a group of Fascist militiamen attempting to colonize Mars (the red Bolshevik planet) during the Fascist era.

References[link]

External links[link]

Media related to Corrado Guzzanti at Wikimedia Commons

• Homepage (Currently offline)
• Fascisti su Marte at the Internet Movie Database