Embracing the Undiscovered

In the article, "Undiscovered Tuscany" by Gary Shteyngart, we get another view of Tuscany that hasn't been prevalent among other articles on the area. After reading the lead the reader really doesn't have a clear idea of what they're in for at all, the paragraph continues interjecting the unexpectedly humorous observation, "for all the beauty around you, the eye is drawn to a huge pair of boxer shorts hanging from a window", but alas at the end of the paragraph the reader still doesn't have a clue where the piece is going. Then he informs us in a cleverly intriguing way, "And then a small tempest stirred the world press. The Kebab controversy", who ever thought of kebabs as a controversy, or as tempests? Now he has my full attention. He goes on to provide a bit of background history then to inform the reader of the current kabob situation, telling us that last year the city banned the ethnic restaurants from opening in the center of the city in an effort of preservation for the tradition of the Tuscan cuisine. "Too many of the town's children were coming home bearing the greasy thumbprints of foreign kebabs. The local left quickly decried the 'gastronomic racism' and 'culinary ethnic cleansing,' while Italy's minister of agriculture, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League, supported the banning of non-regional food, proudly announcing: 'I even refuse to eat pineapple'". In this chunk of text Shteyngart reveals that this issue is only about kebabs on the surface, in fact it goes much deeper than that down to the root of the problem is the issue of cultural preservation in the face of the ever changing scenery thanks to globalization and increased immigration.

In the next paragraph he asks a series of questions, pulling the reader in further by demanding that they internalize the issue, he does not provide relief by giving answers; "Do we wish to see small pockets of history and tradition, or do we want to open our ears and hear the fresh news the world whispers insistently each day"? The article continues in a similar manner, combining information with an approachable style of language that allows the reader to tap into his thought process and make their own opinions at the same time. He brings the article full circle by ending on his own opinion saying, "I am happy to live in a world where muddy fish stews can exist in a short train ride away from heaps of golden tortelli lucchese, where kebabs are cheap and plentiful, and where a simple Tuscan faro soup can remind an Indian mother of home". As a recent recipient of my first kebab, I must admit, that I too am pleased to have them present in the Italian culinary scene.