Olivers wrote:
>
> Arri London muttered....
>
> >
> >
> > "R. Yang" wrote:
> >>
> >> Olivers > wrote in message
> >> >...
> >>
> >> > Fortunately for the Italians, they had landed in a land where
> >> > growing tomatoes was possible almost anywhere with water, although
> >> > the principal evidence of the points of origin of Italian
> >> > immigrants was that polenta sure did not arrive on US restaurant
> >> > menus quickly (nor was it popular in Italian immigrant homes). In
> >> > past years, there was a modest Italian community in the Central
> >> > Brazos Valley of Texas, immigrating to become "truck" farmers.
> >> > Some names and even a produce house, "D'Onofrio's", still survive.
> >> > There on the edge of the Plains, corn growing all about them, you
> >> > couldn't have given away polenta except to the starving. Grits
> >> > maybe...
> >>
> >> Which brings up ... since tomatos and corn first went to Europe
> >> during the conquistador era, how long have tomato and polenta dishes
> >> actually been "traditional" for Italians? 400 years? Less?
> >
> > Tomato dishes are more common in the south rather than the north,
> > although tomato dishes are found up there too. This source gives some
> > info: http://www.siu.edu/~ebl/leaflets/tomato.htm
> >
> > Polenta had been made in parts of Italy well before the introduction
> > of maize. It was made from other grains.
> >
>
> Apparently, for everyday "Romans", especially the Army, the porridge form
> of polenta (in a multi-grain "cornless" version) was the principal food,
> eaten far more than baked breads and almost universally popular. After
> all, those indirect children of the old Romans (or of some outcast Dacian
> legionaires) the Romanians (not much more Roman than the "Macedonians" are
> the children of Phil and Alex) still wolf down their mammaglia.
>
> TMO

Mamaliga, you mean It is made from maize as well these days.