<i>So it’s probably more shocking than surprising that, at first, Modena—home to a twelfth-century university and cathedral, to Italy’s West Point, to the Ferrari founder and the Maserati factory, to a concert hall, an opera house, seven theatres, three good museums, and a foundation with one of the best photography collections anywhere—was immune to the lure of gastronomic refreshment. The problem was pride as much as provinciality.</i><p>Ok I need to get this out of my chest. I think the words &quot;gastronomic refreshment&quot; would worry an Italian... a lot. It&#x27;s true that traditions get in the way, but it&#x27;s because of those traditions that we don&#x27;t come up with things like &quot;pizza with pineapple... with ketchup&quot;. I get it, people want to get creative in the kitchen, but if you miss the basis, your creativity will suck, full stop. In fact, even Bottura had to learn the traditional stuff, as most of people do in Italy - in his mother&#x27;s kitchen. Note this works also for people that eat the food, if they have no idea what good food is, it&#x27;s rather pointless to use the word &quot;gastronomic&quot; in the first place.