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Ladies' night: Women's Day
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| The 8th of March is a day of celebration: indeed most women in Italy take advantage of this event to spend an evening having fun and enjoying themselves, at times allowing a little transgression to creep in, too. It is an opportunity to get together with closest friends, work colleagues, ex-school mates and old friends with whom they have lost touch. There are plenty of events in different venues: every restaurant, pizzeria and club organises theme parties. If, however, you want to enjoy a more intimate evening dedicated to gossip and catching up, it is advisable to invite friends round and make them a meal on the theme of "yellow", the colour of the mimosa flowers traditionally given on Women's Day. |
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FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE PRESENT |
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Today Women's Day is a much-awaited event: women's associations organise events and conventions to raise public awareness on problems that concern women; florists sell vast amounts of bunches of mimosa, which has become symbolic of this event; restaurants book out, and wives and mums take advantage of the 8th of March to dedicate a day to themselves.
Yet the real meaning of this celebration has been lost in the course of the years, for it was actually brought about to commemorate a dramatic day. In 1908, the cotton industry workers of New York organised a protest against the terrible conditions in which they were forced to work. The protests went on for days, until the 8th of March when the owner of the factory, a Mr. Johnson, had the strikers closed inside the factory and then set fire to it; no less than 129 workers (including a number of Italians) were killed.
It was the German socialist Rosa Luxemburg who proposed the 8th of March as a day for the international women's movement in commemoration of the tragedy, not least because in the years that followed the United States held a series of commemorative events aimed at remembering the sacrifice of the workers.
With the passing of time, initiatives that celebrate work done by women and social conditions have multiplied the world over. Thus the 8th of March has, thanks to the feminists, become a symbol of the discriminations that women have been subjected to in the course of the centuries, as well as providing the starting point for its own liberation.
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A day which is dedicated to women is a good opportunity for inviting close friends round. The menu and table should ideally be all in yellow, a colour that expresses vitality, strength and joy, like the mimosa. Indeed this is the flower chosen as the symbol of the 8th of March by the UDI (Union of Italian Women) to indicate rebirth and female liberation. We therefore suggest a meal with mouth-watering yet light dishes prepared with yellow ingredients and decorated with wild flowers and small bunches of mimosa.
For an appetiser one might start out with small savoury profiteroles filled with mascarpone and gorgonzola, or leeks, caprino goat's cheese and hardboiled eggs. To follow, try hulled millet with asparagus, brie and primulas. The recipe is very simple: proceed as for a normal asparagus risotto, but using the hulled millet instead of rice, adding cubed brie at the end and decorating with crowns of yellow primulas. For the second course, a delicate salad of corn with soy beans, julienne of carrots, golden apples and sliced radishes with flakes of pecorino: light and perfect for spring. To finish off, a mimosa cake. A sponge cake soaked in rum, filled with fruit salad in syrup and apricot jam, covered with whipped cream and almond paste. As a decoration, sprinkle on top the crumbs from the middle of the cake to make a "mimosa effect". For drinking the toast, try a Moscato d'Asti from the Piedmont region, with its lively, sweet and aromatic flavour.
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