Italian cuisine developed in Italy from Roman times and spread worldwide with waves of emigration. It is built on few ingredients, so cooks depend on the quality of produce rather than complicated technique. Many dishes began in ordinary homes rather than restaurants, which is why regional recipes suit everyday cooking and use local seasonal ingredients. The Mediterranean diet forms its base, with pasta, fish, fruit and vegetables, while cheese, cured meats, wine, pizza and espresso are central to its gastronomic culture. New World crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, capsicums and maize, brought after the colonisation of the Americas, transformed it. UNESCO added Italian cuisine to its intangible cultural heritage list in 2025.

In 1909 D. W. Griffith made a 14-minute film about a speculator who corners the wheat market and doubles the price of bread. A farmer sows his field while a 'Wheat King' gambles in the Chicago wheat pit; bakers raise the loaf from five cents to ten and the poor line up for bread. Griffith cut back and forth between the farm, the feast and the breadline, a technique called parallel editing, so audiences saw both ends of the economy at once. The film drew on Frank Norris's stories and on a real scheme: months earlier Chicago financier James Patten had cornered wheat, sent bread prices up and made about $5 million, roughly $185 million today.