La Cucina Futurista succeeded in generating media attention for Futurism at a time when the movement had been in decline, by directly addressing Italian food supply and consumption, concerns which had become central to the political agenda of Fascism during the 1920s. Mussolini's "Battle for Grain" was inaugurated in 1925 as part of a broader goal of autarky, or self-reliance of the Italian food system by increasing domestic food production and reducing or eliminating the import of foreign food. According to Helstosky, "Italy’s mounting debt and growing dependence on external powers for subsistence" had become untenable by the end of World War I, and thus "food performed a great deal of cultural and political 'work' under fascism." The ideological differences between Fascism and Futurism had grown as Fascism negotiated a compromise with the middle-class and embraced tradition while Marinetti and the Futurists continued their evangelism for the new. Nonetheless, there were still important areas of convergence, particularly the shared embrace of aluminium. According to Daniele Conversi, a researcher in nationalism studies, "Aluminum was the futurist material par excellence: it was shiny, modern and entirely produced in Italy." For the latter reason, Fascism too had embraced the material as Italy's national metal, which continues to be central to Italian identity due to its relationship with the preparation of coffee. Caffeine's properties as a stimulant made it a natural fit with both Fascist and Futurist ideologies, and Marinetti quite famously regularly introduced himself as "the caffeine of Europe." Reception The Italian public was not won over by Marinetti's manifesto regarding cuisine. In fact, immediately following its publication the Italian press broke into uproar. Doctors were measured in their response, agreeing that habitual consumption of pasta was fattening and recommending a varied diet; but the Duke of Bovino, Mayor of Naples, was firmer in his views: "The angels in Paradise," he told a reporter, "eat nothing but vermicelli al pomodoro [fine spaghetti with tomato sauce]." Marinetti replied that this confirmed his suspicions about the monotony of Paradise. The Futurists amused themselves and outraged the public by inventing preposterous new dishes, most of which were shocking due to their unusual combinations and exotic ingredients. For example, mortadella with nougat or pineapples with sardines. Marinetti wanted Italians to stop eating foreign food and to stop using foreign food words: a bar should be called quisibeve (literally, "here one drinks" in Italian), a sandwich should be