Italian Food
Italian food. Most Americans who've never been out of the country don't know it. Just about everyone thinks they do. You do not get Italian cuisine at the Olive Garden, or anywhere there is a fetid hint of garlic powder. In fact, garlic and oregano, the icons of American Italian food, are very lightly used in most Italian cooking.
That said, there's really no such thing as Italian food. Italy, after all, is a fairly young country. The Italian regions, however, are a whole other thing. They've been regions for a long time and have been ruled by lots of rich and powerful people, many from other parts of the globe.
So Italian cuisine is regional. In general, up north the cuisine is based on rice and butter, where in the south the cuisine is based on grains, usually made into pasta, and olive oil. It can be spicy in the south, seldom so in the north.
Italian food is heavy on the preserved meats that evolved from the combination of cucina povera and lack of refrigeration. It used to be that just about every farmer made his own prosciutto and salami. Now, there are a bewildering array of preserved meats, collectively called salumi, in every market. The tourist would do well to buy some and eat al fresco, out in the fresh air. Here's some help if you're not fluent in Italian: Buying Salami in Italy.
Italian food can also be eaten outside at a sagra, or food festival. You look at brightly colored signs along the sides of the road announcing them, then go to the ones that interest you, usually on weekends. Of course, the signs are in Italian, but they're not hard to interpret. See our page on Reading Sagra Posters for more. The best festival food? For my money it's Truffles, and in November you can taste the little gems at a Truffle Festival.
If you are really into Italian culture and Italian food, you'll want to rent an apartment or vacation house in Italy so you can shop, cook, and sample. You might be interested in Buying a Chicken in Italy, for example. If you want something more exotic, well then: pheasant, guinea fowl, and quail are generally available everywhere, and at a price that's far more reasonable than in the states (unless you hunt, of course).
Olive oil is pretty much at the base of Italian food from Tuscany south. We have Italian Olive Oil Resources for you, including our video on harvesting olives.
One of our favorite local dishes is Torta d'Erbe, a sort of vegetable pie--real cucina povera. It can have a crust, or be simple like our neighbor Francesca makes it, with a bread crumb topping. The link above leads you to her assembly of the dish, which really doesn't have a recipe, since it depands upon what you're pulling out of your garden at the time.
If you're interested in eating some food from northern Tuscany, the Lunigiana, see our evolving Lunigiana Restaurants Map. Then, find out how to Order Good Food an Italian Restaurant.
I write quite a bit about food on the Wandering Italy Blog. Check out our Food Category for more.
Italian Food is simple. Italian food is based upon the cooking of the poor, cucina povera, the Italians say.
See La Cucina Povera for more on the Cuisine of the Poor in Italy.
The (Full) Italian Meal:
- Antipasto
- Pasta or Soup (Primo Piatto)
- Main Course (Secondo Piatto)
- Vegetable (Contorno)
- Cheese or Fruit
- Dessert
- Coffee (Caffè, never Cappucino)
