Italian cuisine

Italian cuisine is extremely varied: the country of Italy was only unified in 1861, and its cuisines reflect the cultural variety of its regions and its diverse history (with culinary influences from Greek, Roman, Norman and Arab civilizations). Italian cuisine is imitated all over the world.

To a certain extent, there is really no such thing as Italian cuisine in the way that one usually understands national cuisines. Each area has its own proud specialties, primarily at regional level, but also even at provincial level. Italian cuisine is not only highly regionalised, it is very seasonal. The high priority placed on the use of fresh, seasonal produce distinguishes the cuisine of Italy from the imitations available in most other countries.

Regional differences

Roman cuisine, for example, uses a lot of pecorino (sheep milk cheese) and offal (frattaglie, pronounced frattaje in dialect), while Tuscan cooking features white beans, meat, and unsalted bread. Pizza also varies across the county, the crusts of pizzas in Rome are thin as crackers, while Neapolitan and Sicilian pizza is thicker. The influence of Northern Italian cuisine can be seen in French and German cuisines. Piemonte and Lombardia each grow their own different kind of rices, which are used to make risotto. The North of Italy is the home of polenta. Emilia-Romagna is known for lasagna and tortellini (stuffed pasta), mortadella, prosciutto, and parmigiano. Naples (Napoli) is the home of pizza, mozzarella and pastries (babà, sfogliatelle). Calabria's cuisine uses a lot of hot pepper for its distinctive salami (that are common, in several varieties, throughout the country) and uses capsicum. Sicily is the home of gelato (ice cream) and granita but its cuisine also has many influences from Arab cuisine (lemon, pistachio) and also includes fish (tuna, swordfish). Sardinia is famous for lamb and pecorino. Every province (sub-division of a Region) has proper desserts and many other recipes.

Northern versus Southern Italian cooking

Traditional Italian cuisine is very regional and does not follow strict North-South patterns. To most, northern and southern Italian cuisines are differentiated primarily by the north using more butter and creams and the south more tomato. In general terms, however, there is a marked difference between regional use of cooking fat and traditional style of pasta. Inland northern and north-eastern regions tend to favour more butter, cream, polenta, mascarpone, grana padano, and parmigiano cheeses, risotto and fresh egg pasta. Coastal northern and central regions are somewhat of a bridge between north and south and often use tortellini, ravioli and are known for prosciutto. The southern regions are traditionally known for mozzarella, cacciacavallo, and pecorino cheeses, olive oil, lasagna and dried pasta. Southern Italian cuisine also makes far greater use of the ubiquitous tomato.

Italian Wines

Italian cuisine cannot be separated from Italian Wine. Most Italian wines of great renown are produced in three main Italian regions: Piemonte (Barolo), Veneto (Amarone, Pinot Grigio, etc.) and Toscana (Chianti, Brunello). Other great wine producing regions such as Puglie (Primitivo) and Sicily (Planeta) also produce some highly respected wines.

Traditional menu structure

A traditional Italian menu consists of:

• 1. antipasto - hot and cold appetizers 2.
• 2. primo ("First Course"), usually consists of a hot dish like pasta, risotto, gnocchi, polenta or soup. There are usually abundant vegetarian options.
• 3. secondo ("Second Course"), the main dish, usually fish or meat (pasta is never the main course of a meal). Traditionally veal is the most commonly used meat, at least in the North, though beef has become more popular since World War II and wild game is very popular, particularly in Tuscany.
• 4. contorno ("Side Dish") may consist of a salad or vegetables. A traditional menu features salad after the main course.
• 5. dolce ("Dessert")
• 6. caffè ("Coffee") (espresso)
• 7. liquors/liqueurs (grappa, amaro, limoncello) sometimes referred to as ammazzacaffè ("Coffee killer")

One notable and often surprising aspect of an Italian meal, especially if eaten in an Italian home, is that the primo, or first course, is usually the more filling dish, providing most of the meal's carbohydrates, and will consist of either risotto or pasta (both being excellent sources). The secondo, or second course, which in French or British cuisine really is the main course, is often scant in comparison. The exception to this tends to be in Tuscany, where a traditional menu would see soup served as a primo and a hefty meat dish as the secondo.

Holiday Cuisine

Italians celebrate each holiday with a different cuisine, each in turn having a specific meaning.

La Festa di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Day in English) is the feast day of St. Joseph. In Sicily, many Italian-American communities, and other Italian communities worldwide, thanks are given to St. Joseph ("San Giuseppe" in Italian) for preventing a famine in Sicily during the Middle Ages. The fava bean was the crop which saved the population from starvation, and is a traditional part of St. Joseph's Day altars and traditions. Other customs celebrating this festival include wearing red clothing, eating a Sicilian pastry known as a Zeppole and giving food to the needy.

During the Christmas season, Italians will celebrate the birth of Jesus with some variation of the Feast of the Seven Fishes where seven different meatless seafood dishes are served on Christmas Eve.

The Mediterranean diet

The cooking of coastal southern Italians was one of the inspirations of the so-called Mediterranean diet, which is incorrectly believed to be characteristic of Italian cuisine in general. An Italian writer remarks sarcastically: Around 1975, under the impulse of one of those new nutritional directives by which good cooking is too often influenced, the Americans discovered the so-called Mediterranean diet.... The name... even pleased Italian government officials, who [renamed it] Mediterranean cuisine. They kept the American selection, which excluded ingredients which are historically indispensable for us, such as pork meat, pork fat, butter, and, in the quantities allowed by family budgets, the noble meats, veal and beef. It wasn't accepted that our true eating habits, extending over the greatest part of our national territory, was middle European, and not the diet of coastal peoples.[1] The writer continues by noting that it is fresh pasta made with soft wheat, a central European food, and not dried pasta made with hard wheat, a coastal food, which is typical in much of Italy.