Italian Country

The Foundations Of Authentic Italian Cooking

When people think of Italian cooking, most think about pasta and pizza pies. However, there are so many more dishes and influences that inspire those dishes. The history of the Italian people, as well as Italy’s geographical location, both contribute to the types of food. Italian culture is shown through its cuisine.

Due to the fact that people had a hard time traveling around the country long ago, many different styles of Italian food arose nationwide. Most people were not introduced to different ways of cooking in their own country. With there being twenty different regions across Italy, there are a lot of specific kinds of food classified in Italian cuisine. So in a small country, there still can be a very large array of foods.

The different climates across Italy played a role in the kinds of pasta used regionally. Dry pasta made from wheat, water and salt was easier to make in the southern areas of Italy where the warm weather could dry the pasta quicker. So pasta like spaghetti and rigatoni was more popular here. In the North pasta made from eggs and flour was used more, such as tagliatelle, tajarin, or pappardelle. The north also made a lot of stuffed pasta like ravioli.

The climate also affected the types of food and plants that could grow in Italy. Some plants, like olive oil, grew better in warm weather, so in southern Italy olive oil was used a lot. Olive trees did not grow well in the northern areas where it was cold. Butter and lard were used in place of olive oil.

Black leaf kale, cabbage, radicchio and cardoons are vegetables that grow well in cold weather like in northern Italy. Vegetables like broccoli raab and eggplants were grown in southern Italy because they thrive in warm weather. Tomatoes also grow well in warm climates, and so in the south red pasta sauces were more common.

Economy has also affected Italian food. Polenta is a very old staple in Italy. Although it has widespread use today, polenta used to be only eaten by the poor as it was very easy to prepare and grow. Eventually different types of wheat were experimented with, which gave way to the many different ways to prepare polenta today.

The countries that border Italy like France and Austria also has an influence over Italian cuisine. Other foreign influences include Spain, England, and Arabic countries. These countries occupied specific areas of Italy throughout history.

With all the different kinds of Italian food it is important in the Italian culture to savor and enjoy the different tastes. Meals are an important way for Italian families to bond by sitting down to a ten course meal that could last around three hours. Since getting the tastes is important and because there are so many courses, the size of each plate is much smaller.

Food in Italy today reflects the various influences over time. The diverse weather conditions in Italy give way to the different dishes and food preparations. Italian food has many foreign influences from neighboring countries and countries directly involved with Italy historically. The lack of travel within the country long ago gave way to the different dishes. These influences have affected both Italy’s food and culture. Visit http://restaurantesanmarco.net/ for a tour of Italian cuisine.

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