Tag: Italy;

Regional Italian Food

When most people think of Italian food they think of dishes of spaghetti, lasagna, minestrone, and tortellini. This is a very general view of Italian food and if you were to travel to Italy you would be very shocked by the Italian food that they eat. The main reason for this is that there are over nineteen regions in Italy, all serving up their own variation on Italian food. Furthermore, Italian food is very seasonal and depends on the freshest ingredients, so the cuisine in summer will be very different than the winter cuisine.

The Italian food that most Americans are familiar with comes from the northern parts of Italy. This is where the rich dishes full of cheese and heavy on the sauce come from. The meats that are most commonly used here are beef and pork. If you love the Italian food that you can find in America, than the northern region of Italy is the place for you. This food will be most familiar, but it will still offer an exciting change from the Italian food found in the United States. Also, don’t let the stereotypical view of Italian food just being spaghetti and meatballs slow you down. In fact, very few people in Italy actually eat spaghetti and meatballs. The Italian food that is actually found in Italy is much more complex and diverse and will rely on more spices than just garlic.

As you move further south in Italy you will find that the cuisine changes. In the south there is more fish used. Often this brand of Italian food is called Mediterranean food. The dishes here are much lighter and are healthier in general. The people in the southern half of Italy are amongst the healthiest in the world and it is due in great part to the types of Italian food that they eat. One of the reasons this Italian food is so healthy is because they use olive oil to cook most of their food in.

One of the great misconceptions about Italian food is that it uses too many spices in overwhelming quantities. This misconception probably arises out the importation of Italian food to America where it is often cooked by people who have never been to Italy, much less eaten authentic Italian food. While spices are used in Italian food, they are meant to be an accent to the natural flavor of the dish. The fact that Italian food is seasonal makes it less likely to rely on heavy spices since there is a strong fresh flavor about the meats, sauces, and pastas. However, travelers will find that the food in the northern regions of Italy do use a little more spice in their Italian food than the southern regions.

So, when thinking of Italian food it is important to remember that there is no national standard of the cuisine. With nineteen regions there is a vast diversity in dishes. Each region boasts their own unique take on Italian food, showcasing their native crops and livestock. However, all throughout the country travelers will taste that certain something; will feel that comforting familiarity; that makes Italian food one of the most popular cuisines in the world.

Popular Italian Food Restaurants

Italian food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world. It has long been an American favorite and there are countless Italian food restaurants throughout the United States. While Italian food was first brought to this country by immigrants and ma and pop shops, like everything else in this country Italian food franchises are quickly defining this country’s perception of Italian food.

Probably the first and most well known of these franchises is the Olive Garden. The Italian food served here is heavy on spices and thick, creamy sauces. The salad is dressed with Italian dressing and served with breadsticks. Popular dishes include ravioli, lasagna, and minestrone. While this restaurant has done a great job of introducing people to the concept of Italian food, the food served here is a far cry from the real thing. The salad dressing and breadsticks served here would never be found in Italy. Since the menu is the same year round fresh ingredients are not a priority and hence the dishes are heavily seasoned to hide the fact that the underlying ingredients hold little flavor. Sadly, many people’s views of Italian food and the stereotypes surrounding this cuisine are only furthered by this Italian food restaurant.

However, there are other large chain Italian food restaurants. Places like Macaroni Grill, Carino’s, Buca di Beppo, and Carrabba’s give a much better Italian food experience. While the Italian food served at these places certainly doesn’t live up to the high standard of Italian food set by those who originated it, the food is still quite good. The ingredients at these restaurants are of a higher quality and the dishes are closer to an authentic flavor. Carino’s is a great restaurant to go to for a casual meal. Macaroni Grill and Carrabba’s are a little nicer and are great restaurants for an Italian food date.

These restaurants don’t rely on pastas with overly seasoned heavy sauces to convince you that you’re eating Italian food. They use a wider variety of ingredients that are more true to the spirit of Italian food. Buca di Beppo is a great family Italian food restaurant. The dcor is that of an Italian home and the meals are served family style. It is recommended that you find some friends or family that enjoy Italian food to share with because the portions are quite large.

While Italian food chains are certainly not the best way to experience Italian food, they have come a long way and more and more restaurants are raising the standard to bring good quality Italian food to the general public that can’t afford a plane ticket to Italy. More chefs are venturing out and trying new things with Italian food and the results are absolutely mouth watering. Italian food will always be popular in the United States. Just realize that when eating out at franchise restaurants you will never be able to replicate the flavor and quality of authentic Italian food made by Italians using recipes that have been passed down through the generations.

Popular Italian Food

When people think of popular Italian food they most likely think of spaghetti, lasagna, or tortellini. However, the popular Italian food in Italy is actually a little different and much more diverse.

A very popular Italian dish is the minestrone soup. This soup makes excellent use of one of the most popular ingredients in Italian food, beans. Beans are widely used in Italian food and are the feature ingredient in many soups, not just the minestrone. Along with beans are nuts as another popular ingredient. The main nut preferred for Italian food is the pine nut. This nut is used to not only accent pasta dishes, but also as a main ingredient in popular desserts. But, the most common and popular use of the nuts is in pesto sauce. Nothing says Italian food like a good pesto sauce.

Another popular Italian food ingredient is rice. By far the most popular use for this ingredient is in the signature Italian food dish of risotto. Here rice is mixed with broth, vegetables and spices to make a very unique and flavorful dish. Risotto is widely known as the most popular appetizer in Italian food and different regions take great pride in their individual risottos. Rice is also used in many different soups and stews throughout Italy.

The most ubiquitous of all popular Italian food ingredients is olive oil. The best olive oil is known as extra virgin olive oil and many Italian food chefs rely strictly on extra virgin olive oil. The difference between extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil is the acidity. In order to be classified as extra virgin the olive oil must not contain more than one percent acidity. Virgin olive oil on the other hand cannot have more than two percent acidity. Extra virgin olive oil is by far the most popular in Italian food where it is used not only to cook food in, but also as a dressing for salad and a dipping option for bread.

When discussing popular Italian food it is essential to talk about the most popular breads and pastries. Breads serve an important role in Italian food. They can be used as appetizers, sides to a meal, and desserts. The most popular breads are flavored with herbs, cheeses, and sun-dried tomatoes. An excellent dessert bread in Italian food is the biscotti which means “twice baked”. This popular dessert is more like a biscuit or cookie and is often flavored with almonds and spices. Fruit can be added to the biscotti and a popular choice is cherries. Biscotti are very versatile in Italian food, being served for breakfast with coffee or as an after dinner treat.

There is much more to Italian food than just pasta and sauce. Italian food is a cuisine of diversity. When traveling in Italy it is often amusing to see the stark difference between what Italian food is popular in America and what Italian food is popular in Italy. If you want to try some different Italian food you certainly can’t go wrong with these time tested favorites.

Lombardy – The Other Side of Italian Food

There are many different factors that merge to create the style of Italian food eaten in a particular region of Italy. A great example of this is the Lombardy region. The land here dictates what ingredients are used in the Italian food and hence what type of dishes will emerge.

The biggest feature of this region is the vast plains. These plains allow for an abundance of cattle and these cattle greatly affect the type of Italian food found in this area. For instance, while most people think of olive oil in conjunction with Italian food, in this region butter is much more popular. There is also a lot of cream used in the food here; again not something most people associate with Italian food. These distinct differences from the general ideas of Italian food are due to the abundance of cattle found in the region.

Cheese is a very important ingredient in the Italian food here. One important cheese is the robiola. This cheese is part of the Stracchino family and is a soft-ripened cheese that is distinctly Italian. It is made from a blend of cow, goat, and sheep’s milk. The proportions of the different milks are distinct to different areas of the region and so it is possible to taste several different samples of the cheese, each with its own distinct flavor. Grana padano is also a very important cheese to the region. This is a hard, grainy cheese made from cows milk and aged anywhere from eight to twenty-four months. This cheese is important in the history of Italian food. It was invented by monks who used ripened cheese as a method of preserving extra milk. By 1477 this cheese was one of the most famous cheeses in the world and it certainly hasn’t lost any luster with the passing years.

Another distinct feature of this area’s Italian food is the use of single pot dishes. These are dishes which take less work to create and are therefore more popular amongst the working class of the area. Polenta is very popular as is rice. There are many different risottos that are common in the area as well as rice based soups. A popular version of risotto here is flavored with saffron. Another dish that is immensely popular and has made the region famous is its traditional ravioli with pumpkin filling. While ravioli is popular with Italian food lovers most have never had it with pumpkin filling. It is also served with melted butter and is often followed by turkey traditionally stuffed with stewed meats or chicken. True to the picture of Italian food the area boasts yet another unique pasta dish, this one with a twist as well. It is a dish of buckwheat pasta with potatoes, Swiss chard, butter, and Bitto cheese.

Of course you can’t overlook the importance of desserts in the Italian food of Lombardy. The region boasts a few sweet dishes. They make a traditional Christmas bread made with yeast dough and dotted with candied citrus peel, raisins, and candied fruits. An even sweeter Italian food creation is torrone. This nougat confection is made from honey, sugar and egg white. It is then coated with crushed, toasted almonds. The last unique dish to the area is actually a condiment made of boiled fruits seasoned with mustard. This region really does expand a person’s view of Italian food.

Learn to Cook Italian Food on Vacation

It used to be that vacations were all about site seeing and relaxing. Well, not anymore. Today the hottest trend in travel is taking courses to learn new things while on vacation. Nowhere is this more evident than in the cooking classes that have sprung up all over the world specifically for tourists. Many people travel to Italy on vacation in order to enjoy Italian food. Now though, many people not only want to enjoy Italian food while away, they want to learn how to cook it. Instead of bringing back souvenirs tourists are bringing back skills that they can put to use in their kitchens at home to whip up authentic Italian food.

If you like Italian food then you may want to consider taking some classes to learn how to cook Italian food while in Italy. There are many resorts today that offer Italian food classes to their guests. There are even whole vacation packages focused around learning how to cook Italian food. You can take a tour through Italy and in each city or region that you stop in learn to make the local Italian food from the people who know it the best, the locals, not some tour guide or American teacher. If you decide during your vacation that you would like to try out a cooking class then ask the concierge or front desk at your hotel. They should be able to point you in the direction of some Italian food classes. Often resorts will have their own world class Italian food restaurants and it’s not uncommon for them to open their doors to travelers who want to learn to make a dish from the menu. Be sure to ask the front desk at your resort about possible Italian food classes. Resorts don’t always advertise these classes because they often fill up just on word of mouth.

If you are feeling a little nervous about learning to cook Italian food on your vacation, relax. The classes are typically very small so you’ll be able to get one on one help. This is truly a great opportunity to expand your knowledge of preparing Italian food from actual Italian chefs. Don’t worry if you don’t know the first thing about cooking. These classes are structured to accommodate people with little to no knowledge of Italian food or even cooking for that matter. If you would like to take a more advanced or intermediate class then ask about those options as well, but the majority of classes will be for beginners. These Italian food classes for vacationers will teach you how to make easy dishes that look more complicated than they actually are. They’re not going try and teach you something complicated that will only end up frustrating you. They know that it can be intimidating learning to cook Italian food from professional chefs so they will keep things simple. On the other hand, they also understand that you probably want to go home and impress your friends with an Italian food dish that seems really fancy, so they will teach you dishes with a certain “wow” factor.

The next time you plan a vacation to Italy, try to step off the beaten path and learn how to cook some authentic Italian food. The skills and memories you bring home will outlast any souvenir you could buy. Vacationing in Italy is not just about enjoying Italian food; it’s about bringing Italian food home with you.