Author: Abhishek Agarwal
The preconceived notion that Italian food consists of about fifteen dishes found at the italian food joints in the U.S is false. In fact, Italion food has a wide variety and varies greatly acroos across the country. The different regional cuisines found in Italy take cues from surounding nations and spice it up with a lit of bit of local creativity to provide the inimitable Italian cuisine. A great example of the fore-said is the cuisine from the region of Fruili-Venezia Giulia
The region has a common border with the formerly Soviet nation of Yugoslavia, and has a lot of customs and traditons (including culinary) in common. The Italian food from this region has a strong Austrian, Hungarian, Croatian, and Slovenian influence. The beer halls in this region show the most apparent influence. Dishes such as Goulash and Viennese sausage are available here, goulash which originally was a Hungarian dish, acquired the distinct Italian taste from this area and can be found in restaurants in and outside of Italy. The dish is very popular in this area, and constitutes a thick beef stew and vegetables available locally such as red peppers and onions. It is thick and the seasoning is done with paprika, and is usually served along with pasta. Another popular dish at the local beer halls is the Bohemian hare.
Author: Ana Maria Da Costa Vasconcellos
Author: Ana Maria Da Costa Vasconcellos
Italian salami is not often named as a typical Italian product, even if it is really present in Italians daily diet.
This simple cold cut is commonly used in Italy in an antipasto or, more commonly, inside a sandwich that a young Italian student eat at school pause.
Author: James Murray
A Mediterranean diet and healthy Italian cuisine makes you live longer. Italy, the country known today had not officially formed until the 19th century, the Italian cuisine can claim their roots going back as far as 4th century BC. Italian cuisine has evolved through centuries of political and social changes. When the New World was discovered significant changes occurred, and helped mold much of what is known as Italian cuisine.
The incorporation of potatoes, tomatoes, bell pepper and maize to the Italian cuisine all central parts of this cuisine but not introduced in this scale until the 18th century has shaped the food.
Conquerors, high-profile chefs, political upheavals had various influences throughout the centuries, and including neighboring regions, also the discovery of the New World. A concrete cuisine has formed to what is known today as Italian cuisine as one of the premiere cuisines in the world.
Author: Robert Palmer
The local word for chili pepper is diavolicchio or diavolillo and it is the protagonist of nearly all Abruzzesi dishes. It is in the local pasta dish maccheroni alla chitarra, in the succulent 'ndocca 'ndocca, as well as in simpler pasta sauces and all pork products.
The Abruzzese version of brodetto, the fish soup made along the length of the Adriatic coast, is flavored with tomatoes, garlic, onion and bay leaves. Unlike other versions of brodetto it contains no saffron, which is surprising since the crocus from which saffron is extracted is extensively cultivated near the capital of the region, Aquila. In fact saffron appears in only one local dish, scapece - pickled fish, which is fried and then preserved under saffron- flavored white vinegar in wooden barrels.
Author: Abdrew Krause
So you decided you're going to start doing some more Italian cooking. You found a great database of Italian recipes and you're excited about wading into the world of pasta, pesto and parmagiana.
It would be helpful to have on hand some staple ingredients that are found in a lot of Italian cooking. That way, you'll be able to get your fix of Italian food any day, without extensive grocery shopping. Let's look at some of them!
Garlic: It may sound like a cliché, but this humble bulb has a place in just about all-Italian cooking. Keep it in a cool, dry place such as a root cellar or pantry. When buying garlic, look for bulbs with no dark discoloration on the bottom. This may indicate age or molding.
Tomato sauce: Don't go expensive here. The house brand at your local grocer and the national brands will be impossible to tell apart if you put them in a bowl. Avoid the "preseasoned" blends, as you'll be adding your own herbs and spices to your recipe.
Pasta: Don't buy a huge amount of any one specific noodle. Rather, keep a small amount of the most common types, such as spaghetti, linguine, elbow macaroni, small and large shells and wide egg noodles. For storage, it helps if you can keep long noodles in a long container. Most plastic ware makers have a "pasta keeper" of some sort available.
Parmesan cheese: While it may not always be an ingredient, freshly ground Parmesan is almost always a welcome addition on top of a pasta dish. Kraft has a new "fresh shreds" product with a block of cheese in a container with its own grater. It works very well, and the price is not exorbitant.
Olive oil: One mistake many Italian-food rookies make is using expensive extra-virgin olive oil for things like pan-frying. Use standard olive oil, which will be yellow in color and as much as 50 percent cheaper, for these purposes. You'll still get all the health benefits!
Keep your pantry properly stocked, and you'll be prepared to cook any Italian recipes you wish!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cooking-tips-articles/basic-ingredients-for-italian-recipes-571305.html
About the Author
Andrew Krause is a Chef and Pastry Chef for over 30 years, at persent I own a Gourmet Bakery called The Cheese Confectioner.You can visit my site at For Free Recipes.net NOTE: You are welcome to reprint this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the about the author info at the end).
Author: Ana Maria Da Costa Vasconcellos
The main reason for the popularity of Italian food is probably its taste that pleases all cultures. Another one could be the quality of its ingredients. A good Italian dish depends directly on the freshness and genuinity of its ingredients. During the present times, it is important to preserve quality standards to avoid a quality loss while looking for convenience in international markets.
Quality Brands
To protect the originality of some typical products and processes, the European Union created the quality brands PDO (Protected designation of origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). The PDO protects both the origin of the raw material and the typical production process. The PGI protects the typical process, allowing the raw material to come from other parts.
The weak ring is the low knowledge people have about these brands. They are created to foster the typical products, benefiting the customers, as they distinguish the real typical products from the common ones that are maybe sold as an equal quality product. Some researches showed that the number of people who knows about these brands is still a minor part of the customers.
The most known example regards the parmesan cheese. Most of the customers know parmesan as a type of Italian cheese. How many of these customers know about the sentence from European Union stating that Parmesan is the cheese produced in a determined region of Italy, under the rules of Parmigiano Reggiano consortium? Only this cheese can be called Parmigiano or parmesan. The other ones, produced all around the world (this sentence regarded a german cheese) cannot use this name. If they do so, they are doing it unproperly.
Typical food quality and Tourism
This example shows the importance of preserving the food culture. Otherwise, in a few years, in this globalization environment, we were going to eat the same things everywhere, losing this important culture factor that is made of typical processes and products.
When we travel, we do not go visiting museums or monuments only... each place carries its culture also concerning food.
Studies show that the number of tourists that consider the food as an important factor while choosing a destination is growing. A relevant number wants to experience it visiting wineries, agritourist sites and "touching with hand" the process of producing typical products. Often also buying local products to take home part of that experience lived in that specific territory.
Hunger and quality
Quality is for comfortable people. It should not be like this, but it is. People is able to look for quality when is not hungry. Talk about quality brands and typical products has sense when people is already replete, and have the possibilities to choose. This fact doesn't mean quality shoudn't be present in every product, but it means that look for a special extra virgin olive oil has sense for someone who already uses and know what an extra virgin olive oil is.
This may be a risk for poor civilizations that may loose their typical process while looking for cheaper food. They may buy from the outside more convenient food rather than evaluating their own typical processes, that may cost more and give less harvest.
Quantity x quality
The process of obtaining smaller harvests began with a huge production of butter in the 70's, that was storaged in European warehouses. In a world where there is still people who die for hunger, such economic measure to avoid the prices decrease isn't correct. So, what shoud be done to avoid this inconvenient problem (too much food stored)? Produce less! The biologic products were born then to fulfill this need: smaller harvests using less chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
The process continued and people began to notice that "less is better". Typical products with small outputs began to be considered specialties. If a kind of olive tree gives less harvest, their product is a niche product.
But how a common customer can notice this difference? Through the quality brands. It's a powerful tool for quality food lovers. A unique product has no need of a quality brand. Some special brands of balsamic vinegar are sold by more than 2000 US dollars per litre. These are unique products by themselves, as a Ferrari is between machines. But regarding the good products that can be confused with similar in appearance, the quality brand is necessary and allows the gourmets to buy and enjoy special food that continue to be produced as they used to be, respecting the local traditions and allowing us to live in a global world that preserve the differences cultures need to keep the history alive.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/italian-food-and-quality-394038.html
About the Author
Ana Maria learned about italian food from the inside, as she lives in Italy since 1983. Discover tips and useful info visiting All About Italian Food
Author: Fiona Muller
When you think of Italian food and wine you think of little tavernas in winding streets with tables outside and lots of families eating and drinking together. Food and wine in Italy is a celebration of the Italian lifestyle and its something that you can enjoy in your home in homage to the nation.
When you think of Italian food, you think of spaghetti Bolognese, other types of pasta and lots of olive oil. There are thousands of ristoranti (restaurants) throughout Italy – each with its own individuality and with special dishes and wines that are local to them.
These are the most formal type of place to eat. These are best to visit when you are not in a hurry as they can be a bit more upmarket than others but are family-run. Here people like to take their time when eating so you need to have time to have a leisurely meal. A little less formal than a ristoranti are the trattoria and osteria, where local speciality food and wine are served. In addition to these more serious eating places there are panineria which is a sandwich bar, where a quick meal and a glass of wine can be had at any time of the day and of course the pizzeria.
Although everyone loves Italian food, figuring out what kind of meal to have and where to have it can be difficult. Italian cuisine varies from region to region but, in spite of regional differences, Italian food in general is often characterized as being flexible and innovative, in fact many dishes are built on the seasonal food that is available at the time.
When it comes to wine you often think of heavy Italian red wine. However wine in Italy is much more than the traditional Chianti.
Its climate, soil and very old traditions of viticulture make Italy a natural wine growing and drinking nation. Of course wine has been a seriously important part of Italian culture for many years and the variety of wines available reflect this. The wines are as personal as a name, are all very different in taste and colour and as much a part of Italian life as almost 3,000 years of tradition can make them.
The Etruscans of North-Central Italy, who created one of the peninsula's earliest civilizations, left evidence of how to make wine. The Greeks who soon after established themselves in the South gave Italy the name Enotria (the land of wine). Wine growing has been part of the Italian way of life for centuries and it is in the cultivation of the grape where you will find most Italian farmers. Viticulture is as important as it ever was to the Italian culture and economy and because of this a large part of the population is engaged in the vine and wine industry.
But of course the Italian love of food and drink does not stop at wine. There are also aperitifs and liqueurs that are popular and even a great line in fizzy water!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/italian-food-and-wine-948438.html
About the Author
Fiona Muller has been writing for over 20 years. She is a qualified journalist and has worked in food and drink writing for the last few years. For more information visit Laithwaites.co.uk
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