Food & Drink

Although pasta, pizza, risotto, minestre (thick soups) and meat dishes can be found all over Italy, regions specialise in dishes based on local produce.

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 specialities include:

• Umbria is famous for its truffles.
• The North of Italy is the home of polenta.
• Liguria is known for pesto sauce made from local basil.
• Roman cuisine uses a lot of pecorino (sheep milk cheese) and offal (frattaglie, frattaje in dialect).
• Tuscan cooking features white beans, meat and unsalted bread; example include bean soups and bistecca alla fiorentina (massive T-bone steaks grilled over charcoal)
• Piedmont and Lombardy each grow their own different kind of rices, which are used to make risotto.
• Emilia-Romagna is known for lasagna and tortellini (stuffed pasta), mortadella, prosciutto, and parmigiano.
• Naples (Napoli) is the home of pizza, mozzarella cheese 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.

North-South Variations

In general, northern and southern Italian cuisines are differentiated primarily by the north using more butter and creams and the south more tomato.

• Inland northern and north-eastern regions tend to favour more butter, cream, polenta, mascarpone, grana padano, and parmigiano cheeses, risotto, lasagna 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, caciocavallo, and pecorino cheeses, olive oil, and dried pasta.
• Southern Italian cuisine also makes far greater use of the ubiquitous tomato.

Wine

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

You can find out more about the many Italian wines in the extensive Wine Resource Centre.

Menu Structure

A traditional Italian menu consists of:

• Antipasto - hot or cold appetizers
• Primo ('first course'), usually consists of a hot dish like pasta, risotto, gnocchi, polenta or soup. There are usually abundant vegetarian options.
• 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.
• Contorno ('side dish') may consist of a salad or vegetables. A traditional menu features salad after the main course.
• Dolce ('dessert')
• Caffè ('coffee') Usually espresso.
• 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.