Amazed by the diversity and deliciousness of Italian food? Want to know more about how the Italian foods evolved through the ages? Read on to find out as we trace the history of Italian food.
Italy may be home to the world’s oldest known cookbook.
Italian cuisine (Italian: cucina italiana, IPA: [kuˈtʃiːna itaˈljaːna]) has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish. Significant changes occurred with the discovery of the New World with the introduction of items such as potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers and maize, now central to the cuisine but not introduced in quantity until the 18th century.
Italy has earned its reputation through a lot of things ranging from sports to cars and interior designing but out of all the things the Italian cuisine is what has gotten the country world wide fame. Of course the soccer team of Italy did win the 2006 world cup but Italian food keeps winning the hearts of millions of people everyday. It has been observed that Italian food is the most popular kind of food when it comes to eating out. This is not just in Italy rather the world at large is inclined towards Italian food for various reasons.
The long and thin boot shaped country has a cuisine that is quite unlike anything that you will be able to find in the world. To the majority of the relatively unaware public pizza and pasta happen to be the symbol of Italian cuisine. It is true that the Naples based pizza dish is the most commonly consumed Italian food along with the different kinds of pasta around the world but Italian cuisine goes a lot deeper than these two items. The cuisine of Italy is extremely rich in food items as well as desserts. The amount of diversity that you will be able to find in the cuisine of the country is overwhelming. Not only does each region contribute with its own special foods and desserts rather they have their own ways of cooking the same food items as well. This is why you will find so many different regional varieties of pasta dishes in Italy.
When we analyze the history of the country we see that for the greater part of it the country was divided into separate regional states. Furthermore many parts of the country were inhibited by foreigners like the French. In 1861 the county was united and the Italian cuisine that we know of today was for the first time formalized. Hence we see that it contains a lot of foreign influences in terms of the ingredients that are used as well as the way the food is prepared.
The early origins
The first known Italian food writer was a Greek Sicilian named Archestratus from Syracuse in the 4th century BCE. He wrote a poem that spoke of using "top quality and seasonal" ingredients. He said that flavors should not be masked by spices, herbs or other seasonings. He placed importance on simple preparation of fish. This style seemed to be forgotten during the 1st century CE when De re coquinaria was published with 470 recipes calling for heavy use of spices and herbs. The Romans employed Greek bakers to produce breads and imported cheeses from Sicily as the Sicilians had a reputation as the best cheese makers. The Romans reared goats for butchering, and grew artichokes and leeks.
Tracing down the culinary history of Italy we find that it started to make its mark during the Roman Empire movement more than 2000 years ago. The Italians even have a cookbook dating back to the first century B.C which shows how important a place food had in society. The structure of Italy as a country underwent a huge change after the fall of the Roman Empire. Italy was now a body of individually governed states that had separate and distinctive identities and hence developed their own tradition. This era was the time when the cuisine of Italy started developing its diversity that we find in it today. Each region developed its own distinctive style of cooking and a formalized menu based on the local ingredients and the lifestyle of the people living there. You would find great variance in the way similar dishes are prepared in different regions.
Middle Ages
With culinary traditions from Rome and Athens, a cuisine developed in Sicily that some consider the first real Italian cuisine.[citation needed] Arabs invaded Sicily in the 9th century. The Arabs introduced spinach, almonds, rice and perhaps spaghetti.[citation needed] During the 12th century, a Norman king surveyed Sicily and saw people making long strings made from flour and water called atriya, which eventually became trii, a term still used for spaghetti in southern Italy. Normans also introduced casseroles, salt cod (baccalà) and stockfish which remain popular.[12]
Food preservation was either chemical or physical, as refrigeration did not exist. Meats and fish would be smoked, dried or kept on ice. Brine and salt were used to pickle items such as herring, and to cure pork. Root vegetables were preserved in brine after they had been parboiled. Other means of preservation included oil, vinegar or immersing meat in congealed, rendered fat. For preserving fruits, liquor, honey and sugar were used.
In the 15th century, Maestro Martino was chef to the Patriarch of Aquileia at the Vatican. His Libro de arte coquinaria describes a more refined and elegant cuisine. His book contains a recipe for Maccaroni Siciliani, made by wrapping dough around a thin iron rod to dry in the sun. The macaroni was cooked in capon stock flavored with saffron, showing Arab influence. Of particular note is Martino's avoidance of excessive spices in favor of fresh herbs.[12] The Roman recipes include coppiette and cabbage dishes. His Florentine dishes include eggs with Bolognese torta, Sienese torta and Genoese recipes such as piperata, macaroni, squash, mushrooms, and spinach pie with onions.
Martino's text was included in a 1475 book by Bartolomeo Platina printed in Venice entitled De honesta voluptate et valetudine ("On Honest Pleasure and Good Health"). Platina puts Martino's "Libro" in regional context, writing about perch from Lake Maggiore, sardines from Lake Garda, grayling from Adda, hens from Padua, olives from Bologna and Piceno, turbot from Ravenna, rudd from Lake Trasimeno, carrots from Viterbo, bass from the Tiber, roviglioni and shad from Lake Albano, snails from Rieti, figs from Tuscolo, grapes from Narni, oil from Cassino, oranges from Naples and eels from Campania. Grains from Lombardy and Campania are mentioned as is honey from Sicily and Taranto. Wine from the Ligurian coast, Greco from Tuscany and San Severino and Trebbiano from Tuscany and Piceno are also in the book.
Early modern era
In 1570, Bartolomeo Scappi, personal chef to Pope Pius V, wrote his Opera in five volumes, giving a comprehensive view of Italian cooking of that period. It contains over 1,000 recipes, with information on banquets including displays and menus as well as illustrations of kitchen and table utensils. This book differs from most books written for the royal courts in its preference for domestic animals and courtyard birds rather than game. Recipes include lesser cuts of meats such as tongue, head and shoulder. The third volume has recipes for fish in Lent. These fish recipes are simple, including poaching, broiling, grilling and frying after marination. Particular attention is given to seasons and places where fish should be caught. The final volume includes pies, tarts, fritters and a recipe for a sweet Neapolitan pizza (not the current savory version, as tomatoes had not been introduced to Italy. However, such items from the New World as corn (maize) and turkey are included.
In the first decade of the 17th century, Giangiacomo Castelvetro wrote Breve Racconto di Tutte le Radici di Tutte l'Herbe et di Tutti i Frutti (A Brief Account of All Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit), translated into English by Gillian Riley. Originally from Modena, Castelvetro moved to England because he was a Protestant. He favored simmering vegetables in salted water and serving them warm or cold with olive oil, salt, fresh ground pepper, lemon juice or verjus or orange juice. He also suggests roasting vegetables wrapped in damp paper over charcoal or embers with a drizzle of olive oil. Castelvetro's book is separated into seasons with hop shoots in the spring and truffles in the winter, detailing the use of pigs in the search for truffles.
Modern era
At the beginning of the 18th century, Italian culinary books began to emphasize the regionalism of Italian cuisine rather than French cuisine. Books written then were no longer addressed to professional chefs but to bourgeois housewives.
In the 18th century, medical texts warned peasants against eating refined foods as it was believed that these were poor for their digestion and their bodies required heavy meals. It was believed by some that peasants ate poorly because they preferred eating poorly. However, many peasants had to eat rotten food and moldy bread because that was all they could afford.
In 1779, Antonio Nebbia from Macerata in the Marche region, wrote Il Cuoco Maceratese ("The Cook of Macerata"). Nebbia addressed the importance of local vegetables and pasta, rice and gnocchi. For stock, he preferred vegetables and chicken over meat. In 1773, the Neopolitan Vincenzo Corrado's Il Cuoco Galante ("The Courteous Cook") gave particular emphasis to Vitto Pitagorico (vegetarian food). "Pitagoric food consists of fresh herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, seeds and all that is produced in the earth for our nourishment. It is so called because Pythagoras, as is well known, only used such produce. In 1790, Francesco Leonardi in his book L'Apicio moderno ("Modern Apicius") sketches a history of the Italian Cuisine from the Roman Age and gives as first a recipe of a tomato based sauce.[25]
In the 19th century, Giovanni Vialardi, chef to King Victor Emmanuel, wrote A Treatise of Modern Cookery and Patisserie with recipes "suitable for a modest household." Many of his recipes are for regional dishes from Turin including twelve for potatoes such as Genoese Cappon Magro. In 1829, Il Nuovo Cuoco Milanese Economico by Giovanni Felice Luraschi features Milanese dishes such as Kidney with Anchovies and Lemon and Gnocchi alla Romana. Gian Battista and Giovanni Ratto's La Cucina Genovese in 1871 addressed the cuisine of Liguria. This book contained the first recipe for pesto. La Cucina Teorico-Pratica written by Ippolito Cavalcanti has the first recipe for pasta with tomatoes.[26] La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene ("The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well"), by Pellegrino Artusi, first published in 1891, is widely regarded as the canon of classic modern Italian cuisine, and it is still in print. Its recipes come mainly from Romagna and Tuscany, where he lived.
Regional Italian food
Tuscan beef is an item belonging to the north whereas black truffles originated in Marches. The south is credited for producing mozzarella cheese and provolone along with a rich growth of citrus fruits. There was great variance even amongst the most commonly consumed items in Italy such as the different types or breads and pastas. We find the southern part of Italy was into hard boiled spaghetti whereas the northern regions were more akin to consuming soft egg noodles. Pizza originated from Naples, tortellini from Bologna and Milan is famous for risotto.
Through the course of time however Italian cuisine has evolved into a breed of its own due to a large amount of external influences. The Italians had initially absorbed ancient Greek cookery into their culture. With Roman ships bringing back wheat, wine, fine spices and other exotic ingredients the Italians added new imports to their kitchens. The Italians got their ingredients from all across the world going even as far as China.
The coastal regions of Italy are credited for all the lovely fish and seafood recipes that we have today. Anchovies, swordfish, lobster and sardines are some of the main seafood items used in the coastal areas. Traces of Arab influence can also be found especially in the cuisine of Sicily with its spices and sweets. The origins of pasta are till date disputed as some claim it to be a product imported from China whereas others say it is Italy’s local produce which was consumed during Etruscan and Roman times. Today however Italian cuisine is extremely diverse and rich which is why it is considered one of the most unique and amazing cuisines in the world.
