About the Italian Food

Actually, Italian food has different style of cooking. In many recipes of traditional food, Italian food has different ways to cook in different people, not like most food. It's unique I thought.
Now, let me explain about the unique of Italian traditional food.
What are the unique?

 

Many people knows most popular Italian food like spaghetti. People often that Italian cooking is all pretty much alike. However, those who travel through Italy notice differences in eating habits between cities, even those only a few miles apart. Not only does each region have its own style of Italian Food , but each community and each valley has a different way of Italian cooking as well.

Every town has a distinctive way of making sausage, special kinds of cheese and wine, and a local type of bread. If you ask people, even in the same area, how to make pasta sauce, they will all have different answers. Variations in the omnipresent pasta are another example of the multiplicity of Italian recipes: soft egg noodles in the north, hard-boiled spaghetti in the south, with every conceivable variation in size and shape.

 Perhaps no other country in the world has a cooking style so finely fragmented into different divisions. So why is Risotto typical of Milan, why did Tortellini originate in Bologna, and why is Pizza so popular in Naples? This is so for the same reason that Italy has only one unifying Italian language, yet hundreds of different spoken dialects.




Italy is a country of great variety, and Italian cooking is just another aspect of the diversity of Italian culture. This diversity in Italian food stems largely from peasant heritage and geographical differences. Italy is a peninsula separated from the rest of the continent by the highest chain of mountains in Europe. In addition, a long spine of mountains runs north to south down through this narrow country.

These geographic features create a myriad of environments with noticeable variations: fertile valleys, mountains covered with forests, cool foothills, naked rocks, Mediterranean coastlines, and arid plains. A great variety of different climates have also created innumerable unique geographical and historical areas.

But geographical fragmentation alone will not explain how the same country produced all of these: the rich, fat, baroque food of Bologna, based on butter, parmigiano, and meat; the light, tasty, spicy cooking of Naples, mainly based on olive oil, mozzarella, and seafood; the cuisine of Rome, rich in produce from the surrounding countryside; and the food of Sicily, full of North African influences.

The explanation is hidden in the past; the multitudes of food styles of Italy mainly result from its history. Divided for a long time into many duchies, princedoms, kingdoms, and states—often hostile to one another—political unification in Italy did not occur until 1861. Many populations in the past three thousand years have occupied Italian territory, and most of them contributed their own traditions.

Know signature of Italian food by its region

 

Italy is comprised of 20 regions, each known for its distinct culinary specialties.

With a population of almost 60 million and an area slightly larger than the state of Arizona, Italy is a diverse little nation boasting an equally diverse cuisine. The Italian food most Americans recognize — red-sauce specials like spaghetti with ragù — hails from the central region, but Italy's wide-ranging terrain and climate, long coastline, and neighboring countries have resulted in a delectable hodgepodge cuisine.
This boot-shaped country is comprised of 20 regions, each producing its own culinary treasures. Below, take a tantalizing peek inside the kitchen cultures of six well-known areas.




Lombardy
Capital city: Milan
Famous foods: risotto, osso bucco
In this northern Italian region just below Switzerland, rice and polenta are more popular than pasta, butter and lard beat out olive oil, and meat is eaten extensively. Dotted with picturesque lakes and hills, northern Italy is regarded as a paradise for cheese lovers, and Lombardy is the birthplace of such famous cheeses as firm Gran Padano, blue-veined Gorgonzola, soft, ripe Taleggio, tangy Provolone, and creamy Robiola.

Emilia-Romagna
Capital city: Bologna
Famous foods: Parmigiano Reggiano, tortellini, Bolognese sauce, balsamic vinegar of Modena
A vast, wealthy region located in northern Italy, Emilia-Romagna is rich in meats and super-eggy pasta. The craft of curing meat is held in high esteem here — Italy's best known meat product, prosciutto di Parma, is created in Emilia, as is the "king of cheeses," Parmigiano Reggiano.

Tuscany
Capital city: Florence
Famous foods: Pecorino cheese, steak alla fiorentina, Chianti wine
The ancestral home of the wealthy and influential Medici family, Tuscany produces some of Italy's finest olive oils, sheep's milk cheeses, and meat dishes. Bread, baked in giant, salt-free loaves, is king in this region, and locals incorporate it into numerous salads and soups, including ribollita (vegetable soup) and panzanella, a salad composed of crumbled bread, tomatoes, onions, and basil.

Lazio
Capital city: Rome
Famous foods: bruschetta, spaghetti alla carbonara, artichokes alla Roman
The region of Lazio, situated on the west coast of central Italy, is famous for fresh and dried pastas, superior artichokes and zucchini, and meltingly tender porchetta (whole roast pig). In this ancient region, you can nibble on artichokes cooked in garlic and herb oil before losing yourself in a plate of bucatini all amatriciana (hollow spaghetti with tomato, onions, and bacon) or spaghetti carbonara (a creamy pasta dish with egg, cheese, and black peppercorns).

Campania
Capital city: Naples
Famous foods: pizza, buffalo mozzarella, calzone, limoncello liqueur
Sunny Campania is characterized by its fertile volcanic soil, which affords lush produce like San Marzano tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, salad greens, figs, and lemons. The pizza we all know and love today is a descendant of the world's first pizzeria, which was born in Naples. When fresh mozzarella, sweet tomatoes, and a bread-loving culture combine, one delicious pie follows.

Sicily
Capital City: Palermo
Famous foods: caponata, veal Marsala
The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily is located just off the "toe" of the boot that is mainland Italy. This region is home to Mount Etna and, therefore, rich volcanic soil, which produces an abundance of lemons, blood oranges, almonds, olives, and other fruit. Meat, including lamb, pork, veal, and rabbit, is common in central Sicily, where locals claim they invented the meatball, called polpetti. Pasta is usually topped with heady, spicy tomato sauce.

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