Italian food

Italian Cuisine — Simplicity, Tradition and the Pleasure of the Table

My Lasagna al forno

Italian cooking is famous throughout the world. Pizza, pasta, risotto, Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto, olive oil and Italian wines have travelled far beyond the country in which they originated. Yet what we now call “Italian cuisine” is not really one single cuisine at all. Italy is a collection of regions, each with its own history, landscape, ingredients and culinary traditions. What unites them is a respect for good ingredients, relatively simple preparation and the belief that a meal is something to be enjoyed rather than hurried.

Pasta is perhaps the food most immediately associated with Italy. There are hundreds of shapes and regional variations, each traditionally combined with particular sauces and ingredients. Pizza, meanwhile, is inseparably associated with Naples, where the simple combination of dough, tomato, mozzarella and olive oil became one of the most successful dishes in culinary history. Other foods remain strongly connected with their places of origin: grissini with Piedmont, mortadella and tortellini with Bologna, and Parmigiano Reggiano with Emilia-Romagna.

Tomatoes, Olive Oil and Wine

It is difficult to imagine Italian cooking without tomatoes, yet they are relative newcomers. Tomatoes originated in the Americas and reached Europe following the voyages of the sixteenth century. At first they were regarded largely as curiosities, but eventually became an essential ingredient in southern European cooking. In Italy the pomodoro — literally the “golden apple” — became the foundation of countless sauces and dishes.

Olive oil and wine have a much older Mediterranean history. Olive groves and vineyards have shaped the Italian landscape for thousands of years, and both remain fundamental to Italian food culture. Together with bread, vegetables, herbs, cheese, fish and locally available meat, they form the foundations of a cuisine that developed largely from regional and often relatively modest rural traditions.

A Country of Regional Cuisines

Italy became a unified country only in the nineteenth century, and its cuisine still reflects centuries of regional independence. Travel from north to south and both the ingredients and cooking methods change noticeably. Northern Italy traditionally uses more butter, rice, polenta and rich cheeses, while olive oil, tomatoes, pasta, vegetables and seafood become increasingly prominent as one travels south.

In Lombardy and Piedmont, butter and rice play important roles, and the Po Valley provides the rice used for risotto. Milan gave its name to risotto alla milanese, traditionally flavoured with saffron. Piedmont has its own rich tradition of meat, truffles, hazelnuts and wines, while Gorgonzola takes its name from the town near Milan associated with the famous blue cheese.

Emilia-Romagna is one of Italy’s great gastronomic regions. Bologna is famous for mortadella, tortellini and ragù alla bolognese, while Parma and its surroundings gave the world Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano. Traditional Bolognese ragù bears rather little resemblance to some of the tomato-heavy “spaghetti Bolognese” dishes that developed outside Italy; in Bologna it is traditionally served with tagliatelle rather than spaghetti.

Liguria has a cuisine based strongly on olive oil, herbs and vegetables. Basil, garlic, pine nuts, cheese and olive oil come together in its most famous contribution, pesto. Tuscany is renowned for deliberately uncomplicated cooking built around bread, beans, vegetables, olive oil and meat. Rome and Lazio have their own distinctive pasta dishes, including carbonara, amatriciana and cacio e pepe.

Further south, Campania is the historic home of Neapolitan pizza and has an extraordinary tradition of pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella and seafood. Calabria is known for stronger flavours and the use of chilli, while Sicily combines Italian traditions with influences accumulated over centuries from Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards and others. Sardinia, meanwhile, has developed a cuisine very much its own, shaped by both the Mediterranean and its pastoral interior.

“A tavola non si invecchia.”
At the table with good friends and family, you do not grow old.

The Italian Meal — More Than Just Food

Perhaps the most important characteristic of Italian food is not an ingredient at all, but the place of the meal in everyday life. Traditionally, eating together gives family and friends an opportunity to sit down, talk and enjoy one another’s company. A substantial meal may consist of several courses, but that does not mean that every Italian meal follows the complete sequence. The elaborate progression from antipasto to primo, secondo and dolce is particularly associated with leisurely meals, Sundays, celebrations and dining out.

A traditional meal may begin with antipasti: small dishes intended to stimulate the appetite. These vary enormously by region and may include prosciutto, salami, olives, artichokes, roasted vegetables, cheeses, anchovies or seafood. Their purpose is not simply to fill the stomach, but to begin the meal slowly and encourage anticipation of what is still to come.

Pasta — An Italian Language of Its Own

The primo, or first course, may consist of pasta, risotto, gnocchi, polenta or soup. Pasta itself forms an extraordinary culinary language. There are long varieties such as spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelle and fettuccine; tubes such as penne and rigatoni; shapes such as farfalle and conchiglie; and filled pastas including ravioli and tortellini. Their different forms are not merely decorative: shape, texture and surface determine how well a particular pasta carries or holds its sauce.

The basic rule is beautifully simple: pasta should be cooked al dente — literally “to the tooth” — so that it retains a slight firmness when bitten. The pasta and sauce should complement one another rather than exist as separate components. Long thin pasta suits some sauces, ridged and tubular pasta catches others, while broad ribbons such as tagliatelle can carry a substantial ragù.

Tortellini are particularly associated with Bologna and Modena. According to a charming legend, their shape was inspired by the navel of Venus. Whether or not one believes the story, it says something about Italian cooking that even a small piece of filled pasta can acquire its own mythology.

Il Secondo — Meat, Fish and Vegetables

After the primo may come the secondo, usually based on meat or fish and often accompanied separately by a contorno of vegetables or salad. Veal, pork, beef, lamb and chicken all appear in regional dishes, while Italy’s long coastline naturally gives fish and seafood an important place at the table. Clams — vongole — mussels, anchovies, sardines, squid and many varieties of fresh fish are particularly prominent in coastal regions.

The principle remains the same: ingredients should taste of themselves. A good piece of fish does not require a complicated sauce, just as ripe tomatoes may need little more than good olive oil, salt and perhaps a few leaves of basil. Much of the apparent simplicity of Italian cooking depends precisely on the quality of those ingredients.

Dolce — Something Sweet to Finish

Fresh fruit is a traditional and wonderfully simple way to finish a meal, especially in summer, when peaches, apricots, figs, grapes and citrus fruits are abundant. But Italy also has an extraordinary repertoire of sweets and desserts. Amaretti, cannoli, panna cotta, tiramisù and gelato are now familiar far beyond Italy.

Regional and seasonal traditions remain important. Siena is famous for panforte, a dense confection of nuts, dried fruit, spices and honey. Milan gave us panettone, traditionally associated with Christmas, while Sicily has its cannoli and cassata. As elsewhere in Italian cuisine, many dishes that are now considered “Italian” began as highly local specialities.

Wine, Coffee and the End of the Meal

Wine has accompanied Italian food since antiquity. From Piedmont and Tuscany to Veneto, Campania and Sicily, Italy possesses an enormous variety of local grapes and wine traditions. For generations many rural families made their own vino della casa, and wine remains naturally associated with food rather than existing separately from it.

After the meal comes coffee — usually a small, strong espresso rather than the large milky coffees associated with breakfast. A digestivo may follow: perhaps grappa, amaro or another regional speciality. Once again, the point is not simply the drink itself. It marks the gradual conclusion of the meal and gives conversation another few minutes before everyone finally leaves the table.

The Italian Philosophy of Food

The greatness of Italian cooking does not lie in complexity. Quite the opposite. At its best it depends upon excellent ingredients, an understanding of season and place, and the confidence not to interfere with food more than necessary. A tomato should taste like a tomato, olive oil like olives, Parmigiano like Parmigiano, and a carefully prepared pasta should not disappear beneath an unnecessarily complicated sauce.

But there is something else. Italian cuisine is inseparable from convivialità — the pleasure of sharing the table. Cooking is important, but so are the people for whom one cooks. Food, wine and conversation belong together. Perhaps that is why the old Italian saying remains such a lovely summary of the whole philosophy:

“A tavola non si invecchia.”
At the table with good friends and family, you do not grow old.

Source: Adapted from material originally written and researched by Niwt for the BBC, with additional editing and historical context.