Italy

Recipes

The history of Italian cooking begins with Magna Grecia, where the culture of the Greek colonies popularized the art. The daily fare was simple and sober (pork, salted fish, chickpeas, lentils, lupins, olive pickles and dried figs) but at banquets the food was more varied and plentiful (soups, game in vinegar and honey sauces, sweets with almonds and walnuts) and also took on ritual and symbolic meanings. The Etruscans too had a simple diet based on the cereals favored by the fertile region (present-day Tuscany). The richest Etruscans were particularly fond of excellence and the pleasures of the table: The ancient Romans tell of sumptuous feasts.

The 15th and 16th centuries were a particularly fortunate time for Italian cuisine. With respect to the preceding period, there was a greater variety and richness in the preparation of foods: soups, grilled, roast and boiled meats, meat pastries, fish, vegetable (also in oil) and refined salads, almond-based sweets, pine-nuts and candied fruits; cane sugar (then still expensive) began to replace honey. Renaissance court banquets were famous for their enormity and refinement, whilst the food of the common people remained rather simple: beans, lentils, chickpeas, buckwheat (used to prepare soups and porridges) as well as eggs, cheese and mutton.

The upper classes of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries enjoyed a refined cuisine. Every official event became the pretext for sumptuous feasts where the courses were abundant and the servings enormous:charcuterie hors d`oeuvres and delicate French-style soups were followed by numerous meat and fish dishes, vegetables purees, intricate sweets and fruit, all presented with the utmost care, particularly in the rapidly spreading restaurants. However, the food of the common people remained frugal and monotonous, based on bread and vegetable soups, beans, cabbages and potatoes. Cheese and eggs were widespread as were polenta and pasta made from flour and eggs.

In the last few decades Italian cuisine has altered as a result of rapid and profound changes in lifestyle. The involvement of industry in the food sector and the subsequent improvements in preparation, conservation and distribution has led to modifications of the old system and a raising of food standards but perhaps at the cost of a certain loss of flavour in meats and fresh vegetables. Italian cooking, with its adaptability in preparation, has remained resistant to this, as well as keeping up with the pace of 20th-century life. Italy therefore remains a country with a noble culinary tradition and is renowned abroad as such.

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