Traditional and regional foods and wines

[Marco_Polo]

Dear Faith,

I love traditional foods and, and, like you, we have sought to travel all over Italy to find, research and record them. What I like best of all is the certainty, the sure-fire unquestioning belief that whoever you are, wherever you live in Italy, whatever you grew up eating and drinking was, is, and always will be quite simply the best.

My friends who live in Tuscany would not, I doubt, ever consider cooking at home such dishes as bagna caoda or bollito misto any more than they would consider drinking Piemontese wines as a matter of course on a daily basis. Indeed, I have friends in Florence who would rarely go so far as to drink Chianti from the provincia di Siena, or indeed from outside the single locality, or even the single farm from where they have always bought their wines.

When I visit my friends in the Barolo zone of the Langhe, I know what I will be eating — wonderful and outrageously ample arrays of traditional antipasti, homemade tajarin, brasato al Barolo, torta di nocciole, a delicious but unchanging diet of such classic dishes of the Langhe. In Tuscany certainly we’ll be enjoying crostini di fegatini, pinci al ragù (if in the provincia di Siena), carne alla griglia, cantuccini di Prato and Vin Santo to finish. In Puglia, I’ll look forward to nothing more eagerly than a primo piatto of orecchiette con cima di rape or with pomodori freschi in summer, seasoned with green and pungent olio extra vergine di olive di Puglia; in Calabria we know to expect a cucina spiked liberally with the piccante flavours of the peperoncino, in Campania I’ll enjoy nothing so much as a Limoncello as a digestivo after our meal. Oh, and those arancini di riso on the ferry across the Straits of Messina to Sicily...

Just about wherever we are in Italy, we can be pretty sure we will encounter regional and local foods, expertly and precisely prepared, whether at home or in osterie and ristoranti alike. I love it! That’s what I travel to experience.

And yet, and yet: while those of us from countries or areas with less well defined national, regional and local traditions may envy this unchanging certainty, on the other hand, it can’t be denied that we have a deliciously serendipitous freedom that can be lacking for many Italians, the freedom quite simply to eat, drink and explore the world. Britain is not a wine producing country, purtroppo, but it means that we can easily choose from a vast selection of wines from all over the world, far greater than would ever be found in even the most extensively stocked enoteca in Italy.

Personally I come from a very mixed background, our tastes are eclectic and varied and we buy and cook foods that reflect this mix. I did find when we have lived in Italy from time to time, notably in Tuscany, that the local diet can become, how shall I say, rather monotonous after a while, this certainty, this unquestioning belief that the local, the regional is the best, no, not the best, the only food to eat. My god, I have a friend who takes Italian beer with him when he goes to Munich!

As a longstanding resident of Italy with a cosmopolitan outlook and an outsider’s ability to stand back and see the bigger picture, I’d be most interested in your thoughts on this.

Auguri,

Marc

[Faith Willinger]

Ciao Marc

I agree with you. Although I'm crazy about regional food, I do get bored with "la solita pappa", same old, same old. But Italy is a small country, easy to get to someplace nearby with new, exciting dishes. And I make a lot of dishes that I've learned all over Italy. Seasonal changes also contribute to the thrill of Italian cooking. Primizia, the first produce of the season, is the sweetest. But I'm wild about Ultimizia, the last of the season, say goodbye for another year. At my market this morning, tomatoes were just about over, but cavolo nero and turnip greens attached to their turnips were at my favorite stand, the Innocenti brothers, sons of Torquato, my vegetable muse.

a presto

Faith

Dear Faith,

I love traditional foods and, and, like you, we have sought to travel all over Italy to find, research and record them. What I like best of all is the certainty, the sure-fire unquestioning belief that whoever you are, wherever you live in Italy, whatever you grew up eating and drinking was, is, and always will be quite simply the best.

My friends who live in Tuscany would not, I doubt, ever consider cooking at home such dishes as bagna caoda or bollito misto any more than they would consider drinking Piemontese wines as a matter of course on a daily basis. Indeed, I have friends in Florence who would rarely go so far as to drink Chianti from the provincia di Siena, or indeed from outside the single locality, or even the single farm from where they have always bought their wines.

When I visit my friends in the Barolo zone of the Langhe, I know what I will be eating — wonderful and outrageously ample arrays of traditional antipasti, homemade tajarin, brasato al Barolo, torta di nocciole, a delicious but unchanging diet of such classic dishes of the Langhe. In Tuscany certainly we’ll be enjoying crostini di fegatini, pinci al ragù (if in the provincia di Siena), carne alla griglia, cantuccini di Prato and Vin Santo to finish. In Puglia, I’ll look forward to nothing more eagerly than a primo piatto of orecchiette con cima di rape or with pomodori freschi in summer, seasoned with green and pungent olio extra vergine di olive di Puglia; in Calabria we know to expect a cucina spiked liberally with the piccante flavours of the peperoncino, in Campania I’ll enjoy nothing so much as a Limoncello as a digestivo after our meal. Oh, and those arancini di riso on the ferry across the Straits of Messina to Sicily...

Just about wherever we are in Italy, we can be pretty sure we will encounter regional and local foods, expertly and precisely prepared, whether at home or in osterie and ristoranti alike. I love it! That’s what I travel to experience.

And yet, and yet: while those of us from countries or areas with less well defined national, regional and local traditions may envy this unchanging certainty, on the other hand, it can’t be denied that we have a deliciously serendipitous freedom that can be lacking for many Italians, the freedom quite simply to eat, drink and explore the world. Britain is not a wine producing country, purtroppo, but it means that we can easily choose from a vast selection of wines from all over the world, far greater than would ever be found in even the most extensively stocked enoteca in Italy.

Personally I come from a very mixed background, our tastes are eclectic and varied and we buy and cook foods that reflect this mix. I did find when we have lived in Italy from time to time, notably in Tuscany, that the local diet can become, how shall I say, rather monotonous after a while, this certainty, this unquestioning belief that the local, the regional is the best, no, not the best, the only food to eat. My god, I have a friend who takes Italian beer with him when he goes to Munich!

As a longstanding resident of Italy with a cosmopolitan outlook and an outsider’s ability to stand back and see the bigger picture, I’d be most interested in your thoughts on this.

Auguri,

Marc

←