Italian Food and Wine: A Gustatory Adventure

Eating is another great recreational and traditional activity, and when the Italians eat they really eat, so don’t plan to lose weight in Italy! Italian cuisine differs from region to region with many influences often being related to the historical inhabitants of the region. The food of the south is known for being heartier and less expensive. Campania is the traditional birthplace of the pizza, but tubular pasta and tomato sauces also originated here. Even if you are not fond of pizza, trying Italian pizza is a must! You may ruin the pleasure of take away pizzas for life but it is truly worth it as the blend of a superbly baked base topped with delicious cheese and wonderfully fresh toppings is a gustatory experience not to be missed!

Pizza: The secret of great pizza, and what Italians take pride in, is its simplicity and the use of fresh ingredients. Pizza originated as a "street food," and it remains one of the few Italian foods people often eat "on the go" rather than as a sit-down meal. There are pizza shops throughout Italy , but especially in Naples and Rome , that display a wide variety of rectangular pizzas sold by the slice to people on the move.

One of the pizza’s most celebrated varieties, pizza Margherita, is named after Italy 's Queen Margherita who visited Naples in 1889. She was charmed by a particular tricolore pizza made especially for her with basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella, ingredients whose green, red, and white colours represented the colours of the then newly adopted Italian flag.

Whatever ingredients adorn it, pizza is not pizza unless the crust is memorable. The thickness of the crust differs from region to region in Italy . What Americans call Chicago-style pizza, made in a deep dish and with a thick dough crust, is essentially Sicilian pizza. Authentic Pizza Napoletana has a paper thin crust that is crisp and well done on the bottom and soft and slightly undercooked on top. Getting the crust the right consistency is an art form and is very difficult to achieve in a home oven where maximum temperatures are not high enough to bake the dough quickly and evenly. Wood-fired ovens, which have always been used in Italy and can reach incredible heats, are essential if you want the real thing.

Calabria ’s cuisine, with its figs, honey, strong spices and eggplant, definitely hints of Greek influence, whilst Sicily produces luscious deserts such as cannoli, pastries stuffed with sweet cheese and chocolate, and casata , a rich candied ice-cream. Whilst breakfast in the south often consists of just a coffee and cornetto (a triangular shaped croissant-like pastry), lunch is a much more elaborate affair. Italian dinners are also a substantial meal, and usually start quite late in the evening. Normally a full dinner will start with an antipasto (appetizer), such as bruschetta (a type of garlic and herb bread), or prosciutto (cured ham) and sliced melon. The antipasto is followed by the primo piatto (the first course), usually soup or pasta, and then the secondo piatto , consisting of meat or fish and accompanied by contorno (a small vegetable side dish). Finally comes dessert or fruit (and more often than not both!), then coffee. It is common for Italians to order at least primo - and secondo piatto when they eat out, so some restaurant proprietors may be surprised if you don’t!

Helpful hints: Although, the appearance of many coffee shops, such as Café Nero and Starbucks, worldwide have helped to educate us in the nuances of coffee drinking, ordering coffee in Italy can still be slightly confusing. Ordering a caff é (coffee) will get you a small and strong espresso, so for a coffee with a little milk ask for a caff é macchiato. Cappuccino, which most Italians only drink before noon , has frothy scalded milk (whipped cream doesn’t feature), and a caff é latte is heavier on the milk and lighter on the coffee. And for the brave there is the caff é corretto (literally, coffee corrected): an espresso with a drop of strong liqueur in it.

Besides more formal restaurants you can also grab a bite to eat and a coffee in most bars. Bars are usually very inexpensive except on major tourist thoroughfares. Hot or cold panini and tramezzini (Italian-style sandwiches), drinks, and gelato can be ordered, as well as rolls or pizza bread stuffed with prosciutto or crudo (cured or cooked) ham or formaggio (cheese), and frittata (omelettes). The cheeses in Italy are delicious, as is the Italian’s assortment of fresh breads, very satisfying to eat in just their simple combination.

With Italy being amongst the best of the wine producers of world, great Italian food should be accompanied by a good bottle of Italian wine. For a good bottle of red wine ( vino rosso ) try chianti produced in the region of Tuscany , or salerno from Naples . White wine (vino bianco) connoisseurs sampling from the south should try lacryma Cristi (Christ’s tear) from Naples . The hotter climate of southern Italy and the islands also produces stronger fruitier wines than the north, and this is evident in marsala from Sicily , which resembles a light sherry. For a little sparkling, the famous Asti Spumante which is produced in Piedmont in the north deserves to be poured into a glass or two. You can usually order by the glass, carafe, half-carafe or bottle.