Rumor has it that Italian ice was accidentally discovered by Nero sometime before the burning of Rome. It’s an amusing thought. Adding fruit juice and possibly spices to water prior to freezing is what sets Italian ice apart from its brother the snow cone. Regardless of its origins, there is nothing quite a refreshing as a fruit-flavored Italian ice to cool down a hot summer day. Italian desserts are some of the finest, most creative in the world. The availability of sugar was sparse in Ancient Rome and those who had a sweet tooth found satisfaction in dishes flavored with […]
Italian Food
Formaggio Fabuloso!
With well over 80 cheeses currently being produced throughout Italy, it is no surprise that cheese is considered an integral part of many Italian dishes and a perfect accompaniment of many more. How did cheese come to be such an important component of Italian cuisine? To understand the answer to this question requires us to go back to the actual origins of cheesemaking. The history of cheesemaking dates back to about 3,000 years ago and can be traced throughout the history of various cultures around the globe; however, it is the Ancient Romans who are credited with perfecting the aging […]
Five Italian Food Rules Foreigners Need to Know
While visiting Italy, there are five food rules that you, as an American traveler, should be aware of. Learning them may help you to navigate the ins and outs of the local ristorantes and trattorias. While the odds of you remaining anonymous as a tourist are slim, sticking to these rules may help to better your odds from being identified as “one of those” tourists. Don’t Americanize your breakfast. In Italy, there’s a right way to do breakfast, and there’s a wrong way. When ordering, it’s important to keep in mind that eggs and bacon are an uncommon food to […]
Have Your Culture and Eat it Too
In Italy, food is synonymous with culture. Because food is such a vital aspect of Italian culture, can anyone really say that food has ever been a separate entity, a separate development apart from culture? Truthfully, the two are so intertwined that it is difficult to say which formed first. The best answer might be that they grew together, both contributing to each other’s development. It may be easy to see how culture grows flavors, tastes, traditions and creativity but how exactly does food grow culture? For Italians, eating is not simply the physical act of consuming to gain energy, […]
The Art of Artusi and Italian Cuisine
There’s no debate that Italian cooking has always been delicious but it hasn’t always been unified. Before the late nineteenth century Italian dishes and cooking methods hadn’t really been compiled in any way, though that wouldn’t last for long. The first Italian cookbook, La Scienza in Cucina e L’arte di Mangiare Bene, or The Science of Cooking and the Art of Fine Dining arrived in northern Italian markets in 1891. This cookbook made the town in which it was published the holy land of Italian cooking. Pellegrino Artusi, the author of the famous Italian cookbook and Forlimpopoli native, wrote his […]
