With today’s post I want to start a series of conversations in which I am going to share with you some of my thoughts around food, Italian food and Italian cuisine in general.
However, I do not want this space to be filled with food ideas ONLY, so please allow me to deviate from time to time. Bear with me if sometimes I’ll touch other subjects too.
I couldn’t find any better way of starting this blogging journey than discussing what really Italian cuisine is and what it means for Italians…
Let me start by saying that the history of Italian cuisine has been influenced by a number of populations which, over the centuries, have shaped heavily what eventually became the Italian-based civilization. I’m talking about artistic, cultural and also gastronomic influences.
Of course, civilization is a synonym of continuous evolution – but no doubt Romans, Greeks, Arabs are just some of the societies who contributed to creating a culinary tradition that has lasted for centuries so far. A culinary tradition that has gone from strength to strength as its knowledge overflew from border to border.
The roots of our culinary culture
I believe the history of Italian cuisine goes hand in hand with our changing human behaviors over the centuries.
Knowing and understanding the history of traditional Italian cuisine, its roots and its spin-offs, is really a fundamental step to then actually attempt cooking our beautiful food.
Traditional Italian cuisine has received (and continues to receive) appreciation all over the world and traditional Italian produce of great taste and authenticity keep winning awards every second day. In fact, a huge number of Italian products can boast the DOCG certification (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin, DOCG).
The dishes that have made the history of Italian cuisine do not need a lot of money to be cooked: they are simple dishes, prepared with very few ingredients. These are actually the type of meals I try to describe and explain in my videorecipes: all I want is for you to be inspired and actually be confident that you can cook fantastic food on a budget and on a busy time schedule.
On the other hand, there are many traditional Italian recipes, as there are various regional re-interpretations: eating tasty, good quality food is always important for us Italians in every region of the boot!
That’s not to say that Italian cuisine is close-minded and not open to ‘outsider’ ingredients. There are in fact many foods that today are part of our culinary heritage but that, for example, have American origins: potatoes, corn, tomatoes are just a few examples of the products not originating in our territory but now indispensable for us.
Today the History of Italian cuisine (note the capital ‘H’!) is made of traditional recipes: the simple ones, those that our nonnas used to make. Genuine produce such as cheese, milk, meat, oil, wine are just some of the most renowned products of Italian cuisine: it is precisely on this classic foods of our culinary tradition that the basics of our Mediterranean Diet stem from, as defined by the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) framework by UNESCO.
Italian regional cuisine
The regional recipes, whether they are from Campania, Marche, Piedmont or my Puglia, offer a culinary variety which is still consistent with the landscape of traditional Italian cuisine. Those dishes, which have made and will still make the history of Italian regional cuisine, are traditional dishes, handed down for generations from parents to their children.
Fried pizzas (in a pan or in the oven), aged, fresh or semi-aged cheeses, simple or stuffed focaccias, wraps, desserts, etc. these are just some of the beauties that Italian regional kitchens offer to us.
Because most of the recipes I have on my YouTube channel are somehow regional recipes, I won’t spend too much time discussing them now, but I would definitely invite you to browse the channel and this website, in search of your favorite one!
After all, embarking on the journey of discovering Italian regional dishes is equivalent to making a real culinary time-travel through colors, scents and memories of a cuisine tradition that still sees Italy on top of the world today.
© Italian Food Boss
I never knew that most Italian dishes are simple and are prepared using very few ingredients. My sister and I have always thought that they are made up of complex, hard-to-find ingredients and we will never be able to recreate it in our own kitchen no matter how much we try. But now that you’ve mentioned it, I think we might look for a nearby authentic Italian food restaurant, try their meals for ourselves, and see if we could cook it on our own.
Thanks for your comment! You could browse this website and watch my videorecipes to find out that it’s possible to cook proper Italian food in simple ways! Ciao!