Archive for October, 2011

Italian Food – An Overview

Italian food is more than a form of nourishment; it’s a way of life in a country where family, friendship and feasts are all indelibly linked. Italian food is simple, vibrant and good for you. From roasts to risotto, pasta to preserves, soups to sauces, Italian food is popular all year round. Italian food is highly famed: greatly loved and tirelessly imitated the world over, it has been a source of endless pleasure and joie-de-vivre in countries far and wide. Italian food is not just for Italians, but for everyone.

Cooking

For hundreds of years Italian cooking has followed a very simple principle: food is best when it’s cooked fresh and in season. I am a great fan of Italian cuisine, and a firm believer that cooking is an art, not a task. Most traditional Italian dishes as we know today, are on the whole derived from simple peasant cookery, for example the Pizza, which could be found a couple of centuries ago on the streets of Naples being sold by street vendors to those that had no cooking facilities of their own at home. The regional cooking depends on a number of factors, not only as to what ingredients are most abundant each region, but also historical factors. The recipes of Northern and Southern Italian dishes are quite different and use different methods of cooking. With the exception of a few areas near lakes that exert a moderating influence, Northern Italy is too cold for olive trees to grow, and as a result much of the population used butter for cooking.

Pasta

Pasta, no doubt, plays a large part in most traditional Italian food, and few cultures know how to employ a tomato the way that Italians can. Pasta and olive oil are considered the characteristics of southern Italian food, while northern food focuses on rice and butter (although today there are many exceptions). Italian food is all about combinations of delicious local flavours, a simple sauce, a sprinkling of Parmesan and of course real Italian pasta. Read the rest of this entry »

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Authentic Italian Food and Deserts

Italy has its reputation through a lot of things, from sports cars and interior design, but for all that Italian cuisine has earned a nationally renowned. Of course, Italian national football team won the 2006 World Cup, but Italian cuisine continues to win the hearts of millions of people every day. It was observed that Italian cuisine is the most popular type of food when it comes to eating out. This is not just in Italy moderately the world at large is tending towards Italian food for diverse reasons.

The country initiating long, thin shape has a kitchen that is quite unlike anything that you will be able to find in the world. To the preponderance of the comparatively unaware public pizza and pasta happen to be the symbol of Italian cuisine. It is true that pizza in Naples is the largest consumer Italian food together with different types of pasta in the world, but the Italian cuisine goes much deeper than these two items. The cuisine of Italy is rich in foods and desserts. The amount of diversity that you will be able to find in the kitchen of the country is overwhelming. Not every region contributes only with its special foods and desserts instead have their ways of cooking the same as well. For this reason you will find many different regional varieties of pasta in Italy.

When you look at the history of the country, we see that for the greater part of it the country was divided into separate regional states. Moreover, many parts of the country were inhibited by foreigners like the French. In 1861 the county was united and the Italian cuisine we know today was first formalized. So we see that it contains a lot of foreign influences in terms of ingredients that are used and the way food is prepared.

The Toe on the map of Italy is the Calabria region. This region is famous for its delicious spicy salami. Naples is a city famous for introducing the world to pizza and mozzarella. The region is also famous for sfogliattele which is a popular dessert voice. These are basically filled Italian pastry. The areas of northern Italy, is credited with producing some of the most amazing food and dessert items Read the rest of this entry »

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Low-Carb Italian Food

While many people love Italian food, those that are trying to stick to a low-carb diet often shy away from it. no wonder, with many meals centering on large amounts of pasta and bread. However, if you are looking for low-carb Italian foods then there are some to be found. Many Italian meals center on fresh veggies, olive oil, and herbs and are just as delicious as pasta and pizza. Here is a look at just some of the Italian foods you can try while sticking to your low-carb diet.

Starters And Appetizers

If you are looking for low-carb Italian food, one of the first places to look for it is in the antipasto course. Antipasto, Italian for “before the meal” includes numerous starters and appetizers, but many of these foods could work as a meal on their own. One example is a tray of Italian cold cuts and cheeses. Many marinated and pickled vegetables are also low-carb. Stuffed tomatoes and peppers, deviled eggs, and salads all work well as low-carb appetizers. Just avoid any antipasto items that involve bread or pasta. You may also need to pay attention to dips and salad dressings to make sure that they are not high in carbs as well. A simple dressing made of balsamic vinegar and olive oil is low-carb and delicious.

Salads Read the rest of this entry »

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