Italian Food History
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Italian food history dates as far back as ancient Rome, but it really has more to do with the many different groups of peasants in the different parts of the country. Lots of people think only of pasta, tomatoes, olive oil and pizza when they find themselves thinking of Italian cuisine, but you might be surprised to find that there is much more to Italian food than just these dishes. Italian recipes are famous for the way that they use only the best ingredients including herbs and spices. Historians believe that Italian food's rich history started in the eighth century BC. It was at this time that settlers from Greek want to Sicily and Magna Graecia, which is located in Southern Italy.
The Italian Food of the Roman Times
Italian cooking began to transform as early as ancient times and these changes can still be seen in many of the traditional meals you might have. The biggest example can be found in the signature food of Italy - pasta. Pasta was first made by the Etruscans, but people from many different backgrounds used and developed pasta. The Etruscans took Rome at about 800 BC and are said to be the very first Italians. They are also said to be one of the biggest influences when it came to Rome's rise of power.
It actually was the Etruscans who taught the Romans to make pasta. This is mostly a theory, but one Etruscan tomb showed a mural of people mixing flour and water with a rolling pin and machine for cutting. The same people also developed an ancient type of polenta by making a type of porridge with barley. The Romans called this dish puls. Since the 13th century BC, the Greeks were constantly influential and Romans looked to Greece until about the 16th century. The Greeks would eat a kind of pasta that was short. They called it makrios, which is considered to be an ancestor to modern macaroni. The Arabs also contributed their kind of pasta, which was a kind of fusilli, that they called ittryia.
There are quite a few Italian foods that can be traced all the way back to traditions that started in ancient Roman times. Romans were famous for the feasts they would enjoy. These feasts featured a wide variety of food and some of the best wines of the times. Since they would import all the exotic foods and spices they could find from places as far as China, the variety of food was amazing. When Rome fell, a lot of the traditional foods died as well and there wouldn't be what was considered to be a "real" Italian type of food until the medieval times.
Italian Food of the Medieval Times
The fall of the Roman Empire took a long time and by the time it finally completely collapsed during the fourth century AD, Italy was vulnerable to attacks and seizures that lasted for hundreds of years. The conquerors of Italy left many pieces of their way of life and their civilizations behind. The tastes, cooking styles and customs of these foreigners became part of life in Italy and stayed behind long after the people left.
It was the fall of Rome that started the diversity with Italian food. Since there were so many new city states and conquerors, the groups of peasants mixed with the people who conquered the areas. This caused separate traditions and identities to develop. This is part of the reason that each region started to show individual ways of cooking. From the way that meatballs are made, to the favored cheeses of the region to the wines that go with meals, Italy's individual regions are particular in their traditions and rich with diversity. For instance, in the north, there was Tuscan beef, and in Marches, black truffles were a favorite. In the south, citrus fruits and cheeses such as mozzarella and provolone are favored.
There are also many different kinds of bread, pasta, and food preparation methods from region to region. Italy's southern regions prefer to use hard-boiled spaghetti, but the northern regions like to use a soft kind of egg noodle. Milan is famous for their use of risotto, and Bologna is famous for tortellini. Naples is known for the wonderful pizzas.
When it comes to Sicily, there is a huge Arab Muslim influence. In fact, they ruled the area for almost 250 years. While they ruled, their foods were introduced to the region and became an all important part of the Italian cuisine. The rice, artichokes and lemons in Italian recipes are some of the strongest influences. It is also notable that the language of Italian has a lot of Arabic influences. For instance, word artichoke in Italian is carciofo, comes from the Arabic word al kharshuf. Eggplant is thought to have come from India and was brought to Italy through Spain by the Spanish Muslims, or the Moors.
Coffee is a beverage that all Italians love, but it was introduced during the Arab rule. Coffee actually comes from the Arabic word qahwah and its original meaning is "wine". Since Muslims were not allowed to drink wine, coffee was a substitute for it and once it hit Europe, it was often called the "wine of Arabia".
Yet another Italian food mainstay is tomato. It was brought to Italy in 1522 from Spain, who were the rulers of Naples, the tomato has gained and maintained popularity every since. The Spanish found tomatoes from Peru, where the Mayans called it xtomatl.
The famous Italian breads came from the Greeks and were passed to the Romans. The Romans changed the recipe by using wine or grape juice to help the bread rise instead of ale, which gave it a sweeter flavor. The new Roman recipes helped bread to become even better than before. They invented special ovens and opened schools for bread making. In fact, it was the Italians who made bread making a trade and even formed a union of bread makers.
Desserts are better than they might have been were it not for the Italian chefs developing ways to make desserts of the world even better than before. Take Ice cream, for example. In its most basic form, it was developed by the Chinese, but Italians developed gelato. From the Greek favorite honey balls came the Italian sweet called struffoli. The French favorite Rhum babàs was brought to Italy and can now be found on pastry trays across the country.
Not only did the conquerors of Italy bring new foods, but natives were also bringing in new foods themselves. For example, when the Romans brought back new foods from the territories that they colonized, they helped to increase the diversity. The second century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius went to China years and years before Marco Polo was even born. With the beginning of the Christian Crusades in 1096 Italian soldiers spent time in the Muslim regions and when they returned home, they had learned to love many of the Arabian foods.
While the Princess Caterina de'Medici of Italy is credited with taking Italian food to France through her Florentine chefs, she also brought French cuisine back to the countryside of Italy. In fact, by the fourteenth century, Venice controlled the entire Eastern Mediterranean region and was a bustling center of maritime commerce. This brought a variety of food and seasonings to Italy from the South and east. With the colonization of the New World, Italy discovered ingredients such as zucchini, squash, beans, peppers, corn, the ever popular tomato and even chocolate. These ingredients are so much a part of Italian food, it's hard to imagine many recipes without them.
Many of the coastal regions of Italy are well known for the way that they incorporated seafood and fish into their recipes. Sardinia, an Italian Island, offers simple and traditional recipes that use delicacies that come from the sea. Seafood such as lobster, anchovies and sardines, as well as swordfish and other treats that come from the Mediterranean have long held a place in the traditional Italian cooking from this region. Sicilian cooking contains much of the North African influences that were present for years, as well as the influence of the Arabs who occupied the island for so long. These people introduced many spices and sweets including Sicilian ice cream cake that is known as cassata.
Today's Italian Food
Many of the regional differences you can find in Italian cooking today will be apparent when comparing northern and southern dishes. Every area still has their traditions when it comes to cooking that stand as testament to long traditions of cooking and culture. This rich history shows through with a variety of main courses, appetizers, and desserts.
Each region in Italy continues to make their own specialties even today. These include the tradition of local, fresh ingredients and recipes that are rich in tradition and history. An example of this might be the way the region of Parma makes the best prosciutto or ham and Parmigiano reggiano, which has been said to be the very best parmesan cheese in the whole world. Another example might be the way that Bologna is famous for its salami and mortadella. In Italy, each region developed their specialties according to the special ingredients they had in their area. Each region in Italy has added its own mark to Italian food as a whole.
