Italian food history IS the history of Italy.
Like I wrote on the homepage of this site, Italy and italian people are not always just having food in their minds, despite what one may think.
This is not a coincidence. Since the beginning of the last millennium, the Cities throughout Italy have grabbed the products from the countryside to develop a rich gastronomic tradition and leave us accounts of a profound italian food history.
If you think about it, after all, it was a natural consequence.Cities were, in fact, the only places where everything that was needed to develop a great gastronomy concentrated: ingredients and culinary skills, naturally, but also power, richness, markets and social competition. Italian gastronomy gives its best in the urban markets, less so in the countryside farms.
A tradition for its consumption, from times past, was to dip freselle directly with sea water and with pure fresh tomato, which was squeezed to let the juices out.
This is a demonstration that italian gastronomy has nothing to envy to the one of other Countries.
But, why do Italians eat so well?
Truth is, Italy has become a model to imitate in the way ingredients are to be prepared, cooked and then consumed in company.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
Malnourishment and hunger are fundamental elements of the italian food history and all our accounts proceed through the food habits of the dominators and of the dominated, through the daily alimentation and the meals of the higher classes.
Along with their hanging from a wooden beam on the ceiling, friselle were preserved in clay jars, called quartieri or capasoni.
This image has deeply contributed to the prominence that Italy has gained in the panorama of the worldwide gastronomy.
But, is this the reality?
Thinking about all the different typical food products that invade the italian tables, it's easy to think that just everything there derives from skillful hands of people that from father to son, from generation to generation, follow the discipline that their great-grand-father used according to the farmers' and countryside traditions of the territory and of the italian food history.
Even though cook books (or, rather, writings) can be traced back to ancient times, it can be said that they remained more a sporadic attempt at extolling the virtues of the man and his skills, rather than an observation and description of the preparation methods and indications on utilisation of the different ingredients.
This sort of literature flourished between the XIII and the XIV centuries, all over Europe, and especially there were not only the arts of fine cooking were more sought-after, but where the economic (and, hence, the political and cultural) power pulsated.
Sizes are variable: friselles diameter and their holes diameter can vary from 5-10 centimeters to 20 or more.
Italian history and italian food history has long been marked by the lifestyle of the rural masses: especially in the northern and central regions, the mezzadra (sharecropping) partially preserved farmers from hunger and the hard and grueling fatigues that represented the standard way of living of the rural masses throughout Italy, up to the 1960's.
For these very reasons, it is really difficult to see how this farmers' reality might have contributed to the creation of many of the so called poor dishes in the italian food history, that really nothing poor have in them!
Think about the typical crostini di fegato toscani (tuscan crostini with liver) or the bistecca alla fiorentina (florentine steak): these dishes are far from being poor, and the rural masses could only dream of such delicacies!
Nobility and the upper classes in general, were in contact with each other, in the various courts in Europe and exchanged people, arts, trends and tastes. Reading recipes from one of those book might seem, to a modern reader, like the exaltation of spices, or like their used was so common that people from near the Renaissance times would have put cinnamon, or cloves or pepper in their drinking water. Nothing could be more misleading and incorrect!
Spices were not only a precious trading good (since ancient times), they were a real status symbol, back then. Many traders made fortunes by discovering or inventing new trading routes, to supply the ever increasing demand for spices among the higher classes and, as a result of this trend-setting, more and more among lower classes too.
In the past, the size of friselle measured the quantity of bread necessary to the nourishment of a worker and usually provided the major part of the calories in the meal.
This sauce has been one of the main ingredients of the farmers' diet throughout the past millennium and its recipe, thankfully, is only traceable in the memory: that sauce means hunger.
This is the food that we have enjoyed for ages and continue to savor as we carry on the traditions of our past.
A history of italian food that only covered what farmers used to eat in the countryside would risk to sound a bit monotonous and awkward, to the modern passionate: long chapters on vegetarian soups and breads prepared from lower quality ingredients would be present and this is not what I want to give you here.
Like I wrote on the homepage of this site, Italy and italian people are not always just having food in their minds, despite what one may think.
This is not a coincidence. Since the beginning of the last millennium, the Cities throughout Italy have grabbed the products from the countryside to develop a rich gastronomic tradition and leave us accounts of a profound italian food history.
If you think about it, after all, it was a natural consequence.Cities were, in fact, the only places where everything that was needed to develop a great gastronomy concentrated: ingredients and culinary skills, naturally, but also power, richness, markets and social competition. Italian gastronomy gives its best in the urban markets, less so in the countryside farms.
A tradition for its consumption, from times past, was to dip freselle directly with sea water and with pure fresh tomato, which was squeezed to let the juices out.
This is a demonstration that italian gastronomy has nothing to envy to the one of other Countries.
But, why do Italians eat so well?
Truth is, Italy has become a model to imitate in the way ingredients are to be prepared, cooked and then consumed in company.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
Malnourishment and hunger are fundamental elements of the italian food history and all our accounts proceed through the food habits of the dominators and of the dominated, through the daily alimentation and the meals of the higher classes.
Along with their hanging from a wooden beam on the ceiling, friselle were preserved in clay jars, called quartieri or capasoni.
This image has deeply contributed to the prominence that Italy has gained in the panorama of the worldwide gastronomy.
But, is this the reality?
Thinking about all the different typical food products that invade the italian tables, it's easy to think that just everything there derives from skillful hands of people that from father to son, from generation to generation, follow the discipline that their great-grand-father used according to the farmers' and countryside traditions of the territory and of the italian food history.
Even though cook books (or, rather, writings) can be traced back to ancient times, it can be said that they remained more a sporadic attempt at extolling the virtues of the man and his skills, rather than an observation and description of the preparation methods and indications on utilisation of the different ingredients.
This sort of literature flourished between the XIII and the XIV centuries, all over Europe, and especially there were not only the arts of fine cooking were more sought-after, but where the economic (and, hence, the political and cultural) power pulsated.
Sizes are variable: friselles diameter and their holes diameter can vary from 5-10 centimeters to 20 or more.
Italian history and italian food history has long been marked by the lifestyle of the rural masses: especially in the northern and central regions, the mezzadra (sharecropping) partially preserved farmers from hunger and the hard and grueling fatigues that represented the standard way of living of the rural masses throughout Italy, up to the 1960's.
For these very reasons, it is really difficult to see how this farmers' reality might have contributed to the creation of many of the so called poor dishes in the italian food history, that really nothing poor have in them!
Think about the typical crostini di fegato toscani (tuscan crostini with liver) or the bistecca alla fiorentina (florentine steak): these dishes are far from being poor, and the rural masses could only dream of such delicacies!
Nobility and the upper classes in general, were in contact with each other, in the various courts in Europe and exchanged people, arts, trends and tastes. Reading recipes from one of those book might seem, to a modern reader, like the exaltation of spices, or like their used was so common that people from near the Renaissance times would have put cinnamon, or cloves or pepper in their drinking water. Nothing could be more misleading and incorrect!
Spices were not only a precious trading good (since ancient times), they were a real status symbol, back then. Many traders made fortunes by discovering or inventing new trading routes, to supply the ever increasing demand for spices among the higher classes and, as a result of this trend-setting, more and more among lower classes too.
In the past, the size of friselle measured the quantity of bread necessary to the nourishment of a worker and usually provided the major part of the calories in the meal.
This sauce has been one of the main ingredients of the farmers' diet throughout the past millennium and its recipe, thankfully, is only traceable in the memory: that sauce means hunger.
This is the food that we have enjoyed for ages and continue to savor as we carry on the traditions of our past.
A history of italian food that only covered what farmers used to eat in the countryside would risk to sound a bit monotonous and awkward, to the modern passionate: long chapters on vegetarian soups and breads prepared from lower quality ingredients would be present and this is not what I want to give you here.
About the Author:
Italian food is one of the most popular cuisines around the globe and they are usually known for their pasta dishes. However, it is not the only reason why it became popular. There are a other unique cuisines that Italy has to offer as well.
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