La Buona Tavola

Who says that pasta al pomodoro is boring? The most iconic Italian dish, made with the simplest, cheapest, and most available ingredients you can think of, may not strike for creativity, I give you that. But it remains one of …

Ask an Italian what they think of la mostarda—a linguistic “false friend” for mustard—and be prepared for a strong opinion. A friend of mine introduced it to me over text  a while ago, when it appeared while visiting her family …

As a student, I used to live with a girl from Merano, Alto Adige: two Italians abroad, both from the mountains — one from those of Piemonte, the other from the Dolomites — we had a lot of things in …

Sformato, flan, timballo, and gattò are iconic Italian dishes even though, outside the borders of the Belpaese or the homes of Italians around the world, they are little known. While sharing some similarities in terms of preparation and presentation, each …

Strawberries have definitely carved their own sweet and juicy niche in Italian cuisine, where they are known not only as a sunny-season fruit to be enjoyed on their own but as a versatile ingredient in a variety of dishes, some …

Vignarola is a traditional dish from the Lazio region of Italy, known for its simplicity and freshness. A true celebration of spring in a dish, vignarola’s roots sink deep into Roman culinary tradition, in a delightful embrace of the season’s most typical …

What could be more emblematic of Italy than a pizza margherita, small pools of fresh mozzarella bubbling and lightly brown, starkly contrasted against a bright red tomato palette, a lone basil leaf or two providing a pop of dark green? …

Nettle, often referred to by its scientific name, urtica dioica, is a perennial flowering plant native to many parts of the world, including Europe. Known for its distinctive, stinging hairs on its leaves and stems, nettle has been used in …

These days, when you think of fish dishes, the last thing that comes to mind is the idea of cucina povera, that type of dishes based on once-upon-a-time cheap and widely available ingredients, which could satiate whole families without spending too much. …

One thing about Italian cuisine we can all agree on is that it is as rich and varied as its history weaving together as it does, flavors, traditions, and ingredients that evolved over millennia.  At the heart of it all, …