Food

With the arrival of summer in Italy, it’s definitely time to think about the pasta recipes that are celebrated during this holiday season.  My all time favorite pasta, that I love to eat during my summer vacation on the beach, …

“Sicilian novels and memoirs that speak of food are more important to me than cookbooks,” says Mary Taylor Simeti, a grande dame of the vibrant Sicilian kitchen and culture. “Sicily’s culture, including its food, is a magnificent melting pot, an accumulation …

Greeks and Romans offered spelt to the Gods, Aztecs considered chia seeds worthy of tributes, and farro is noted in the Old Testament. Today, approximately 70% of cultivated land is destined to the production of cereals, mostly wheat, barley, rye, …

You might think that with a bottle of fermented grape juice, drinkability comes as standard equipment. But, it just ain’t so. And what exactly is drinkability, anyway? Many of Italy’s wines are first and foremost food wines. That is to …

We all know it: in Italy, we love bread! These very crunchy “bread sticks” were invented in Turin in 1679, by the Savoias’ personal baker, who created them appositely for king Vittorio Amedeo II, who couldn’t digest regular bread very …

Sturdy yet light, with its typical red color it made the cupola of Firenze’s duomo unique in the world: this is the terracotta dell’Impruneta, a small village only a stone throw away from Tuscany’s capital. Jars, vases, tiles, shingles, all …

The difference is tiny, yet it cannot be overlooked… “A sliced cookie, made with fine flour, sugar and egg whites:” this is the definition given by the Accademia della Crusca in 1691. Cantuccio, whose name comes from the word “canto,” …

Ask anyone around the world to name a classic Italian dessert and many will answer tiramisù. We tend to think that tiramisù has been around for centuries (like many of Italy’s traditional recipes) but you may be surprised to learn …

I’ve always appreciated that the Italian-American experience, whether for survival or success, issues its own good advice. You may recall, for example, in the movie A Bronx Tale (1993, Chaz Palminteri) when Lorenzo, played by Robert De Niro, said, “The …

A traditional Sicilian pasta recipe which I absolutely adore is pasta con le sarde – pasta with sardines. If you have a keen eye though, you’ll notice that in my photos I used fresh anchovies instead of sardines. This was simply …