Italian cuisine (Italian: cucina italiana, pronounced [kuˈtʃiːna itaˈljaːna]) is a Mediterranean cuisine[1] consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with waves of Italian diaspora.[2][3][4] Some of these foods were imported from other cultures. Significant changes occurred with the colonization of the Americas and the introduction of potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums, maize and sugar beet — the latter introduced in quantity in the 18th century.[5][6] It is one of the best-known and most appreciated gastronomies worldwide.[7]
Italian cuisine includes deeply rooted traditions common to the whole country, as well as all the regional gastronomies, different from each other, especially between the north, the centre and the south of Italy, which are in continuous exchange.[8][9][10] Many dishes that were once regional have proliferated with variations throughout the country.[11][12] Italian cuisine offers an abundance of taste, and is one of the most popular and copied around the world.[13] The cuisine has influenced several other cuisines around the world, chiefly that of the United States.[14]
One of the main characteristics of Italian cuisine is its simplicity, with many dishes made up of few ingredients, and therefore Italian cooks often rely on the quality of the ingredients, rather than the complexity of preparation.[15][16] Italian cuisine is at the origin of a turnover of more than €200 billion worldwide.[17] The most popular dishes and recipes, over the centuries, have often been created by ordinary people more so than by chefs, which is why many Italian recipes are suitable for home and daily cooking, respecting regional specificities, privileging only raw materials and ingredients from the region of origin of the dish and preserving its seasonality.[18][19][20]
The Mediterranean diet forms the basis of Italian cuisine, rich in pasta, fish, fruits and vegetables.[21] Cheese, cold cuts and wine are central to Italian cuisine, and along with pizza and coffee (especially espresso) form part of Italian gastronomic culture.[22] Desserts have a long tradition of merging local flavours such as citrus fruits, pistachio and almonds with sweet cheeses like mascarpone and ricotta or exotic tastes as cocoa, vanilla and cinnamon. Gelato,[23] tiramisù[24] and cassata are among the most famous examples of Italian desserts, cakes and patisserie. Italian cuisine relies heavily on traditional products; the country has a large number of traditional specialities protected under EU law.[25] Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, as well as the country with the widest variety of indigenous grapevine varieties in the world.[26][27]
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History
Italian cuisine has developed over the centuries. Although the country known as Italy did not unite until the 19th century, the cuisine can claim traceable roots as far back as the 4th century BC. Food and culture were very important at that time evident from the cookbook (Apicius) which dates to the first century BC.[28] Through the centuries, neighbouring regions, conquerors, high-profile chefs, political upheaval, and the discovery of the New World have influenced its development. Italian cuisine started to form after the fall of the Roman Empire when different cities began to separate and form their own traditions. Many different types of bread and pasta were made, and there was a variation in cooking techniques and preparation.
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The country was then split for a long time and influenced by surrounding countries such as Spain, France and others in Central Europe. Trade and the location on the Silk Road with its routes to Asia also influenced the local development of special dishes. Due to the climatic conditions and the different proximity to the sea, different basic foods and spices were available from region to region. Regional cuisine is represented by some of the major cities in Italy. For example, Milan (in the north of Italy) is known for risottos, Trieste (in the northeast of Italy) is known for multicultural food, Bologna (in the centre of Italy) is known for its tortellini, and Naples (in the south of Italy) is famous for its pizzas.[29] Spaghetti for example is believed to have spread across Africa to Sicily and then on to Naples.[30][31]
Antiquity
The first known Italian food writer was a Greek Sicilian named Archestratus from Syracuse in the 4th century BC. He wrote a poem that spoke of using "top quality and seasonal" ingredients. He said that flavours should not be masked by spices, herbs or other seasonings. He placed importance on simple preparation of fish.[32]
Simplicity was abandoned and replaced by a culture of gastronomy as the Roman Empire developed. By the time De re coquinaria was published in the 1st century AD, it contained 470 recipes calling for heavy use of spices and herbs. The Romans employed Greek bakers to produce breads and imported cheeses from Sicily as the Sicilians had a reputation as the best cheesemakers. The Romans reared goats for butchering, and grew artichokes and leeks.[32]
Some foods now considered traditional were imported to Italy from foreign countries during the Roman era. This includes the jujube (giuggiole), which is now celebrated as a regional cuisine in Arquà Petrarca.[33] The Romans also imported cherries, apricots, and peaches.[33]
Middle Ages
Arabs invaded Sicily in the 9th century, introducing spinach, almonds, and rice.[34] They also brought with them foods from foreign lands that are now celebrated as traditional Italian foods: citrus fruit, artichokes, chickpeas, pistachios, sugarcane, eggplants, and durum wheat, which is used to make pasta.[33] During the 12th century, a Norman king surveyed Sicily and saw people making long strings made from flour and water called atriya, which eventually became trii, a term still used for spaghetti in southern Italy.[35] Normans also introduced the casserole, salt cod (baccalà), and stockfish, all of which remain popular.[36]
Food preservation was either chemical or physical, as refrigeration did not exist. Meats and fish were smoked, dried, or kept on ice. Brine and salt were used to pickle items such as herring, and to cure pork. Root vegetables were preserved in brine after they had been parboiled. Other means of preservation included oil, vinegar, or immersing meat in congealed, rendered fat. For preserving fruits, liquor, honey, and sugar were used.[37]
The oldest Italian book on cuisine is the 13th century Liber de coquina (English: Cookbook) written in Naples. Dishes include "Roman-style" cabbage (ad usum romanorum), ad usum campanie which were "small leaves" prepared in the "Campanian manner", a bean dish from the Marca di Trevisio, a torta, compositum londardicum, dishes similar to dishes the modern day. Two other books from the 14th century include recipes for Roman pastello, Lasagna pie, and call for the use of salt from Sardinia or Chioggia.[38]
In the 15th century, Maestro Martino was chef to the Patriarch of Aquileia at the Vatican. His Libro de arte coquinaria (English: Culinary art book) describes a more refined and elegant cuisine. His book contains a recipe for Maccaroni Siciliani, made by wrapping dough around a thin iron rod to dry in the sun. The macaroni was cooked in capon stock flavoured with saffron, displaying Persian influences. Martino noted the avoidance of excessive spices in favour of fresh herbs.[36] The Roman recipes include coppiette (air-dried salami) and cabbage dishes. His Florentine dishes include eggs with Bolognese torta, Sienese torta and Genoese recipes such as piperata (sweets), macaroni, squash, mushrooms, and spinach pie with onions.[39]
Martino's text was included in a 1475 book by Bartolomeo Platina printed in Venice entitled De honesta voluptate et valetudine (English: On Honest Pleasure and Good Health). Platina puts Martino's "Libro" in regional context, writing about perch from Lake Maggiore, sardines from Lake Garda, grayling from Adda, hens from Padua, olives from Bologna and Piceno, turbot from Ravenna, rudd from Lake Trasimeno, carrots from Viterbo, bass from the Tiber, roviglioni and shad from Lake Albano, snails from Rieti, figs from Tuscolo, grapes from Narni, oil from Cassino, oranges from Naples and eels from Campania. Grains from Lombardy and Campania are mentioned as is honey from Sicily and Taranto. Wine from the Ligurian coast, Greco from Tuscany and San Severino, and Trebbiano from Tuscany and Piceno are also mentioned in the book.[40]
Early modern era
The courts of Florence, Rome, Venice, and Ferrara were central to the cuisine. Cristoforo di Messisbugo, steward to Ippolito d'Este, published Banchetti Composizioni di Vivande (English: Banquets Compositions of Food) in 1549. Messisbugo gives recipes for pies and tarts (containing 124 recipes with various fillings). The work emphasizes the use of Eastern spices and sugar.[41]
In 1570, Bartolomeo Scappi, personal chef to Pope Pius V, wrote his Opera (English: Work) in five volumes, giving a comprehensive view of Italian cooking of that period. It contains over 1,000 recipes, with information on banquets including displays and menus as well as illustrations of kitchen and table utensils. This book differs from most books written for the royal courts in its preference for domestic animals and courtyard birds rather than game.
Recipes include lesser cuts of meats such as tongue, head, and shoulder. The third volume has recipes for fish in Lent. These fish recipes are simple, including poaching, broiling, grilling, and frying after marination.
Particular attention is given to seasons and places where fish should be caught. The final volume includes pies, tarts, fritters, and a recipe for a sweet Neapolitan pizza (not the current savoury version, as tomatoes had not yet been introduced to Italy). However, such items from the New World as corn (maize) and turkey are included.[42] Eventually, through the Columbian exchange, Italian cuisine would also adopt not just tomatoes as a key flavour, but also beans, pumpkins, zucchini, and peppers, all of which came from the Americas during the last few hundred years.[33]
In the first decade of the 17th century, Giacomo Castelvetro wrote Breve Racconto di Tutte le Radici di Tutte l'Herbe et di Tutti i Frutti (English: A Brief Account of All Roots, Herbs, and Fruit), translated into English by Gillian Riley. Originally from Modena, Castelvetro moved to England because he was a Protestant. The book lists Italian vegetables and fruits along with their preparation. He featured vegetables as a central part of the meal, not just as accompaniments.[42] Castelvetro favoured simmering vegetables in salted water and serving them warm or cold with olive oil, salt, fresh ground pepper, lemon juice, verjus, or orange juice. He also suggested roasting vegetables wrapped in damp paper over charcoal or embers with a drizzle of olive oil. Castelvetro's book is separated into seasons with hop shoots in the spring and truffles in the winter, detailing the use of pigs in the search for truffles.[42]
In 1662, Bartolomeo Stefani, chef to the Duchy of Mantua, published L'Arte di Ben Cucinare (English: The Art of Well Cooking). He was the first to offer a section on vitto ordinario (English: ordinary food). The book described a banquet given by Duke Charles for Queen Christina of Sweden, with details of the food and table settings for each guest, including a knife, fork, spoon, glass, a plate (instead of the bowls more often used), and a napkin.[43]
Other books from this time, such as Galatheo (English: Etiquette) by Giovanni della Casa, tell how scalci (English: waiters) should manage themselves while serving their guests. Waiters should not scratch their heads or other parts of themselves, or spit, sniff, cough or sneeze while serving diners. The book also told diners not to use their fingers while eating and not to wipe sweat with their napkin.[43]
Modern era
At the beginning of the 18th century, Italian culinary books began to emphasize the regionalism of Italian cuisine rather than French cuisine. Books written then were no longer addressed to professional chefs but to bourgeois housewives.[44] Periodicals in booklet form such as La cuoca cremonese (English: The Cook of Cremona) in 1794 give a sequence of ingredients according to season along with chapters on meat, fish, and vegetables. As the century progressed these books increased in size, popularity, and frequency.[45]
In the 18th century, medical texts warned peasants against eating refined foods as it was believed that these were poor for their digestion and their bodies required heavy meals. It was believed that peasants ate poorly because they preferred eating poorly. However, many peasants had to eat rotten food and mouldy bread because that was all they could afford.[46]
In 1779, Antonio Nebbia from Macerata in the Marche region, wrote Il Cuoco Maceratese (English: The Cook of Macerata). Nebbia addressed the importance of local vegetables and pasta, rice, and gnocchi. For stock, he preferred vegetables and chicken over other meats.
In 1773, the Neapolitan Vincenzo Corrado's Il Cuoco Galante (English: The Courteous Cook) gave particular emphasis to vitto pitagorico (English: vegetarian food). "Pythagorean food consists of fresh herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, seeds and all that is produced in the earth for our nourishment. It is so-called because Pythagoras, as is well known, only used such produce. There is no doubt that this kind of food appears to be more natural to man, and the use of meat is noxious." This book was the first to give the tomato a central role with 13 recipes.
Zuppa alli pomidoro (English: Tomato soup) in Corrado's book is a dish similar to today's Tuscan pappa al pomodoro. Corrado's 1798 edition introduced a "Treatise on the Potato" after the French Antoine-Augustin Parmentier's successful promotion of the tuber.[48] In 1790, Francesco Leonardi in his book L'Apicio moderno (English: Modern Apicius) sketches a history of the Italian cuisine from the Roman Age and gives the first recipe of a tomato-based sauce.[49]
In the 19th century, Giovanni Vialardi, chef to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, wrote Trattato di cucina, Pasticceria moderna, Credenza e relativa Confettureria (English: A Treatise of Modern Cookery and Patisserie) with recipes "suitable for a modest household". Many of his recipes are for regional dishes from Turin including 12 for potatoes such as Genoese Cappon Magro. In 1829, Il Nuovo Cuoco Milanese Economico (English: The New Economic Milanese Chef) by Giovanni Felice Luraschi featured Milanese dishes such as kidney with anchovies and lemon and gnocchi alla Romana. Gian Battista and Giovanni Ratto's La Cucina Genovese (English: Genoese cuisine) in 1871 addressed the cuisine of Liguria. This book contained the first recipe for pesto. La Cucina Teorico-Pratica (English: The Theoretical-Practical Cuisine) written by Ippolito Cavalcanti described the first recipe for pasta with tomatoes.[50]
La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiare bene (English: The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well), by Pellegrino Artusi, first published in 1891, is widely regarded as the canon of classic modern Italian cuisine, and it is still in print. Its recipes predominantly originate from Romagna and Tuscany, where he lived. Around 1880, two decades after the Unification of Italy, was the beginning of Italian diaspora, and with it started the spread of Italian cuisine in the world.[51]
Contemporary era
Italy has a large number of traditional specialities protected under EU law.[25] From the 1950s onwards, a great variety of typical products of Italian cuisine have been recognized as PDO, PGI, TSG and GI by the Council of the European Union, to which they are added the Indicazione geografica tipica (IGT), the regional Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale (PAT) and the municipal Denominazione comunale d'origine (De.C.O.).[52][53] In the oenological field, there are specific legal protections: the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) and the Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG).[54] Protected designation of origin (PDO) and
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