De Italiaanse keuken

Italian food For sure it’s not an easy task to write an essay on arguably the best and most widespread kitchen in the world. From Fär Öer to Taiwan, every human being knows what a spaghetti bolognese or a pizza margherita is. In every major city there’s an abundance of Italian restaurants like ‘Da Mario’ or ‘Don Giovanni’, owned by local immigrants. Like I said, it’s not an easy job, but i’m going to give it a go, with a little help from my parents, and some information I looked up. Food is extremely important in Italy, and in the emigrated Italian families all around the world. There’s an Italian expression: ‘Il cibo é l’essenza della vita’ which means something like: food is the essence of life. Italians tend to make an art of every field they compete in (e.g. The Universal Man Leandro Da Vinci), including gastronomy. Italians don’t eat to live, they live to eat. A modal Italian meal consists of four plates: the relatively unkown antipasto, the primo piatto, the secondo piatto and in most cases a dessert. The antipasto is like an appetizer, it’s offered by the restaurant while you’re waiting for the primo piatto. Types of antipasti are: bruschette, toasted bread with some olive oil with mould mozzarella on top; sott’aceti, vegetables conserved in vinagre; melone e prosciutto, melon and Parma-ham,and so on. The primo piatto is the main course, and consists mostly of pasta: spaghetti, tagliatelle, cannelloni, lasagne, penne, fusili, farfalline, bucatini, tortellini and tortelloni, pastina, gnocchi, ravioli, orecchiette, macaroni, – and I could go on for a while – all served with a variety of sauces, depending on your location on the boot: e.g. when visiting Genua, one would be served pesto sauce, in Bologna one would (ofcourse) be served bolognese sauce with his pasta. Every region or city has it’s own variation, depending on the availability of the local ingredients. Italians are –as you can tell- very fond of pasta, and should you not like it, you could always order the famous minestrone, stracciatella, risotto Milanese, osso buco, polenta, or even pizza, although I’m obliged to mention this phenomenon seperately. The secondo piatto could be seen as a complement of the main course, in case you can’t get enough. Meat or fish are the most current dishes: as for meat: scaloppine, saltimbocca, bistecca fiorentina, carpaccio,...; and as for fish: pesce misto, calamaretti fritti, seppiette, aragosta, coda di rospo,... Being short of time or money, instead of primo and secondo piatto you could opt for pizza, the fastfood originating from Naples. There’s no need to explain what it is, but you might have a problem choosing the right one: margherita, frutti di mare, quattro stagioni, siciliana, puttanesca, al diavolo, quattro formaggi, toscana, calzone, napolitana, maffiosa, al prosciutto, tonno, sofia loren, scampi, deliziosa... But under no circumstances you should order a pizza hawaiï (and while we’re at it, never ever EVER cut your spaghetti in Italy)! Italy is also (one of) the world’s greatest wine country(ies), and depending on your main course, you will have to choose the most appropriate wine, which is not simple: Chianti, Valpollicella, Barbera, Lambrusco, Barolo, Barbaresco, Vernaccia, Nebbiolo, Frascati, Sangiovese, Bardolino, Prosecco, Dolceacqua, Tocai Furlan etc... As you can see, it’s going to be a hard choice, but the waiter will undoubtedly assist with professional advice. After enjoying all these delicacies, one would like something sweet and order some cassata or tiramisu with ofcourse an strong (Italian) espresso. Should you be a cheese lover, it’s quite the choice because Italy boasts an extremely wide variety of cheeses: parmigiano, mozzarella, provolone, gorgonzola, ricotta, rigatello, pecorino, bel paese, dolcelatte, mascarpone, -and yet again- etc... To finish a great meal, Italians tend to take one of Italy’s bitter liquors, called “digestivi” or “amari” like Averna, Cinar, Amaro Montenegro, Ramazotti, Fernet Branca, Amaretto di Saronno, Orancello or Limoncello. It’s used to catalyze their digestion and to have good siësta or night’s sleep.