Sunday, November 1, 2009

What are some interesting facts about Italian food


What are some interesting facts about Italian food?
I'm doing a project in school about Italy and my group got food. Any interesting facts? Instead of just having what everyone else would have: Pizza is bread with tomato, Pasta is also Italian, and all that. Any ideas for things people never heard of? I'm in 5th class primary school.
Ethnic Cuisine - 7 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
serve Casu Marzu its a sheep's milk cheese with live insect larvae in it
2 :
Do you want facts or do you need something to make? One fact is you mentioned pizza as being bread with tomatoes( and mozzarella). 1 fact: Tomatoes are not native to Italy and is first mentioned as being brought to Europe in 1493! So if you lived in Italy prior to that, you probably never saw a tomato( or even knew what it was)! 2nd. Water Buffalo is not native to Italy but Indonesia ( water buffalo milk is used to make the famous mozzarella of Campania, Naples ( I was just there last month). Pasta is not native to Italy but China. Basically, the interesting facts are, that the foods most people are bringing aren't native to Italy but were perfected by the Italians. Talk about Italian cheese, which is something native to Italy.The economy of Italy basically relies on Parmigiano and olive oil The most famous, Parmigiano Reggiano,"The King" of cheeses. See it being made on You Tube. Fascinating and really Italian( unrivaled). That would be a hit if you can bring in a laptop for them to watch. There's a few vids. I picked one at random( lousy music).Maybe you can find a better vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAH2eawjwQ8 @fromafar, lol, and the pizza was white because there was no tomatoes. Yes we had no tomatoes in Italy at that time. We sell the prized White Winter Truffle from Piedmont. They are now $2200 per lb. The largest one of this season was auctioned off for $300,000( 300 K) last week). Now for the trivia part. The Romans did not like them, they instead preferred a cheap junk truffle like fungi from Libya ( Well, read it, from Wiki). Italy in the Classical period produced three kinds of truffles: the Tuber melanosporum, the Tuber magnificanus and the Tuber magnatum. The Romans, however, only used the terfez (Terfezia bouderi), a fungus of similar appearance, which the Romans called truffles, and which is sometimes called "desert truffle". Terfez used in Rome came from Lesbos, Carthage, and especially Libya, where the coastal climate was less dry in ancient times.[19] Their substance is pale, tinged with rose. Unlike truffles, terfez have no taste of their own. The Romans used the terfez as a carrier of flavour, because the terfez have the property to absorb surrounding flavours. Indeed, Roman cuisine used many spices and flavours, and terfez were perfect in that context. One more thing you forgot to mention. To become a Parmigiano maker( licensed) you have to apprentice for 11 years. That means you can become a doctor in Italy in less time then a licensed Parmigiano maker! Also, the cheese with the larvae has been banned in the USA since the 50's and recently it has been banned in Europe. It was mainly a Barese specialty( from Bari) Italy.
3 :
In fact, Italians probably borrowed the concept of 'pasta' from the Far East. When Italian merchants visited China prior to the Renaissance, they found noodles.
4 :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagna_c%C3%A0uda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnolotti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventricina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farinata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casoncelli http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruschetta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppl%C3%AC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugo_all%27amatriciana
5 :
Italian restaurants are everywhere in Sydney. The bests are at Leichhardt, Norton street. There are varieties of stores. AlsoSelectionn of delicious food you can buy. Italians are very well known for their Pastas, Pizzas and others like Frocacia Bread which has a selection of nutritional food to go on top of the bread. Apart from coffees, which everyone should already know what they are? There are ice creams with many different flavours. You could go to a closesItalianin store and have a tour. Tell the owner that you are conducting a project, and need guidance for their store. They will be very happy thelppl you. Coffee, cupuchino, mocha, latte', flat white, short black and long black. Ice creams, mango, patachio, coffee, and other......etc..
6 :
Hi, I'm an italian food blogger and journalist. I believe that what makes italian food so fabulous is the diversity amongst regions. So what I would write in my paper is how out of 21 regions in Italy (something like states) the food changes drastically and no to regions share the same specialties.
7 :
A fact is......what you eat in America are only junk hypercalorific and disgusting foods with ridiculous strange Italian names, but nothing except the flag in the packaging is really Italian. Examples? In Italy does not exist fettucini alfredo, stroboli, spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread etc...they're only junk foods created by Italian-Americans.