How Italian Foods Vary

Megan Heyer
So you think you know everything about eating Italian food? You are absolutely aware of every segment of the pure pasta preparation deal? You will be sorely disappointed to know that the food that is prepared in every region of Italy vary from each other, and taste diametrically opposite from one region to another. Most of the times, they differ even from house to house, and from person to person. There is a base recipe which has a mind boggling number of variations. That is because generally these are prepared for generations, and the food is the result of a lot of experimentation that is made over the years by people whose ancestors originally gave them the idea.

These recipes are kept as family secrets and they are not released under any condition to anyone outside the family. Women who marry into other families bring their own family concoctions that they add to food. They comingle their own ingredients and that result into a dish that perhaps gives birth to a new tradition. The people rarely dole out their secret way of making the food, and the way they make certain staples, like pasta, soup, risotto and main courses.

Traditional Italian cuisine is based on mixing and constant experimentation and bringing in local ingredients to make their own insignia in the cuisine. Food from places like Modena and Parma vary vastly from that of Naples. It depends on the taste buds of the people who cook the food as well. In many regions the food is spiced with spices which are kept under lock and key. These spice mixes die with the people who make them, and it gives every meal an individual character.

If you think you know the details about food like the pizza or the focaccia, then think again. The wood burning stoves of Naples make a fantastic Napolitana Pizza, while in other places the process and method is different. One extremely simple way to make pizza without tomato sauce is to cover the pizza base with cheese and basil and then bake it in the oven till the cheese melts. This is a Pizza Bianca, and it tastes incredible because of the variety of ways it can be done with the sheer number of different kinds of cheese and herbs that can be put in it. Therefore, if you go to different parts of the country, you are bound to taste different kind of food.

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