Surprising Facts About Italian Cuisine

Some facts about Italian cuisine

Most people have a common idea that Italian cuisine is a combination of spaghetti, lasagna and minestrone. However, if you visit Italy, you will realize that Italians are not just limited with those kinds of food. Rather, they are cooking a variety of dishes in very innovative ways that your grandmother would never have imagined.

Italy has nineteen regions and each region has its own district cuisine. Moreover, their cuisine changes in every season. Giving utmost importance to fresh ingredients, Italian kitchen serves summer cuisine and winter cuisine differently.

Southern Italian Cooking

The cuisine of South Italy is different since the people there consume more fish in their diet. In general, their dishes are lighter and healthier. One factor that makes their diet healthy is the use of virgin oil in most of their dishes. For this reason, medical studies consistently show that they are one of the healthiest people in the world.
Cuisine from Northern Italy
Americans are familiar with Northern Italian cuisine, wherein the dishes are loaded with cheese and rich white sauces. Nevertheless, even if Americans are somewhat familiar with the Northern Italian dishes, they will still be surprised at the number of differences and uniqueness of the cuisine in North Italy.

Italian cuisine is rich, complex and complicated. They are richer and have more ingredients compared to the usual spaghetti and meatballs. Italians put various spices in their dishes. However, they only use spices to enhance the natural flavor of their foods. This is contrary to what other people believe that Italians use too many spices in their dishes. People who are having this misconception are those who have not yet been to Italy.

Seasonal in Nature

The nature of Italian food depends on the season. Thus, they do not depend that much on the use of spices to flavor their meats. Their meats, pastas, and sauces have already fresh flavors of their own and Italians just add spices to enhance their dishes' natural tastes. Travelers just discovered that Northern Italians tend to use more spices in their food compared to Southern Italians.

Regional Characteristics

When checking out for Italian cuisine, one must realize that there is no single standard dish for Italians. Being that there are 19 regions in Italy, expect 19 variations of Italian cuisine. Each region has its own unique style of cooking its dishes. Moreover, each region features different local vegetables and animal ingredients.

Despite some variations, travelers going to many parts of Italy will find something familiar with all the dishes in the area. Italian cuisine is usually easy to cook and has variety of vegetable options. This common style of their dishes makes Italian cuisine a favorite choice of many people around the world.

So if you are traveling to Italy for the first time, it's a good idea to get rid of the preconceived notions you may have from the United States, Canada or even the UK. Go with an open mind, and be ready to experience the best cuisine in the world.

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Italian Recipes for Making Pizza From Scratch

A delicious pizza is a great family meal, and is fun to make as well. Here we're going to look at how to make a pizza from scratch, starting off with the dough, and then topping it off to make a classic Italian pizza.

So, you'll need these ingredients for your pizza base:

Ingredients:
1 pound of flour
7 ounces of brewers' yeast
4 tbsp of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Milk - if you like your pizza base softer

So, get yourself a nice clear surface to work on, and pour the flour out, and start forming it into a cone-like shape, a bit like a volcano, leaving a central gap to pour a little warm water inside, along with the yeast, and a tbsp of salt. If you like, you can add a bit of milk to make it a bit softer.

Add some more water - 150ml should be plenty - and knead the pastry thoroughly to bind it, until smooth and even. Then place it on a tray, cover and leave to rest for a couple of hours. The yeast will make the base's volume double in size as it rests. Then move it to a warm place (for example the inside of the oven, not turned on). Grab your rolling pin and extend the dough into the round shape, and you're ready to start adding the toppings!

We're going to use the pastry to make a Neapolitan pizza now, so you'll need the following ingredients:

Ingredients:
18 ounces of your pizza dough
10.5 ounces of tomato sauce
Two mozzarellas (fresh cheese)
1 can of anchovies in olive oil or 4 salty anchovies
Extra virgin olive oil
Flour
Oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Take your ready-made dough, and season with the tomato sauce across the base, then add in the chopped mozzarella. Chop the anchovies up too and add them on, then some salt and pepper to taste, drizzling plenty of oil across before placing in the oven..

Place the pizza on a tray with either oil (or flour, which will enhance the taste), and bake in a hot oven. Cook for up to 25 minutes, any more than that and you risk overcooking the pizza, and the base will burn. You can add some more shredded mozzarella pieces a few minutes before the end of the cooking time. Finally, cut up into a few slices, then all that's left is to serve up, and enjoy!

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I Love Italian Wine and Food - The Sardinia Region

If you are looking for fine Italian wine and food, consider Sardinia. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you'll have fun on the fact-filled wine education tour.

Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean, located in the Tyrrhenian Sea west of mainland Italy. Sardinia's terrain is mountainous, and its beaches are excellent. Sardinia is known for archeological ruins and has become a tourist destination for the international jet set. Because of its exceptional location Sardinia has always popular, Invaders include Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and Spaniards, without mentioning numerous Italian peoples. During part of the 18th and 19th Century it was united with the northern region of Piedmont in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. The population is about 1.6 million.

Sardinia's administrative center is Cagliari, an ancient university town on the southern coast of the island. Its population is approximately one hundred sixty thousand. The famous author D. H. Lawrence compared this beautiful city to a "White Jerusalem." Another city of interest is Sassari, which has the best collection of Sardinian art.

Sardinia is Italy's leading source of organic produce, and includes nearly one-third of Italy's land cultivated biologically. The climate is subtropical and more than half the territory is devoted to pasture land. Food is plentiful, it is said that there are over 500 kinds of bread, perhaps one for every village. The inland is full of meat, including lamb, goat, pork and game, while the coast teems with fish, lobster, and eel.

Sardinia devotes about 107 thousand acres to grapevines, it ranks 8th among the 20 Italian regions. Its total annual wine production is about 28 million gallons, giving it a 12th place. About 57% of the wine production is red or rosé (only a bit of rosé), leaving 43% for white. The region produces 19 DOC wines and one DOCG wine, Vermentino di Gallura, one of the two DOCG wines produced in southern Italy. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which may be translated as Denomination of Controlled Origin, presumably a high-quality wine. The G in DOCG stands for Garantita, but there is in fact no guarantee that such wines are truly superior. About 15% of Sardinian wine carries the DOC or DOCG designation. Sardinia is home to almost dozen four major and secondary grape varieties, about half white and half red.

There are no widely grown international white grape varieties in Sardinia. The best known Italian white varieties are Vermentino, Nuragus, and Vernaccia.

Widely grown international red grape varieties include Cannonau, known as Garnacha in Spain, and Grenache in France and elsewhere, and Carignano, known as Carignan in France. The best known Italian red variety is Monica, which probably originated in Spain, and may be related to California's Mission grape variety.
Before we review the Sardinian wine and cheese that we were lucky enough to purchase at a local wine store and a local Italian food store, here are a few suggestions of what to eat with indigenous wines when touring this beautiful region.

Start with Melanzane in Pinzimonio, Smoked Eggplants in Mint-Basil Oil.

As a second course try Aragosta Arrosto, Roasted Lobster with Parsley and Bread Crumbs.

For dessert indulge yourself with Seadas, Pastry with Cheese and Bitter Honey.
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY While we have communicated with well over a thousand Italian wine producers and merchants to help prepare these articles, our policy is clear. All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed

Sella and Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna (V) DOC Reserva 2003 13.5% alcohol about $12.50
Cannonau wine may qualify as the mother of all European wines. It is made from the Grenache grape, which originated in Spain. The producer, Sella and Mosca, has the second largest contiguous vineyard in Italy. Over 6 million bottles are year are produced on an estate of more than 1500 acres. Some will say that such a humongous estate is unlikely to produce an outstanding wine. Such a claim may be incorrect, but this wine was far from outstanding.

The marketing materials stated that this wine is more or less ruby in color, tending to orange upon aging, with a light scent of grapes with a characteristic flavor ranging from dry to sweetish. It was aged three years in oak prior to its release and may be cellared for a decade or more. The wine is said to be particularly suitable to accompany red meats and seasoned cheeses. Uncork it at least one hour before serving.

I found that it had quite a light color for a red wine. To my mind, it was thin but pleasant with very little nose. I first tasted it with a rib steak marinated in a spicy sauce. This pairing brought out the fruit, and the wine was pleasantly acidic, but I would have preferred a more robust wine to balance the meat. I finished the bottle withy barbequed hamburgers, and it didn't go quite as well. The wine was weak, perhaps affected by staying too long in the bottle.

Pecorino Sardo is a traditional sheep's milk, semi-cooked hard cheese that comes in a "sweet" or "ripened" variety. The sweet variety is soft, and the ripened variety is hard. My cheese was ripened and treated with balsamic vinegar. A commercial roasted eggplant with sweet red peppers accompanied the wine and cheese. Everything went well together, the nutty flavors of the cheese balanced the wine's fruit. In conclusion, I liked the wine best with the cheese. I don't plan on buying this wine again, I found it a bit overpriced. Even though it didn't cost a lot, one might have thought that a mass-produced wine from Sardinia would be somewhat less expensive.

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History of Italian Cuisine

Most people will recognize pasta and pizza - two of the most popular dishes that form part of the Italian cuisine. However, Italian cuisine has a lot more to offer than just these two well known dishes. Most importantly, Italian cuisine also has a rich and tempting history - just like the different dishes that form part of its offerings.

All over the land of Italy, all the Italians always maintain a distinctive cooking habit or style that shines in their eating habits, their styles of preparing a meal and the way they select local ingredients. Right from the pre-Roman era till date the Italian food history has gone through a considerable change.

In the ancient times, the preparation of food was very important. One of the ancient and surviving cookbooks is known as the Apicus. The Apicus dates right back to 1st century BC.

It was after the downfall of the Romans that the spread of the Italian cuisine began. Individual states started to uphold their separate traditions and identities. Every region started its own special and unique method of cooking, from the very basic preparation of the meatballs to characteristic varieties of cheeses and also the wine produced in any locale.

For example Northern states developed the Tuscan beef, on the other hand black truffles was prepared in Marches, and the very famous Mozzarella and Provolone cheeses developed in South, simultaneously being the host of a lot of citrus fruits.

There were varieties in bread, pasta, and other different food preparation methodologies according to the region. The eating habits were also a total contrast as the people in Southern Italy loved hard-boiled spaghetti, but those from the North preferred the soft-egg noodles.

Different cities started to become famous for their specialties like Milan for Risotto, Bologna for Tortellini, while Naples for Pizzas.

In these past few years the Italian cuisine evolved greatly due to the wealth from outside influences which added a flavor and an appeal. The ancient Greeks with their wealthy imports from various places added an exotic ingredients and spices to the Italian cuisine.

The Coastal regions of Italy are popular for delicious seafood and fish. For example, while Sardinia has a traditional style of cooking that includes foods such as Swordfish, anchovies, lobster, sardines, etc, Sicily has heavy North-African influences.

Even today the varieties in Italian cooking show distinctions between the northern and the southern style of cooking. Each and every region carries their traditions reflecting deeply in history. This wonderful culture with never-ending preparations of appetizers, main-courses, and desserts that will always continue to tempt our taste buds.

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Great Italian Food Starts With Fresh Herbs

Italians insist upon fresh ingredients in their food, and their herbs are no exception. There are a variety of fresh herbs common in Italian cooking. Most people are familiar with the little bottles of dried herbs from the grocery store, but if you haven't prepared food with fresh herbs, you really need to give it a try.

What's the distinction between an herb and a spice?
Spices are made from the seeds, root, fruit or barks of aromatic plants, while the herbs primarily consist of the leaves and stems. Herb plants contain oils which are very fragrant and add the distinctive aroma and flavor that Italian food is known for.

A few of the most common herbs are basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme.
Basil is a member of the mint family, and like all mint herbs, it is extremely fragrant when picked fresh. Basil leaves blacken when exposed to metal, therefore it is common in Italy to tear the leaves by hand before throwing the basil into a sauce or onto a dish. Basil is the primary herb for the famous pesto sauce.

Oregano is another popular herb in both Italian and Greek food. Most people are familiar with this herb in tomato based pasta sauces and with meats.

Italian Parsley, also known as flat-leaf parsley, is readily available in most grocery stores and is easy to distinguish it from the curly variety frequently used as a garnish. Italians favor this parsley for cooking because it has a much better flavor, while the curlier variety is best saved for garnishing your dish.

Rosemary is another widely available herb and resembles a little branch from an evergreen tree. This is one of the most fragrant of all the fresh herbs and it will retain its flavor and aroma when dried. It's excellent with vegetables and is often cooked into the dough of breads like focaccia.

Sage has long, broad leaves and is the herb which flavors the traditional Italian Saltimbocca dish.
Sage is also very fragrant so be sure you don't use too much and overwhelm your meal.

Thyme is another herb of the mint family, but in contrast to the other mints, it has tiny leaves that can easily be thrown whole into your sauce or dish. I use this herb frequently because its mild flavor goes well with everything and won't overshadow the rest of your dish.

There are some basic rules for cooking with fresh herbs. Fresh herbs are more delicate than dried and can lose some of their flavor when cooked too long. For slow cooked sauces and meats, you can add the fresh herbs at the last minute keeping their flavors and aromas intact. On the other hand, the oils in dried herbs are concentrated requiring a smaller amount of than fresh herbs in your recipes. A good general rule of thumb is to use one tablespoon of fresh herbs for every 1 teaspoon of dried herbs needed in a dish. But remember, cooking is an art and you can use as much or as little as you like.
The next time you want to spruce up an everyday meal, throw in some fresh Italian herbs

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Growing Your Own Sprouts

Hello.

Time for a little about the joy of sprouting? In our quest for need to know health info we have tried all sorts including sprouting! and man, we love the joy of a good sprout. Nature has decreed that things are packed full of life force and goodness when young, so in the veggie world, sprouting is a good way to take advantage.

What is sprouting? It's the simple practice of germinating your own mini plants in the comfort of your own home, providing you with a continual crop of easy to digest power packed super food that you've grown yourself!

A simple sprout fact, check this out! In some cases sprouted young plants contain 60 times the amount of enzyme packed nutrition than their unsprouted or dormant bean. This is a gift from nature, take your bean, seed, whatever, just add water and you unleash its bioavailable goodness! Did I mention that sprouts are possibly one of the most easy to digest foodstuffs available? Imagine that! Your own organically grown, zero food mile, nutrition rich, super food mega crop growing in your kitchen for virtually pennies. Sprouting is the a great way to turbo charge your diet.

What you need for Sprouting

Air: sprouts need air to breath!! They are living breathing things! Good air circulation is essential to prevent them rotting and for optimum growth.

Water: after a good overnight soaking, sprouts need water every 12 hours at least and more if it's warm. They need a good soak to wash off the enzyme that stops them from germinating.

Temperature: Sprouts like kind of what we do, nice and warm for good growth and a happy plant, comfy room temperature is the way to go

Room: remember after soaking sprouts can increase in size 30 times, give them room or they'll fight it out with each other!

Light: sprouts that produce leaves do need some light eventually, indirect sunlight is fine.
A sprouter: well they'll grow anywhere really, but a sprouter does make it easy!

Things to Sprout

Green stuff

Alfalfa a daddy amongst sprouts, a true super food
Cabbage, full of life-force as sprout, undoubtedly cabbage even as a tiddler
Clover (red) lovely in salads and ready to eat in 6 days
Fenugreek green, good and somewhat groovy, a nice large sprout crop
Mustard hot little sprouts these, add a little or you'll be blowing out an imaginary candle
Radish turbo charged again and a hot one
Sunflower super tasty and ready in 10 days
Wheatgrass another nutrition packed sprouting food
Beans, nuts and pulses
Adzuki a super bean, a super sprout!
Barley ready in 2 to 5 days
Chickpea cook this one though ready in 4 days.
Lentil very easy to grow, steam them or eat sparingly on salads, ready in 5 days.
Mung good old mung beans, great in salads
Oats you can eat sprouts raw, sweet tasting

There we go, the joy of sprouting is you've grown your own crop, you know where it's come from, I doubt you will have sprayed it with pesticide and its all green goodness. Get sprouting today!

The Dangers of an Eating Out, Fast Food Lifestyle - Homemade Foods Will Save Your Life!

Could you really say that your last meal was nutritionally balanced? Did it provide your body with an assortment of the vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and fats it needs to function properly? Was there any fresh fruit or vegetables with it or did they come out of a packet, tin or the freezer? The question to really consider is, "Was it the kind of meal your grandmother would have made?

According to a recent AC Nielsen Online survey, consumers the world over reported they simply do not have the time to prepare meals from scratch. Consumers in 41 countries were asked whether they had too much, enough or too little of time, information, energy, space or money to prepare meals from scratch. Just over 56% said they didn't have enough time. Beyond convenience, one third cited cheaper than buying all the ingredients and preparing from scratch as their reason for purchasing ready to eat meals.

But what value do we place on our health? Do you really know what went into the preparation of the food you purchased and does it contain ingredients which are nutritionally beneficial for your body?

How many times have you gone out, purchased food and within hours after eating it started to feel heavy in the head &/or a bit sick in the stomach? We put so much trust in the person who prepared the food; that they had good hygiene and food handling skills. What had they being doing before they made your food?

Food poisoning is commonly experienced in those who eat out frequently, with the study "Food Safety and the New Zealand Public" showing just over 2 in 10 respondents experienced food poisoning over the last two years; with most of these (83%) occurring outside the home. Around half of those surveyed declared that they had observed poor food safety practices in outlets over the last two years. 83% of respondents expressed concern about chicken, 78% for shellfish and 76% for food displayed in warming ovens such as pies.

As a naturopath I frequently see people who are suffering with health problems relating to something bad they have ingested. Some have returned from a trip to the islands or Asia, but there are also those who have eaten out recently and experienced a case of food poisoning. Not only can you have the common digestive problems such as diarrhoea and abdominal pain, but many people also experience joint and muscular pain, fatigue, headaches, fever, skin and hair problems, as well as low levels of nutrients, such as B vitamins and iron.

If you have eaten something bad and you have vomiting &/or diarrhea, seek professional advice, as dehydration is a common problem experienced with food poisoning. Some cases of food poisoning are notifiable; so to help prevent other people experiencing the same problem as you, make sure you report all incidences.

 If you do eat or drink something bad, consider Activated Charcoal. The binding ability of charcoal has been known for centuries, with the story of a prominent French chemist in 1813 who drank 150 times the normal lethal dose of arsenic without ill effect. His secret? He had mixed the arsenic with charcoal. Charcoal was used in gas masks in WWI and is still used today in protective masks and suits against hazardous chemicals, nerve gas and other biological toxins. Each particle contains many small chambers and cavities that capture or bind up unwanted materials and gas. This can be taken in a capsule and is a valuable addition to the medicine cabinet or travel bag. 

Taking a probiotic supplement, such as Reuteri or Inner Health Plus is vital with food poisoning, as these friendly bacteria have been found to populate the bowel quickly, helping to relieve some of the symptoms experienced with food poisoning in hours. Aloe vera juice can also help to relieve gastric distress and is well worth considering with digestive problems.

But does it really take that long to prepare a meal from scratch? Do we really not have the time to make proper meals or are there other reasons why we eat out so much?

Recent figures from March 2007 show sales of burgers, fish and chips, pies, ice cream, pizza and ethnic food have risen 88% since 2002, a huge difference from 1995-2002, when figures remained relatively flat. Statistics New Zealand tell us that in January of this year, takeaway food sales were $103 million (can you believe this!)

New Zealanders have been ranked 17th in a list of the worlds most obese people - fatter than Australians, Britons, Canadians and Fijians and gaining on Americans. Overall, 68% of New Zealanders are classed as Obese by the world health organization. Child obesity has trebled in the past decade, with 1 in 3 now overweight or obese. Obese children mean obese adults. This is a problem for many reason, as obesity is associated with heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and some cancers.

Maintaining a balanced body weight is vitally important for growing children. A child's diet may determine whether she develops breast cancer in later life, according to expert Professor Paul Kleihues from the World Health Organisation. The disease - the number one killer among women aged 35-54 years - could be triggered early in life by an unhealthy diet of fast food, Professor Kleihues has warned. He said parents should avoid offering high fat, low fiber diets full of processed food, dairy products and meat. He warned: "Thirty per cent of tumors in breast, prostate and colon cancer are associated with poor nutrition".

Australian and New Zealand studies over the last 10 years, on food advertising during children's television viewing times, found that on average there are 26 ads per hour and of these Food ads comprise approximately 34% of all ads or 8 ads per hour. On average, 72% of ads promote non-nutritious foods, and ads for chocolate, confectionary, fast food restaurants and sweetened breakfast cereals tend to top the list. In addition, the study found that confectionary and fast food restaurant ads are broadcast heavily during the pre and post dinner period, 5-8pm and that these are broadcast up to three times more heavily during children's programs than adult programs. Recent studies show that this kind of advertising works, as children from families with high TV use during meals consume more of the highly advertised "unhealthy foods" (pizza, salty snack, soft drinks) and less fruit and vegetables.

What about Morgan Spurlock, the American documentary film director, known for the documentary film Super Size Me, in which he attempted to demonstrate the negative health effects of McDonald's food by eating nothing but McDonalds three times a day, every day, for one month. At the end of 1 month his cholesterol, blood pressure and body fat levels increased dramatically and he complained of an empty unsatisfied feeling, probably due to a lack of essential nutrients.

Experts tell us that the Mediterranean diet is an ideal model to follow. There are many variations of this, but the common Mediterranean dietary pattern has these characteristics:

o high consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds

o olive oil is an important monounsaturated fat source (choose organic extra virgin)

o dairy products, fish and poultry are consumed in low to moderate amounts, and little red meat is eaten

o eggs are consumed zero to four times a week

o wine is consumed in low to moderate amounts (red wine)

People who follow the average Mediterranean diet eat less saturated fat than those who eat an average kiwi diet. In fact, saturated fat consumption is well within the Heart Foundations Nutritional guidelines. More than half the fat calories in a Mediterranean diet come from monounsaturated fats (mainly from olive oil). Monounsaturated fat doesn't raise blood cholesterol levels the way saturated fat does.

The most important consideration for making easy, nutritious meals, is to think ahead so you can be prepared and have the ingredients you need to throw something yummy together. Most chefs would agree that the secret to a great meal is to keep it simple.

Dinner should contain some kind of protein such as fish, seafood or some other kind of meat. This can be purchased on the day, or individual servings could be retrieved from the deep freeze. A salad can be simply made, buy tossing mesculin or other salad greens with vinegar and olive oil. Chopped tomatoes, capsicum and cucumber are excellent additions, as is a handful of lightly toasted pine nuts or some tamari roasted seeds.

Planter boxes can be positioned around the house, with herbs such as rocket, basil, parsley and chives and vegetables such as tomatoes, capsicum and lettuce being easy to grow in this way. It is so relaxing to come home in the evening and seeing how my latest plants are coming along, thinking how I can incorporate them into my daily meals.