The Italian food culture is known to offer a very delectable cuisine. Italians’ food has reached different continents of the world due to how palatable it is. Therefore, it captures not only the taste of many but also the hearts of a lot of people. Although the Italian food culture itself has a diverse history, their cuisines are still distinctive to the taste buds.
But the question is, how do people distinguish Italian cuisine? How do they differentiate it from other cuisines from different parts of the world? Italian food has unique elements which give people the idea that what they are consuming is Italian food. To provide you with an idea about the Italian food culture, below are the most common elements you can quickly notice in an Italian food dish.
Simplicity
Authentic Italian cuisines are very simple. It usually consists of only a few ingredients. Most traditional food dishes in Italy even consist of only three elements.
But despite the simplicity, Italians make sure that their food is packed with flavors that compliment your taste buds. Italians believe that less is more, especially when it comes to their food.
Because of the fewer ingredients mixed into the recipe, the flavor of each of them will be distinctive, which provides you with a delicious dish. So the next time you devour Italian food, make sure to enjoy the simplicity of the recipe and taste the flavor of every ingredient on the dish.
The Freshness of the Ingredients
Aside from simple food preparation, Italian cuisine uses all fresh ingredients. Most Italians have their garden of herbs and spices and even vegetable patches on their property in home cooking.
Italians love to pick their ingredients straight from their backyard. This way, they can ensure that they will only use the freshest ingredients to their dish. Because of this element, the Italian food bursts with freshness and flavor in every bite.
It is the element of Italian food cuisine that makes their dishes flavorful and unique. How delicate they choose an ingredient to use in their recipe is essential for their food culture and history.
The Use of Tomato
Have you noticed that Italian food dishes often use tomatoes? It is the staple of Italian cuisine. Italy produces many tomatoes a year, and they put them into good use by making them the primary ingredient of many dishes.
Italy has three hundred different types of tomatoes available, and each type gives unique tastes. So even though they add tomatoes to most of their food, you can still taste the difference of each dish due to the variety of tomatoes they have.
You can see tomatoes in Italian sauces, soup, salad, pasta, pizza, and many more. It may be the most famous characteristic of Italian cuisine that is known everywhere.
The Love for Cheese
Who else loves cheese more than the Italians. Most of the best cheese in the world originated in Italy. From the well-loved mozzarella to mascarpone, risotto, burrata, and many more.
Wherever you are in the world, you probably enjoyed consuming these cheeses, especially when added to a dish. It is why Italians love to add cheese into their food, as it gives the dish a unique taste.
The Long Generation of Food Tradition
The Italians don’t want to revise their traditional food recipe. Instead, each region boasts its flavors that they pass down from generation to generation.
How Italian food tasted many years ago is still how it tastes today. Preservation of each dish’s uniqueness and flavor from different regions is vital in their food culture, which is why each generation ensures that the tradition will stay.
For instance, in every Italian family, the original recipe of a specific dish is passed down to the next generation.
This generation will have to keep the tradition alive by cooking the dish precisely as how their ancestors prepared it. Even the slightest alteration will ruin the tradition established on that dish.
Herbs and Spices on Every Dish
Herbs and spices are one of the mainstay ingredients of every Italian dish. Have you noticed the mouth-watering aroma of Italian cuisine?
The reason behind this is the herbs and spices that Italian love to add or garnish to their food dishes. Italian food is known to have the best aromas globally thanks to the wide variety of herbs and spices they used for their food.
The aroma of Italian cuisine is what makes it different. Who would want to eat pizza without that delicious aroma of oregano or basil?
You can eat many versions of pizza worldwide, but you cannot smell the aroma of authentic Italian food in these pizzas. It is due to the lack of fresh herbs and spices added to the recipe.
Authenticity
Italian have already established authentic food culture, so other food cultures throughout the globe do not easily influence them.
In this modern world where information can be easily found on the internet, people tend to get influenced by other cultures that they also incorporated into their cooking. Thus the outcome will be dishes prepared with the influence of cultures from different continents.
Italians are different. They continue to offer the world the authentic recipe of their cuisine crafted by their ancestors many decades ago.
It is also what makes Italian food different from other food cultures. They ensure to keep the authenticity of their recipe and avoid influences from other cultures.
Italian cuisine is considered one of the oldest globally because of how they preserve its authenticity throughout the generations. Most Italian dishes follow strict traditional Italian cooking procedures and ingredients to protect the recipe’s authenticity.
Healthy Dishes
Italian cuisine is known to be one of the healthiest foods in the world. Because Italians make sure that they only use fresh and quality ingredients, their dishes become naturally healthy.
The choice of ingredients is also a massive factor in why their food is healthy. For instance, Italian use olive oil on their dishes most of the time. Olive oil is known to have many health benefits compared to other oils available.
Additionally, Italians often choose to use homemade ingredients such as tomato sauce and sun-dried tomatoes. Aside from cooking the best dishes, Italians also love to make their ingredients at home. It ensures the freshness of all the ingredients instead of utilizing store-bought alternatives that are already full of unhealthy preservatives.
Enjoy Italian Food Even More
Understanding the elements of Italian cuisine will open your eyes to the long and delicate history of Italian food culture. After reading this article, try to consume Italian dishes and enjoy every bit of its history, tradition, and flavor. Then, you can come and visit Rifugio’s Country Italian Cuisine along Mount Baker Highway and taste Italy without leaving the country.