The Beginning of Italy
~Blog Post #1~
April 12, 2015
By Samantha Millán
Buongiorno! And welcome to Italy! I've always enjoyed the culture of Italians, their lifestyle and language, but what sparks my interest the most is their food! I have a bit of Italian background but I've never had the chance to learn more. As everyone knows, including myself, Italians are known for their pizzas. Although what most people don't know is that many Southern Italians traveled to the north, introducing pizza to Northern Italians. Northern Italians then introduced risotto and polenta to the South. They both exchanged different food styles! This was the beginning of a new era for Italian cuisine.
I hope to gain more knowledge and techniques of Italian food through these blog posts. These posts will help me and everyone gain new knowledge about different cultures and how they began. What begin Italian food culture was in the early Middle Ages to the late 1800s. Italy was formed of separate republics, each with their own unique cooking customs. Those different cooking practices were passed down from generation to generation forming the diversity of Italian cuisine.
Throughout my experiences in cooking, I've incorporated a lot of Italian recipes into my dishes. They all turn out amazing! Although I have made a few Italian dishes, I haven't gotten the chance to make gnocchi. If it’s Thursday, restaurants throughout Italy traditionally reserved for gnocchi for their Thursday specials, especially in Rome. The word “gnocchi” has an unknown origin, but it’s believed to come from the Italian word nocca, meaning knuckle. Basically, gnocchi are a form of dumplings with a light, airy texture and full potato flavor. Surprisingly, they didn't originate in Italy. Nevertheless, their texture makes them a unique pasta with a long history in classic European cuisine.
I liked how you pointed out that northern and southern Italy actually had different food styles at one point. Here in the U.S. it is easy to see how one region might differ in style from another because our country is so large and the cultural regions are much more separated from each other. I didn't realize that even though they are geographically a much smaller country they still have regions with different cultural styles from each other.
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