The roots of the Italian cookery date back to the 4th century b.C. and its development has been going through political and social changes during the centuries.
The variety of the different regional dishes is one of its main characteristics as well as its simplicity, recognized all over the world. The Italian chefs prefer to give importance to the quality of ingredients, rather than to methods, as our grandmothers used to do. That’s why all the recipes of Italian cookery are suitable for home cooking.
The main daily meals of the Italian cookery are the following ones:
Breakfast
Usually sweet and not abundant.
It consists of a coffee prepared with a stovetop expresso pot (moka) or milk and coffee with cookies, or a cup of hot milk, or an orange juice with a piece of cake or with rusks, butter and jam.
Many people love having their breakfast at a café just outside their houses or office, with a cappuccino and a croissant, but actually the majority of the Italians start their day with just an expresso.
Lunch
Once, lunch was considered to be the main meal of the day and it consisted of three/ four courses.
Starter: just in special occasions and it consists of different products according to each region.
First course: pasta or rice
Second course: meat or fish or cheeses and ham, with vegetables side dishes.
Dessert at the end or fresh fruit.
In the past lunchtime usually lasted a couple of hours, but recently it’s shorter. As a result, dinner has become the main meal during working week and lunch consists of just one course, or a rich salad or a sandwich. On Sundays lunch keep on being the main meal with all the courses.
Afternoon Snack
It’s not a main meal but it breaks one’s appetite in the afternoon or in the morning.
It’s useful for children and for old people and it consists of fresh fruit or a sandwich or an ice cream in summer.
Dinner
It’s more or less like lunch.
Starter: just in special occasions and it consists of different products according to each region.
First course: usually broth or minestrone with pasta or rice.
Second course: meat or fish or eggs, or cheeses and ham with vegetables side dishes.
Dessert at the end or fresh fruit.
Coffee (espresso) and grappa or herbal liquor
Having an expresso means that dinner is over but not the time to enjoy with friends and family. This cosy chat moment is often accompanied by another ritual, the ‘ammazzacaffè ‘, that is drinking a liquor after coffee, even served in the same cup of the expresso.
These liquors are usually grappa, limoncello, sambuca and the many herbal liquors available on the market or the home made ones
Italian cookery in the world
Italian style cookery is present in restaurants all over the world, but actually is not so easy to find the true Italian dishes, due to the difficulty in finding out the typical Mediterranean ingredients, their high price and the simplicity of dishes, which is not so appreciated abroad.
Furthermore the variety of courses in the same meal is sometimes not accepted in countries where there is only one dish with many different ingredients as a complete meal.
So a simple dish of pasta or pizza are enriched with many ingredients and sauces.
Last but not least, meat is usually a main ingredient abroad and a dish without meat is considered a poor one. For this reason meat is often added to a pasta dish (also chicken, which is hardly used in Italy).
