Italian cuisine has numerous fans and followers all over the world. Italian food makes the dinner table of every family full with lots of various extraordinary mouth-watering dishes. Nowadays Indian people have started to like the Italian food which consists of Pastas, pizzas, meats, soups and salads as well as desserts. Whenever someone talks about the Italian cuisine, all we think is about the delicious pizzas and pastas immediately. For sure Italian pizza is known all over the world for its taste, but Italian cuisine is not just pizzas. The main reason behind the popularity of Italian food is their taste. The secret of their taste is that they use the ingredients which have both quality and the freshness in making this wonderful food.
Let’s talk about the history of Italian kitchen. The Italians think that their nutritious as well as tasty food was borrowed from the Greeks. The standard meals have food prepared with chickpeas, dry figs, lupines, pork, pickled olives, salted and dry fish. On special occasions a variety of special delicacies were prepared. The Italian cuisine have few dishes which also belongs to Magna Graecia which include honey sauces, sweet meats which are made from almonds and walnuts, soups and meats which are made in vinegar.
It’s interesting that magnificent feasts were linked with ancient Roman aristocrats.
In many countries it’s common to eat a good salad as a starter, but in Italy, they eat the salad as a side dish or the second dish. We can easily find tourist restaurants in the main cities that offer rich salads for the tourists, but this is not expected by an Italian to ask for one, because don’t do it ever.
The following courses which are mainly present in a traditional Italian meal are:
1) Anti – Pasto: in this course the hot and cold appetizers are served.
2) Primo: in this course dishes like pasta, risotto or even soup are served. This is the first course.
3) Secondo: this course consists of main dish prepared of fish or meat.
4) Contorno: As already discussed a traditional Italian menu will feature salad after the main course that’s why this is the side dish of salad or vegetables.
5) Dolce: this is the desert course.
6) Caffee: in this course you will be served a cup of espresso.
7) Liqueurs: in this course you will be served grappa or amaro. This course is also known as the “Coffee Killer”.
Italian cuisine consists of ingredients like fresh seafood, seasonal vegetables, cured meats, cheeses and herbs. And prepared in many ways from simple to complex.
