Pizza, Pasta, Meat, and Cheeses. We all love Italian food. I do. You do. We all do! Have you ever wondered what has changed and evolved with Italian cooking and cuisine? Well, I have. I made my Capstone topic about Italian cooking and cuisine. And my main Inquiry question was How has Italian cooking evolved and what are the top leading factors that have led to its evolution. I found through all my research that many things have affected Italian Cooking and Cuisine but some top leading factors include, Availability of resources, cultural expansion, and wealth and poverty.
Availability of resources is one of the first factors that impacted the evolution of Italian cooking and cuisine. Many people consider tomatoes a staple in Italian cuisine. Some dishes with tomatoes include Pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, and bruschetta. But according to Life in Italy Magazine tomatoes did not exist in Italy until recently. Only when British colonists sailed to America one of the things they discovered was tomatoes, which was a popular food among the local North Americans. When the colonists did trade with Italy that was one of the things they gave them. now you can find tomatoes growing all over Italy and in almost every Italian dish. Garlic is another ingredient that can be found in Italian dishes. Mainly pasta. But garlic wasn’t grown in Italy until very recently as well. Garlic was first discovered in West Asia 4,000 years ago. Using the Silk Road trading route which spanned from Asia to Italy, Italians were able to get garlic. But due to the warm conditions in Italy and the fact that garlic needs lots of moisture and rain to grow, It could never fully grow in Italy as Italy’s average rainfall is 25-30 inches and the average in the world is 39 inches. To this day, Italian people still buy it in mass quantities from China – 30 Million pounds each year and it has become very important in Italian food today. Unlike garlic, fruit is plentiful in Italy. Italy has a lot of fruits grown there. Name a fruit and it’s likely to be grown in Italy. One of the main ways Italians use fruit is in desserts, specifically gelato, the Italian word for ice cream. Gelato focuses on more fruity flavors and being colorful. Gelato is typically refreshing in places such as Rome which can be quite warm and the gelato would be more refreshing. This is an example of a popular Italian dish coming from a resource that was plentiful in Italy. Italian food in today’s world is much less seasonal. If an ingredient like tomatoes were out of season, pasta would use different sauces such as alfredo. Nowadays, since the world is more developed and advanced, there are more and more ways to get ingredients. Almost every dish can be made all-year round This shows that availability and discovery of resources is a top factor that has affected Italian Cooking and Cuisine.
Cultural expansion is another top factor that has affected Italian cooking and cuisine. When the Roman Empire fell, Italy opened its gates to the rest of the world. According to the websites, Cuncina Italiana, Mediterranean Culture, South African Culture and Roman Culture have affected Italian food the most. Many Italian dishes are influenced by Mediterranean cuisine which features lots of pasta, cold cuts, and vegetables, which can be found in Italian dishes such as Spaghetti Bolognese, Spaghetti with Pesto Sauce, and Chicken Parm and Prosciutto. Mediterranean cuisine focused on accessible ingredients. This focus influenced Italians to, similarly, use more accessible ingredients which made their food more affordable. Mediterranean food has also given Italian food many new products such as wheat, the use of eggs, butter, and dairy products. Old pasta did not contain wheat, eggs, or butter. Therefore making pasta used to be a tedious process that took hours much easier. South Africa also contributed to Italian food by Introducing new spices such as fennel, cumin, coriander, garam masala, Madras curry powder, turmeric, allspice, and ginger. They also used Nuts in their cooking which affected Italian food and created dishes such as Biscotti and Creamy Walnut sauce which can be commonly found on pasta.. “Original Italian food came from the Roman term Pane e Formaggio or bread and cheese.” -Gaia Masiero. Bread and cheese were common foods in ancient Roman times and they served as the base for Italian cuisine. Cheesy garlic bread is a common Italian dish involving cheese, bread, and garlic which was a common ingredient available at the time. Pizza is also an Italian dish that features cheese, bread, and sauce. Ancient Romans drank a lot of wine and they paired it with their cheese and bread picking the perfect wine for your Italian meal is a part of the meal and iconic to Italian food. Other cultures have affected Italian food but Italian food has also traveled to other places. Italian food is popular all over the world, especially in Asia. Italian food sales in Asia average around 78 billion dollars. In the U.S only 76 billion. Especially in Japan spaghetti is popular as it is similar to traditional Asian noodles. Italian food is also popular in Asia because it is healthy and Asia is generally one of the healthiest countries in the world. Italian food in Europe (Outside of Italy) is also popular in France. French-Italian cuisine features fish and braised meats. Braised meats are meats cooked and marinated in liquids like soup, broth or a thin sauce. All of these cultures have helped create some of the most iconic Italian dishes and prove that Cultural Expansion has affected Italian cooking and cuisine.
Wealth and Poverty is a final factor that has affected Italian cuisine a lot. The focus of Italian food was the quality of ingredients. Early Italian food was only enjoyed by wealthier Italian families as the high-quality ingredients were rare and hard to find. Modern Italian food is less focused on ingredients and quality. Now you can get $1 pizza in New York and $3 pasta from various street food vendors. Now with cookbooks not only can professional, fancy, chefs cook Italian food but also normal people like you and me. Soup has also affected food in Italy. For those who can’t afford normal Italian food a cheaper option is soup. With some soup costing as little as 10 cents it’s a great option. Some Italian soups include: Minestra d’orzo (barley soup) Minestrone (vegetables) Zuppa di verze e patate (cabbage and potatoes) Ribollita (bread and vegetables) Fagioli e cotiche (beans and pork rind). Another thing that has affected Italian cooking and Cuisine is Cucina Povera. Cuncina Povera is a style of cooking best represented, in the past, by the lower class of a society. Peasant cooking aims to utilize whatever is found in the kitchen, household or farm to prepare meals. “The concept of Cucina Povera literally meaning poor kitchen can be found in every society and is about making great food with simple but yet high quality, and available ingredients including every part of the animal such as cow intestine, pig ears, goat head, etc.” -Life in Italy’s Francesca Bezzone. This shows how Wealth and Poverty is a main influence on Italian Cooking.
In Conclusion, many things have affected Italian Cooking and Cuisine, but the main things that have affected it are the availability of resources, cultural expansion, and wealth and poverty. These have changed Italian food from a basic cuisine in one country to the most popular type of food in the WORLD! Do you want a slice of pizza after reading this? I know I do.