WebFoodCulture
The Best Italian Food & Wine
Welcome to WebFoodCulture! This site is dedicated to the most typical Italian food and wine specialties. We will explain what makes them so special and inimitable, starting with their history and their places of origin. We will spice up this with lots of information and interesting facts. Finally, we will discover the most traditional restaurants and producers: this way you will be able to savor the most authentic flavor of these excellences of taste. Enjoy reading or, rather, buon appetito!
Few people know that Margherita pizza, the famous Neapolitan speciality, takes its name from that of a real queen: Margherita of Savoy. Let’s find out the secrets of this classic of taste. (read more)
Origin: Naples (Campania) Typology: First Courses
Castiello, the savory cake from Naples, is one of the specialties that, during Easter festivities, can’t go missing from the table of the Neapolitan families. It’s easy to make, using just a few ingredients, but very rich in flavor. (read more)
Origin: Naples (Campania)
Typology: Street Food
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Venice, the ‘city on the water’, is also the city of bacari: small, typical taverns where it’s possible to enjoy delicious appetizers, the ‘spuncioni’, accompanied by many glasses of wine, the ‘ombre’.
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Origin: Venice (Veneto)
Typology: Historic Food Places
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Fettuccine Alfredo is an Italian pasta specialty that, strangely enough, is very little known in Italy. On the contrary, it has always been very popular in the U.S.A., where it was once loved by many famous actors. (read more)
Origin: Rome (Lazio)
Typology: First Courses
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‘Taralli’ should be counted among the most classic street foods of the Neapolitan culinary tradition. The ideal place to enjoy them is undoubtedly Mergellina, the seafront of Naples, while admiring the splendid panorama of the Gulf. (coming soon)
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Asked about the origins of the Italian culinary excellences, the renowned historian Alessandro Barbero replies, “We should not believe that a dish that we consider traditional and central to our local cuisine existed back in the 1800s. Well, not necessarily, it’s important to check case by case”. That said, the main goal of WebFoodCulture is exactly to investigate, case by case, the true genesis of the specialties from the ‘Belpaese’, explaining to its readers when a story is just a fascinating legend.
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REGIONAL SPECIALTIES
Veneto Region, thanks to its particular morphology including flat, mountainous and coastal areas, can boast a food and wine industry rich in a wide variety of specialties. Tasty delicacies, just perfect to accompany tourists while visiting splendid cities of art or enjoying breathtaking landscapes. Let’s find out all of them, with the precious help of their most traditional producers.
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‘Spritz’ is one of the most popular and appreciated Italian long drinks. Its basic recipe is very simple and was invented in the Veneto region in the 19th century. Over the years, it evolved into numerous variations: currently the best known is the ‘Aperol Spritz’, made using Aperol bitter.
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THE EXCELLENCES OF ITALIAN TASTE
Carbonara is undoubtedly one of the best-known and most appreciated Italian pasta specialties: a simple dish prepared with equally simple ingredients, which, although it cannot boast of very ancient origins, is considered very traditional. This happens because it represents the perfect synthesis of a culinary sensibility matured over the centuries in a precise geographical area. A sensibility making this delight of the palate one of the most representative symbols of the gastronomy of Rome and, more in general, of the entire Lazio Region. (read more)
Origin: Lazio Typology: First courses
In this article we will find out how Balsamic Vinegar is made. A very ancient procedure whose origins date back to the time of the pharaohs, handed down from father to son and used still today by the most traditional producers of this specialty, gathered in the Balsamic Vinegar Consortia. (read more)
Cotechino is one the most exquisite Italian sausages, heir to a millennia-old tradition that some scholars trace back to the ancient Egyptians. Made from pork meat and rind, it comes in different variations according to the production zone. The most famous is that of Modena. (Read more)
Origin: Modena (Emilia-Romagna)
Typology: Main courses / Cold Cuts
There is no doubt that Sfogliatella is rightfully part of the Neapolitan confectionary Olympus, along with other renowned delights such as Babà, Struffoli, and Pastiera. Despite its apparent simplicity, this pastry has a unique flavor.
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Origin: Naples (Campania)
Typology: Desserts
Buffalo mozzarella is a key ingredient in the preparation of the queen of pizzas: the ‘Margherita’. In this regard, it’s important to remember that the world’s most-known Neapolitan specialty can also be made using ‘normal’ mozzarella (i.e., ‘Fior di Latte STG‘ made from cow’s milk). (read more)
BEVERAGES
The birth of Lambrusco wine is closely linked to the evolution of the wild vine (‘vitis silvestris’) growing in the territories of the current provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia, Parma and Mantua. The earliest records relating to this wine date back to classical times and are included in the literary works of Cato (‘De agri cultura’), Varro (‘Naturalis Historia’), Pliny the Elder and Virgil. (read more)
Origin: Emilia-Romagna / Lombardy Typology: Wines
“We (Italians) would not be what we are if we were not slightly alcoholic”
(Philippe Daverio – The Europe of the Stomach)
STREET FOOD
Lampredotto is a delicious sandwich stuffed with beef offal, typical of the Florentine gastronomy. Let’s find out all its secrets while walking through the ancient streets of the Tuscan capital.
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Origin: Florence (Tuscany)
Typology: Street Food
Although potato croquettes are a specialty appreciated in many countries around the world, the Neapolitan variant, the ‘Crocchè’, have a very peculiar taste, closely linked to the character of the city.
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Origin: Naples (Campania)
Typology: Street Food
In Naples the ‘cuoppo’ (also known as ‘cuopp’), a cone made with straw paper, is used by the local people to carry around the delicacies just bought in a ‘friggitoria’ (typical fried food shop).
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NOT JUST ITALY: SPECIALTIES FROM THE WORLD
If there is a food product that, more than many others, is generally associated with the idea itself of extreme spiciness, it’s Tabasco. Let’s find out how the specialty invented in the second half of the nineteenth century by Edmund McIlhenny is made (read more)
Origin: Luoisiana (U.S.)
Typology: Sauces & Condiments
‘Wasabi’ is one of the symbols of Japanese gastronomy: it’s a soft, green-colored paste that can boast ancient origins, often used to accompany sushi. This condiment stands out for a particular kind of spiciness. (read more)
Origin: Japan
Typology: Sauces & Condiments
1956, the American jazz singer Bulee “Slim” Gaillard dedicates a song to one of the most famous snacks in the world. Not by chance, the name of the song is ‘Potato Chips’. (read more)
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