Italian Cuisine – when in Rome

When in Rome

Italians take the business of food and drink seriously, and the casual visitor can often find that eating in Italian restaurants in Spain is no preparation for the combination of diversity and ritual that makes up a true Italian meal. International editor Adrian Bridgwater reports from Rome.

Good food and drink are at the centre of the Italian way of life, and yet the lack of pretension in Italian cookery belies the sense of style that has put Italian design on the world’s roads and clothes pegs. In fact, rustic cooking methods form the basis of much Italian food: one of the world’s oldest cuisines.

Italian cooks insist first and foremost on ingredients of the utmost freshness and only those ingredients in their prime, perfectly matured and ripened in season, will graduate to the table. Carefully mixed combinations of fresh colour and flavour combine to make dishes not only look appealing but to taste fantastic. And yet Italian food relies on ingredients with subtle flavours and is rarely hot or spicy (staples such as fresh coriander and chilli is virtually impossible to buy in Italian shops). Food comes unprocessed and straight from nature and straight-forward cooking methods keep the flavours intact right to the plate.

Pasta

The Italians eat pasta almost every day, either as a meal in itself or simply as a ‘course’. Roman supermarkets stock up to three aisles of every size and shape of pasta imaginable, though it only ever comes in three colours: red, green and white, a patriotic echo of the colours that make up the Italian flag. For the serious pasta lover there are shops that sell nothing but fresh pasta – and prepared tomato sauces of course. But pasta is only the first slice of the Italian’s love affair with food and drink: take a look into any Italian delicatessen or ‘alimentari’ and the display is always bursting with earthy delights; cured meats, huge circular cheeses, wines, olive oil, fresh basins of pesto and trays of roasted aubergines and peppers fight for space in every window. It’s the best of the best, and only these traditional Italian foods are available: there appears to be little appeal to Italians in the cuisine of other countries. Pizza is seen, cooked and eaten everywhere. The ‘real’ Italian pizza tends to be a very basic affair indeed compared to foreign interpretations of this most famous of dishes: a dough base with a couple of toppings carelessly scattered on top, often without cheese!

Italians have a particular liking for veal and horsemeat, and the popular ‘Wurstel’ sausage contains some horse, look for the word ‘equine’ if you really want to avoid it. Genuine Roman cuisine is said to contain the ‘quinto quatro’ or fifth quarter: offal. Cows’ lungs and lambs’ testicles are always on show in the markets but the squeamish visitor is unlikely to find these sneaking past as a pizza topping !

Food and drink in Italy is not only rurally inspired, it is also highly regionalised. The character and culture of the capital is reflected as much in Roman food as the Venetian, Neapolitan, Sicilian, or Bolognese cuisines reflect their own unique influences. But it all comes back to freshness: the Italian housewife would be lost without the fruit and vegetable market (which are numerous in any city), and no self respecting fishmonger would stock anything that wasn’t still twitching as it was delivered! They don’t open until 5pm in order to sell the fresh day’s catch. Consequently true Italian cuisine is essentially seasonal, and just a short acquaintance with the end product of this attitude makes it hard to argue with the sense in cooking with the freshest and best that the farms have to offer throughout the year.

Fast food

Italians like to keep things simple when it comes to pizza, and pizzas served in their home country usually come with only one or two toppings.

Pizza is available from the many take-away bakeries at most times of the day, including breakfast: this is refered to as Pizza Taglio. Huge slabs of pizza are kept on guard in these establishments, seated in large oblong trays behind glass. Each portion is priced by weight so in order to specify the size of your appetite a fisherman’s tale type of hand gesture works best. Surprising many visitors, Italian pizzas don’t automatically come with cheese: it has to be ordered like any other topping. Meat, cheese and vegetable pizzas are always on offer as a standard. Watch out for what look like onion topped slices: these are potato pizzas and are recommended for serious starch fans only! Aside from what you would expect, some somewhat esoteric toppings are available, such as rocket lettuce with salmon or even orange marrow flowers (fiori di zucca). If you want to eat ‘on the go’ in Rome, and you’ve had all the pizza you can take, try asking for ‘Olive Ascolane’- green olives stuffed with meat and deep fried in breadcrumbs.

Alternatively, ask for ‘Suppli’- croquettes of meat and mozzarella cheese surrounded by risotto style rice, again deep fried in breadcrumbs. Crunchy on the outside, glutinous and filling on the inside, these last are a fast food that makes the existence of the burger hard to credit. And, having introduced the subject, if you must have a burger, then there are even one or two McDonald’s outlets located in the cities. However, even McDonald’s cater to the national taste buds: in addition to burgers and fries they serve a ‘deluxe salad’ selection and a selection of Italian desserts, mainly featuring chocolate. You can try to be different, but it’s tough. If you want a snack in Italy – it’s got to be pizza. Walk down any street and people are always munching on a slice folded over on itself in greaseproof paper. The Italians know what they like! And it is usually Italian.

Dining out

Italian restaurants almost always display not only their name outside but also the restaurant ‘type’, this should give you a clue as to what kind of cuisine to expect. The small and often family run restaurants called ‘trattoria’ are found all over Italy. And the scenario is this: the husband cooks, the son serves the food, and the wife fusses over you. It’s the sort of place where the husband will describe how wonderful his prosciutto (cured raw ham) is, therefore obliging you to order it. The food is typically Italian; pasta, meats in sauces and lots and lots of fresh green spinach or broccoli. They may or may not serve pizza: read the sign outside
if you want to know before you step in. It’s relaxed and informal inside, the television in one corner is often turned on all evening – especially if there is football to watch. Couples come in and out as do groups of young men and families. The Italians don’t rush their meals: perhaps some cured meat and olive ascolane as an antipasto, then a pasta course (prima), a main course (seconda) and a finally a dessert (dolce). With all that out of the way – what else but coffee ?

The ‘tavola calda’, literally ‘hot table’, is one of your best opportunities to get as close to home cooked food as a casual visitor to Italy could hope to get. Large metal trays display ready cooked regional dishes and are sold in portions by weight. Platters change by the day but Friday always features seafood. Always on offer are traditional favourites such as cannelloni and lasagne, and yet there is often more interesting fare such as veal and pork dishes cooked in tomato sauces with whole black olives. Chicken in Mediterranean sauces, small roast potatoes with rosemary, spinach served with olive oil, lemon juice and salt, fleshy tasting ‘porcini’ mushrooms and of course pizza are also likely to inhabit the menu.

In the corner you can usually see thirty or so roasting chickens on a ‘rosticcerie’, a rotating spit and these are given extra cooking encouragement periodically by a man with a blow torch! Once you have ordered you can choose to sit and eat in the restaurant or opt for a take away, it’s worth taking away just to see the loving and attentive way each parcel of food is gift wrapped with printed greaseproof paper and coloured ribbons. But of course!

Elegance and variety

The ‘ristorante’ sign on its own implies an elegant and altogether more expensive type of eating establishment and, true enough, it’s safer not to order pizza in a place like this if you can help it. Fish or veal is available in sauces of a delicacy and variety that humble even the most accomplished cook. And yet the sheer variety of more down to earth eateries means that the ‘ristorante’ can be reserved for real treats. There are the paninocteca, where ‘panini’ or sandwiches can be acquired. These are, be warned, Italian sandwiches. The Paninoteca has a whole roasted animal permanently on display, and the Paninaro slices helpings directly off this meat, which is cooked very slowly and is therefore extremely tender. Inside, the animal is stuffed with aromatic herbs – the Roman sandwich eating experience is not quickly forgotten.

Forno a legna, seen alone on a shopfront or together with the words pizzeria or ristorante, means ‘wood burning oven’ and the best pizzas come out of one. The attraction of this basic cooking method is considerable: pizza dough cooked in any other way just isn’t quite the same. The oven itself is sometimes to be found in the dining area, allowing you to see all the action while you wait to eat. Pizzas are prepared and then nonchalantly flung off of long wooden spatulas into the depths of the furnace. Every pizza is timed to perfection, just as the toppings are cooked and the crust is just about to pop – it is served. ‘Deep-Pan’ pizzas are an Americanisation of the original, traditional crusts should be thin and almost ‘biscuit like’ – the food is on top, not below, the edge of the crust. Pizzeria pizza conforms to the same meagre toppings rule that applies to take-away pizza – unless you care to seek out the biggest (and possibly the best) pizza in Italy at the ‘Pizza Forum’ Restaurant in Rome. It’s easy to find, and sits almost underneath the “Colosseo”. The pizzas at this famous outlet are bigger than the plates, and the plates themselves are not small. Queues outside the door are a regular occurrence, and it’s not just tourists. The ‘Gusto 16’ is the top of the menu- 16 tastes, which include artichoke and a whole egg!

With the emphasis more on the beverages served than the food, there are also cantinas, enotecas and osterias to be explored. All of these add to the sheer diversity of eating experiences that a typical evening in Rome can offer.

Ice cream

Once again, when it comes to ice cream, the Italians follow their own unique pattern of consumption. Unsurprisingly, their ice cream is so good that the Italians don’t keep it for the summer alone: they eat it all year round. To satisfy this need there is a wide abundance of ‘gelaterias’: these sell nothing but ice cream come rain or shine: cold and rainy days are still ice cream days in Italy. The gelateria interior is likely to be adorned with lots of polished brass and glass: it’s a fancy business, and the ‘gelataio’ or ice cream vendor is invariably dressed smartly in shirt and waistcoat. If you can think of a fruit, or nut, or type of dessert – the Italians will create ice cream from it. So from tiramisu to ‘zuppa inglese’ (English soup, or trifle) it’s there for the asking. Just a scoop? Not a bit of it. Ice cream must be topped with an extravagant fluffy hat of fresh cream.
Italian food and drink is an experience: as much for the diversity available during a wander down the street as for the quality of the foods on offer. However, if it’s variety that stimulates your taste buds, Italy suffers from a deficit of restaurants specialising in ‘international cuisine’. Other than Chinese food, perhaps appreciated by the fastidious Italians for its delicate tastes, foreign food is scarce. You have to pick up a guide book or be ‘in the know’ to find Arabic, Mexican, Thai or Indian food. Perhaps chilli beans just aren’t meant to mix with spaghetti after all!