Easy Italian Recipes

Italians are much more concerned with their digestion than the British - and don't hold back on the subject at the dinner table. They believe that some foods are best eaten at certain times of day. For example, melon is eaten before a meal, not after, while an espresso will help you to digest your food if taken almost immediately after a meal. To an Italian it is simply unthinkable to drink cappuccino after eleven in the morning and they are genuinely horrified when they see a tourist drinking one in the afternoon or, even worse, after eating pizza for dinner. The reason, they say, is that milk is quite tough to digest after the first part of the day.
Italians generally eat something if they drink alcohol, to avoid becoming drunk and because they believe that ingesting alcohol on its own is harmful to health, which is why during the famous aperitivo when Negroni or Spritz might be drunk, light snacks will usually be brought to the table.

Fashion in Food
Most of Italy's cuisine is firmly rooted in the past; however, change is happening here, just as it is all over the world. In larger modern towns, such as Milan, more 'contemporary' food is celebrated and welcomed. Sushi bars abound and almost any type of food is available, although Italian food still predominates.

As in the rest of the world, 'fusion cuisine' is becoming more and more popular in Italy. Smart restaurants use a variety of ingredients, including cinnamon, star anise, cumin and ginger. Arguably, these ingredients were available in Italy centuries ago, during the time of the great spice trade, but they are only now being rediscovered. Fusion is evident not only in the ingredients used, but in the method of cooking, too. Thanks to Asian (especially Japanese) influences, raw food is becoming popular, and if it is not served raw, then fish and meat is frequently served very rare.
Today, despite the Italian reverence for long meals, traditional and much- loved slow-cooked rage] sauces, known as stracotti (meat cooked in wine or broth for hours), are becoming harder to find on many restaurant menus in the cities because of the pressure and trend for faster food.

The popular gelaterie are trend-following hotspots, and always have the latest flavours and mixtures. Even savoury ice creams have made a comeback in Italy, possibly influenced by our famous experimental British chefs. I say comeback because the Roman scholar Pliny refers to a friend choosing to go out with some dancing girls rather than come round to his place for a savoury salad sprinkled with snow. My favourite savoury ice creams sampled in Italy are Parmesan cream and Truffle.

Yes, times are changing, but to listen to the young Italians who work, you would think, actually, they are not really changing that much. How many English twenty-somethings could argue as forcibly and knowledgeably about the relative merits of different Cheddars as these young people do about Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano? Or recall with such fondness bottling tomatoes with their great grandmothers, or pine for a particular pasta their nonna makes? I am privileged to work with young people from regions as diverse as Abruzzo and Sardinia who like nothing better than to contradict each other about the correct way to make a dish.