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Freshness! Photo courtesy of DK Images

Last time we took a walk through Mexican history, discussing the evolution of the national cuisine. I think there were some interesting things learned there. Today, we’ll look to that other favorite of US citizens, Italian cuisine. In my area, Italian restaurants are easily as ubiquitous as Tex-Mex places. In fact, within a one block stretch of the main road near me, we have 3 Italian restaurants, Amerigo, Carrabba’s, and Macaroni Grill. If you add in the 1/2 mile off the western end of that block, you also pass an Olive Garden and Buca di Beppo. And that’s only the sit-down eateries; a Fazoli’s is across from Macaroni Grill too. Needless to say, in my neighborhood, your pasta fix is just around the corner.

History of Italian Cooking:

Much as with our last Traditional Cuisine tour, Italian cuisine has been shaped by numerous influences throughout its history. Considering that Italy didn’t even exist as a country until around 1850 or so, we have to look back before “Italy” to “pre-Italy” to really discover what the traditional diet consists of. Of course, “Italian cooking” is an all-encompassing term and the reality is that there are marked regional variations in Italian cooking. I’ll try to point out these variations as possible.

Early Italian food, circa 4 BCE, is described as “top quality and seasonal ingredients of the freshest nature,” the flavors not to be masked by overuse of herbs, spices, and seasonings.(1) Similar to Mexican cuisine, Italy’s neighbors and conquerors brought new foods and flavors to the region: Arab control over Mediterranean trade routes brought spinach, almonds, rice, and possibly spaghetti, while the Normans brought the concept of casseroling, along with fish preservation techniques.

Numerous food preservation techniques were employed by Middle Ages Italians. The aforementioned fish preservation techniques brought by the Normans included salting and drying cod to make saltcod and air-drying cod or other fish to create stockfish. Meats were treated similarly. Root vegetables were parboiled, then stored in brine. Fruits were stored in liquor, honey, or sugar. And the preservation method that would make any modern nutritionist retch, immersing meat in its own congealed, rendered fat.

Now when we look at what we consider to be Italian cooking here in the States, it’s pasta, pasta, pasta, sometimes with meat, sometimes without. The reality is that “Pasta is a relative newcomer to the Italian larder, in spite of its ubiquitous presence these days. Until the beginning of the last century, pasta and read [sic] sauces enjoyed widespread popularity and availability only in the area around Naples,” and “Only the upper classes ate the meals that became associated with tradition in America.”(2) The poor of early Italy were confined mostly to chestnuts and corn meal, suffering from a hunger that drove them to immigrate to the US.

There are quite a few other foods commonly consumed in the US that aren’t truly Italian, though are likely inspired by Italian cuisine and probably created by Italian-Americans trying to preserve the cuisine of their motherland as best they could with the available ingredients. One big one is “Italian Dressing”.(3)

Authentic Italian dressing consists of Olive Oil and Vinegar ( Balsamic vinegar ok), Salt and maybe pepper…In Italian restaurants when you order a salad, you will normally be expected to do the dressing yourself and will be provided with the oil and vinegar set.

That is in contrast to most restaurants here where I’m looked at with incredulity when I ask for oil and vinegar. And unfortunately, I’m never surprised when the answer is that they don’t have plain ol’ oil and vinegar, though most places do.

Our version of pizza is most decidedly not Italian. True Italian pizza would never be frozen and microwaved. It probably won’t be delivered to your door either. Schnatter may be an Italian name, but “Papa John” Schnatter is serving a US-style version of pizza. Similarly, alfredo sauce, that bastion of cream and milk that so many adorn their fettuccine with, is unknown on The Boot.

The Ancel Keyses of the world tell us that Italians (and others around the Mediterranean Sea) consume a mostly vegetarian diet, including copious quantities of those “heart healthy” monounsaturated fats, supplemented with a bit of meat here and there. I know of one Italian delicacy that is certainly not low-fat, nor is it low in saturated fat. It’s known as Lardo di Colonnata.(4) While other regions have created their own versions of lardo, Colonnata was the genesis for this food and it’s enough of a tourist attraction that Colonnata is seeking Denominazione di Origine Protetta to protect the “di Colonnata” part of the name.(5) Basically, it’s pork fat seasoned with herbs and spices and left to dry. Here’s an example of the exalted status lardo holds:

Each year there’s a festival to celebrate this traditional Tuscan dish ‘ the Sagra del Lardo or Festival of Lard. It’s held on 25th and 26th August.

Low-fat huh? Even the US doesn’t hold festivals to celebrate fat. If you look through lots of Italian recipes, you’ll notice that pork lard is used quite a bit. While Italians do consume a boatload more vegetables and fruits than most US citizens (as if that’s an accomplishment), their diet isn’t the politically-correct Mediterranean Diet that is proposed by the nutritionists here.

I think the numerous versions of preserved meat and sausages that come from Italy tells us that meat was a prized commodity. While pepperoni is actually an Italian-American sausage, not a true Italian sausage, it is very similar to the salami and other hard sausages that are true Italian meats. There are versions of salami from nearly every region of Italy: Genoa, Naples, Cotto, etc. These sausages are made of cured meat, fat, and spices. Further, there are other meats used throughout Italy, such as pancetta, a type of bacon; proscuitto, cured hams; salsiccia, another type of sausage served fresh or cured; finocchiona, a type of salami flavored with fennel seeds; soppressata, a cooked sausage of pork cuttings; and capocollo, cured shoulder butt. The first course of a meal in Italy is known as antipasti, equivalent to our concept of hors d’oeuvre. The foods typically served in this course are the above listed meats, along with cheeses and perhaps olives.

An expensive Italian restaurant in Louisville serves a different variation of Italian cuisine, one that I’m tempted to believe is more representative of true Italian cooking. Having eaten there once, I know that the portions are significantly smaller, but more satisfying, than those at the average pasta place. And the meats are far broader ranging, including veal, duck, and lamb, to go with the more widely served beef and chicken. You can actually eat there without having pasta on your plate at any point. Too bad you can’t feed two there for under $80.

Regional Variations

There are so many regional variations that it’s hard to list them all. I’ll just give a very broad overview here. Obviously the coastal regions have greater access to seafood, making it much more expensive in the interior of the country and therefore less widely consumed. Up north, where the land is more mountainous, there are more livestock and less olives.(6) That translates to more butter, more lard, and less olive oil. Corn and rice were more popular, at least in the past, than pasta in these regions as well. The northern areas of Italy show influence by the neighboring countries of Austria, Hungary, and Croatia while the southern areas like Calabria and Sicily show more Arab and Greek influence. These regional variations allow the Italian cook to take advantage of fresh, seasonal, and local vegetables.

The Good:

In Italy, fresh, seasonal vegetables and herbs are the source of much flavor and nutrition. As you’ll see in our recipes to follow, there are plenty of tomatoes, peppers, basil, and oregano to go around. Southern Italy features olives, artichokes, and leeks.

Another thing about Italian cooking is that it’s not the low-fat ideal that it’s made out to be, nor does it mimic the so-called Mediterranean Diet. Here’s an example of one meal, served to Drs. Mary and Michael Eades by their friends in Italy. Obviously this is a higher demographic than the average person, but the meal wasn’t low-fat, nor was all of the fat from olive oil. I also didn’t see any legumes or much in the way of whole grains there either.

Meat, poultry, and fish feature pretty prominently in Italian cuisine, especially now that there is a bit more money to go around. Veal, pork, lamb, and wild game are the meats of choice, while poultry includes chicken, pigeon, and guinea fowl. Being so close to the sea, there are numerous types of fish in the Italian diet, served grilled, steamed, or fried.

And let’s not forget, Italy is as well-known for its wine as Mexico is for its tequila. Italy is the largest producer of wine in the world and there’s all kinds of evidence that a glass of red wine is good for you too. So who’s bringing the red?

The Bad:

Well, the pink elephant in the room is pasta. Especially in it’s Americanized form, Italian cooking is extremely heavy in the processed grain product known as pasta. A favorite meal of most every kid is spaghetti and meatballs, emphasis on the spaghetti, not the meatballs. Obviously it’s very heavy on the carbohydrates and is a highly processed food. Pasta is one food that has to be cut to enjoy a truly whole foods-based diet. Lots of other refined grains are present in the Italian diet too. Breakfast is often a sugary pastry and the first course of the meal is often a pasta- or rice-based dish, relegating the meat dishes to the second course. Luckily, those of us concerned with eating real, unprocessed foods don’t have to do the same.

And again, for those that are avoiding nightshades, most Italian cuisine is not for you. Tomatoes, eggplants, and bell peppers abound in Italian cooking. There’s also quite a few potatoes used throughout the cuisine, which along with being nightshades are extremely starchy, and shouldn’t be used frequently in a low-carb Paleolithic diet.

The Obscure:

There aren’t a good deal of obscure ingredients left in Italian cuisine. Numerous types of olives and capers, along with artichokes, are widely known throughout the States now. This is all I came up with:

• Saffron – A spice used both for coloration and flavor

The Takeaways:

As with our last cuisine tour, the main dishes are where the real meat is (no pun intended). A true Italian meal always features a meat course, which may include various meats, poultry, and/or fish. The antipasto is often of animal protein, either meats, cheeses, or both.

Looking through recipes though, I also found quite a few Italian side dishes mixing lots of fresh, seasonal vegetables with herbs and spices to create some incredibly rich and tasty low-carb accompaniments. You’ll see a few of those in the list below. Southern Italy is blessed with a mild Mediterranean climate and long growing seasons lending to plenty of vegetables throughout most of the year: greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, olives, artichokes, you name it, they can probably grow it.

Further, one thing that is important in the Italian way of eating is the social atmosphere. The main meal is multiple courses, not all of which are carbohydrate-centric, and the family or friends gather to enjoy the company as much as the food. I think this leads to slower, and therefore less, eating, along with less stress from the communal atmosphere, neither of which should be discounted in terms of health.

A Few Recipes:

One thing about these recipes is that few true Italian chefs actually wrote down their recipes. As with most of our mothers, recipes were “a pinch of this and a dash of that,” with plenty of tasting to make sure it was right. So what I did was look through the recipes I found and pick those that I felt fit into the type of Paleolithic meals I try to create, focusing on whole ingredients.

Meat and such

• Swordfish with Capers – Simple to make and the name says it all, Recipe
• Peperonata – Vegetables simmered in olive oil, add some chicken or pork for a delicious, filling dinner, Recipe
• Finocchiona – A type of salami seasoned with fennel seeds, Recipe
• Fegatelli alla Guerrando – Pork livers wrapped in lace fat, Recipe

Sides, Appetizers, and Salads

• Ciambotta – A Southern Italy vegetable stew, perfect as a side dish, Recipe
• Ratatouille – Another vegetable stew, perfect as a side dish, Recipe
• Minestrone – A thick and hearty soup, with no official recipe Recipe
• Insalata di Rinforzo – Califlower, Olive, and Caper Salad, Recipe

There are plenty more recipes here at Delicious Italy, and this list at Wikipedia has plenty of ways to give you ideas.

Citations:

(1) Italian Cuisine – Wikipedia
(2) Now THAT’S … Italian-American: Italian-American Cooking Myths and Realities
(3) Real Italian Food: Myths and Realities
(4) Lardo di Colonnata – Tuscan Treat
(5) Lardo di Colonnata: Protecting traditional foods from EEU regulators
(6) Best of Sicily – Mediterranean Diet

Other Sources:

Pancetta – Wikipedia
Salami – Wikipedia
Cured Italian Meats
Delicious Italy
List of Italian Dishes – Wikipedia

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