Food and drink have played an important role in Venetian culture for centuries. This image shows a 16th-century fresco in theVilla Caldogno, where some noblemen and noblewomen enjoymerenda, or a mid-afternoon snack, eatingbussoli, or typical sweets fromVicenza.Bigoli in salsaPasta e fagioliPolenta e osei [it]
Cuisine in Veneto may be divided into three main categories, based on geography: the coastal areas, the plains, and the mountains. Each one (especially the plains) can have many local cuisines, each city with its own dishes.
The most common dish ispolenta, which is cooked in various ways within the local cuisines of Veneto. Polenta once was the universalstaple food of the poorer classes, who could afford little else. In Veneto, the corns are ground in much smaller fragments in comparison with the rest of Italy: so, when cooked, it resembles a pudding.
Typical of many coastal areas, communities along the coast of theVenetian Lagoon serve mainlyseafood dishes.
In the plains it is very popular to serve grilled meat (often by abarbecue, and in a mix of pork, beef and chicken meat) together with grilled polenta, potatoes or vegetables. Other popular dishes includerisotto, rice cooked with many different kinds of food, from vegetables, mushrooms, pumpkin orradicchio to seafood, pork meat or chicken livers.Bigoli (a typical Venetian freshpasta, similar toudon),fettuccine (hand-madenoodles),ravioli and the similartortelli (filled with meat, cheese, vegetables or pumpkin) andgnocchi (potatoes-made fresh pasta), are fresh and often hand-made pasta dishes (made of eggs andwheat flour), served together with meat sauce (ragù) often made with duck meat, sometimes together with mushrooms or peas, or simply with melted butter.[2]
Cuisine from the mountain areas is mainly made of pork orgame meat, with polenta, as well as mushrooms or cheeses (made by cow milk), and some dish fromAustrian orTyrolese tradition, such ascanederli orstrudel. A typical dish iscasunziei, hand-made fresh pasta similar to ravioli.
In his bookLa cucina veneziana, Giuseppe Maffioli discusses howJewish cuisine deeply influenced Venetian culinary practices. Venice adopted numerous Jewish dishes, such as vegetables preparedalla giudia, varioussalt cod recipes, almond-based pastries, and puff pastry. A notable example ispesce in saor—fried fish marinated with vinegar, raisins, pine nuts, and eggplants—which initially alarmed Venetians who thought it might be harmful. Additionally, the Jewish habit of preparing risottos with a variety of vegetables became commonplace in Venetian kitchens. Locally, the termalia giudia refers to tomato sauce.[3]
The following are dishes typical of the three subregions of the Veneto. The page forVenetian language provides additional information on writing and pronouncing the dishes' names.
Venice and many surrounding parts of Veneto are known for risotto, a dish whose ingredients can highly vary upon different areas. Fish and seafood are added in regions closer to the coast while pumpkin, asparagus, radicchio, andfrog legs appear farther away from theAdriatic Sea.
Made from finely ground maize meal, polenta is a traditional, rural food typical of Veneto and most of northern Italy. It may be included in stirred dishes and baked dishes. Polenta can be served with various cheese, stockfish or meat dishes. Some polenta dishes includeporcini,rapini, or other vegetables or meats, such as smallsongbirds in the case of the Venetian andLombard dishpolenta e osei [it], or sausages. In some areas of Veneto it can be also made of a particular variety of cornmeal, namedbiancoperla, so that the colour of polenta is white and not yellow (the so-calledpolenta bianca).
Squid andcuttlefish are common ingredients, as issquid ink, callednero di seppia.[4][5] Regional desserts includetiramisu (made of biscuits dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks andmascarpone, and flavoured with liquor and cocoa[6]),baicoli (biscuits made with butter and vanilla), andnougat.
Fegato alla veneziana: liver, chopped and cooked together with chopped onions
Moleche:soft-shell crab of the speciesCarcinus maenas, generally fried.Moleche are very valuable because the process of molting in the brackish lagoons only lasts a few hours, after which the shell hardens and the crab is again calledmaxenete
Pasta e fagioli: bean soup with noodles (typically long, rough pasta)
Polenta e schie: small shrimp from the lagoon, fried and perched on a bed of soft whitepolenta
Risotto di gò, also calleddiBurano:risotto made with broth from thegrass goby (Zosterisessor ophiocephalus), locally called thegò orghiozzo
Sarde in saor: friedsardines, dipped in onions partially fried in the same oil, raisins, pine nuts (traditionally only during winter to increase calories), and other spices, sprinkled with plenty of vinegar, and all left to marinate for at least one night
Brasato all'Amarone: braised beef meat cooked withAmarone wine, often served together with polenta
Gnocchi. It is traditional to eat homemade potato gnocchi on Venerdì Gnocolar, the last Friday ofCarnival.
Lesso e pearà.Lesso is thebollito misto popular across entire northern Italy, that in Verona is uniquely served withpearà: a thick, slow-cooking sauce made from the boiled meats'stock, grated stale bread, oxmarrow and abundant groundblack pepper. Some recipes also addolive oil, gratedParmesan orbutter. The sauce's name comes frompear, dialect for pepper; hencepearà, 'peppered'. In the past this was a lavish meal for the majority of the populace and therefore served on major festivities like Christmas.
Pastissada de caval: an ancient horse meatstew dating back to the Middle-Age. It is prepared withbay leaves,nutmeg,cloves, salt, pepper, vegetables, and beef stock and slow cooked until the meat melts; it's served with polenta.
Polenta e renga: polenta accompanied by typical oil preservedherrings. Salted herrings (renga) are boiled or grilled, then cleaned, cut into pieces, and pickled in olive oil withgarlic,parsley andcapers; after 40 days of maturation, the herrings are ready to be served or put into jars for preservation. This dish originated in the Parona neighbourhood of Verona (and more broadly or the whole city) and is traditionally eaten onAsh Wednesday.
Riso Vialone Nano: a rice variety typical of southern Veronese lowlands (Bassa Veronese). It lends itself best to the preparation of excellentrisottos, and used as such throughout Veneto and Italy.
Risotto all'Amarone: risotto with the local Amarone red wine. It is typical of theValpolicella wine region.
Risotto al tastasal: risotto made with the same seasoned ground pork used insalame andsausages; traditionally this dish was a mean of tasting the mix before making sausages (hence the nametastasal, 'to taste salt').
Tortellini di Valeggio sul Mincio: hand-made fresh pasta oftortellini kind, stuffed with a mix of beef, pork meats and vegetables, usually served with melted butter andsage. They are typical of the town ofValeggio sul Mincio, southwest of Verona.
Vicenza, along with Venice, has one of the most distinctive cuisines in the Veneto. Previously, the Vicentians were often referred to as themagnagati ormangiagatti (meaning 'cat eaters') due to the alleged presence of cats in their cuisine (caused from poverty in the past and during World War II), though the cooking of cats is now illegal in Italy. Typical plates of the city and the surrounding area include:
Gallina alla canèvera: a dish from a very oldPadua orVicenza tradition, dating back to theMiddle-Age, in whichhen meat is boiled together with mixed vegetables inside a porkbladder
Gnocchi burro, zucchero e cannella: potatognocchi served with butter and a mix of sugar and cinnamon; sometime gratedgrana cheese is added.
Gran bollito veneto (orbollito misto alla veneta): mixed boiled meats, beef, hen, beef tongue,cotechino, cooked together
Grigliata mista: mixed grilled meats, aspork ribs, pork sausages, pork chops,chicken breasts,bacon strips,beef ribs, always served together with sliced, grilled polenta
Maiale al latte: braised pork meat, cooked in milk
Oca in onto: agoose marinated for some days in salt or herbs and under its own fat, and later cooked. It is a typical dish of the area of Padua.
Pastin: a typical food fromBelluno. It consists of mixed pork and beef meat, cut anyhow. Spices may be added in it, and this food is often eaten along with polenta.
Patata americana:sweet potato; a typical fall dish, it can be served boiled or roasted.
Polenta bianca: a variety of polenta made fromwhite cornbiancoperla, it is typical of the plain areas but above all of the territories of Padua, Venice and Treviso.
Radicchio alla griglia: aTrevisan-based plate of grilled endive leaves
Risotto ai fegatini: risotto made with chicken livers. It was the main dish during the wedding banquet of common people.
Sfilacci di cavallo: frayed driedhorse meat, typical of Padua and its province, it can be traditionally used to dress abigoli dish or eaten alone, but in modern years it is popular also to dress a pizza.
Tiramisu: one of the most popular desserts in Italy and Europe, it is made with fresh eggs, mascarpone,Marsala and dark-coffee-dippedsavoiardi (ladyfinger biscuits).
The region is protected from the harsh northern European climate by theAlps, the foothills of which form Veneto's northern extremes. These cooler climes are well-suited to white varieties likeGarganega (the main grape for Soave wines),[7] while the warmerAdriatic coastal plains, river valleys, andLake Garda zone are the places where the renownedValpolicella,Amarone andBardolino DOC reds are produced.Bianco di Custoza is a wine cultivated in theCustoza region, nearLake Garda.
Noteworthy isspritz, awine-basedcocktail, commonly served as anapéritif across Italy. It consists ofProsecco, a mixer (usuallysoda water), and a flavouring ingredient, which can be abitter liqueur, a bitter apéritif, anamaro or asyrup. The originalspritz veneziano uses the bitter apéritifSelect as its flavouring ingredient and was created inVenice in 1920.[8] Popular variants are Aperol spritz and Campari spritz, which use respectivelyAperol andCampari as flavouring ingredients.[9]
Italy portal
Food portal
.JPG)
.jpeg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Media related toCuisine of Veneto at Wikimedia Commons
