Buon Appetito! Why is Italian Food so Amazing?

When it comes to tasty food and incredible eats, Italy tops the list of countries that certainly don’t disappoint. There’s no shortage of delicious meals when you’re in the country. Even when you go to other countries, the influence of Italian cuisine still lingers.

When you go to New York, you’ll be surprised that it’s not actually “American” food they have over there. It’s more of a blend of every culture possible. And to no surprise, it’s the Italians that have a massive influence. Whatever type of food it is, whether it’s pizza or pasta, you can be sure of its Italian roots.

So how do they do it? What’s the reason why Italian food so amazing? Here are some facts as to why Italy has a lot of delicious food:

Culture is Diverse

When you’re in Italy, you’ll notice that each region has its own style and culture when it comes to food. For example, In the southern parts of the country, they use olive oil instead of butter. In northern Italy, olive oil is virtually a nonfactor in dishes as the northerners enjoy butter.

The production of luxury food items such as wine and cheese is even more diverse. In Tuscany, the food there pays homage to a more rustic and more straightforward approach. The wines of Piedmont make use of distinctive varieties of grapes known as barbera and nebbiolo. Back in Emilia-Romagna, the hard cheeses and stuff pasta are to die for.

As you can see, there’s no clear cut single Italian cuisine. It’s basically a mix and match approach to food with either one or two regions dominating.

Minimal Processing

Not only does Italian food taste good, but it’s also pretty healthy. Most genuine Italian meals minimally use processed ingredients. Some dishes don’t even use such ingredients. Pasta isn’t premade and is 100% natural. As mentioned earlier, seafood and olive oil are some of the main ingredients in some regions of Italy.

Seafood is easy to preserve and doesn’t need a lot of chemicals to do so. Olive oil contains a lot of minerals and healthy compounds that make the heart and its blood vessels healthy. Since Italian food doesn’t undergo a lot of processing, lots of trying-hard restaurants who use low-grade ingredients claim to be “authentic” to draw people in.

Pizza

Let’s face it. Pizza is the face of Italian cuisine. And due to its already diverse background, the humble pizza is a canvass for the world to try out. Whatever you do to a pizza, whatever ingredients you use on it, even if the shape were to change, you’d still call it a pizza.Don’t believe us? Have you ever heard of a square Hawaiian pizza chock full of ham and pineapple? How about a triangle-shaped dessert pizza full of bananas and Nutella?

Pizza purists and Pizza lovers always have these kinds of debates as to what the “real” pizza really is. To know more, let’s take a step back into the past and find out how pizza got to where it is today. The word pizza appears way back 997 A.D. in Central Italy. The pizza was a flatbread that had a lot of toppings on it.

The Margherita is claimed by some to be the purest, most genuine pizza to ever come out of Italy. Raffaele Esposito, the father of modern pizza, used tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil as the choice toppings for his creation. He named the pizza Margherita in honor of the queen who was visiting at the time.

No matter where you are, people are enjoying pizza every way they can. Whether you’re in Canada, enjoying a New York-style pizza or you’re in the Philippines munching on a Hawaiian Chicago-style pizza, there’s no denying that this humble Italian dish is making waves across the globe.

Italian Wines have a lot of Antioxidants

Italy is geographically blessed with a lot of mountains and valleys that are often key to creating unique wines. Wines come from grapes that also make use of the land to grow. Due to their composition, genuine wines from Italy have a lot of antioxidants with them.

Antioxidants are responsible for blocking free radicals that cause a lot of diseases in humans such as cancer. An example of antioxidants that are in wine and food are:

  • Resveratrol
  • Catechin
  • Anthocyanin
  • Lycopene
  • Cryptoxanthin
  • Flavonoids
  • Vitamin C

Takeaway

Italian food is so delicious because of its diversity and health benefits. Anywhere around the globe, you can find stalls and shops that sell their own takes of pizza.

Even if you’re part of the very rare population who doesn’t like pizza, Spaghetti and other tomato-based dishes will still make you want more. No matter where you are in the world, the influence of Italian cuisine is present and providing satisfaction to a lot of happy tummies.