Vegetables packed in oil date way back; they were born out of the need to keep supplies for the winter. Summer vegetables were packed in oil and kept for the coldest months. Nowadays, we do not need to stock up on food anymore, but we still love packing vegetables in oil.

Whipped salt cod spread is one of the most traditional dishes from Veneto. It is always served as cicchetti, i.e. appetisers made by bacari, the traditional inns in Venice. It tastes amazing spread on a roasted polenta slice or paired with a nice glass of wine.

Grating cheeses play an especially important role in the Italian cuisine. Let’s take a look at Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano and Grana Padano - the absolute icons of the Italian cheese landscape.

There are at least 300 different cold cuts in Italy and over 40 of them obtained the PDO and PGI quality seals. There are also many different ways to make cold cuts. Let’s take a look at some tasty food pairings that can enhance the features of cold cut the best.

Parma has now become a synonym of prosciutto ham. Parma ham, which obtained the Protected Designation of Origin in 1996, is a true masterpiece. And the king of hams deserves a worthy trademark, like the five-pointed duke’s crown.

Dry-cured ham is one of the most ancient cold cuts and San Daniele ham is the highest expression of a tradition that is more than a century old. San Daniele is a small municipality in the hills of the province of Udine. Here, where North-Eastern winds blow from the Carnic Alps to the Adriatic Sea, a unique and exceptional ham is made.

Gorgonzola cheese is a pillar of the cheese industry in the region of Lombardy. Since 1996, the year in which this cheese obtained the Protected Designation of Origin label, every step must comply with product specifications and must take place only in a specific geographical area.

Is there something more Italian than pasta? In the collective imaginary, Italy has always been linked to a plate of pasta and our immigrant forefathers were often called “spaghetti-eaters”. It was first used as an insult, but today it is a rather popular commonplace with an element of truth. Let’s be honest: we like eating pasta, a lot.

Cantucci are the most famous Tuscan biscuits in the world. The name cantuccio comes from the Latin word cantellus which means piece or slice; this word describes how these biscuits are made: a small, fresh-out-of-the-oven loaf of dough is sliced diagonally. 

Taleggio is a cow’s milk cheese with raw paste. Cheese wheels have a rectangular shape, measuring between 18 and 20 cm in height and weighing between 1.7 and 2.2 kg. The cheese rind is soft and has a particular colour tending to pink, due to the action of surface microflora.

Saffron probably is the oldest spice that we still use today. It originated a long time ago in a place far away. It comes from the pistils of the Crocus Sativus flower of the Iridaceae family. Tuscan saffron, in particular, has always been a great delicacy.

Gorgonzola is a blue cheese with raw paste, made from whole cow’s milk. It is made in Brescia, Pavia, Novara, Biella, Varese and Lecco, in an area located in between the regions of Lombardy and Piedmont. In 2019 Gorgonzola cheese production exceeded 5 million cheese wheels, making it the third most popular Italian cheese.