The renaissance period played an important role in the building of Italian cuisine. Find out how the movement influenced the food of the region and the role it has in developing the cuisine to what it is today.
The stereotyped Italian food in the form of pastas, tomato sauces and pizzas is but a fraction of what Italian cuisine is actually about. Whereas most non Italian countries have limited their knowledge to select items out of the Italian cuisine in truth Italian cuisine stands unparalleled in terms of its vastness and diversity. When you trace down the origins of this wonderful cuisine you find it to be a fusion of cross-cultural currents that have had their influence on the region in the last three thousand years. The unified Italian cuisine that we have today was no where in picture before 1861 when the Italians states were unified as one republic. Today much of the different kinds of dishes and ingredients can be traced back to the specific regions of the country.
The Italian cuisine has slowly progressed through the ages. The oldest cookbook known to man is also credited to the region. From the Middle Ages to modern times Italy has been impacted by many things along the way. The most notable of the influences came much after the Middle Ages during the period known as the Italian renaissance. The changes that the cuisine went through in those times are very significant to the culinary heritage of the country. It can be said that the Italian cuisine came out in its true form during the renaissance period. The cuisine of the time is especially recorded today as the Italian renaissance cuisine. The formalized renaissance cuisine features a great number of dishes that were either innovated at that time or extremely popular during those years.
Italian Renaissance Food Today
Many recipes that exist today as part of the internationally known Italian cuisine can be traced back to the 14th century during the peak years of the Italian Renaissance. With a much less rigidly defined nationality the communication of people across borders was common during those times. This was much more so the trend with the aristocrats of that time. As a result there existed a great variance between the dinner table of the peasant and the dinner table of the wealthy. Most of the recipes that we have from those times are based around the available ingredients in the region. Hence we find each region to have evolved interesting recipes using the ingredients that they had an easy access to.
During those years cities like Florence, Venice and Rome were being developed as urban centers that had a seasonal influx of many special ingredients from all around the world that included some exotic spices and products. The bulk of the exciting recipes that we have today which can be traced back to the time of the renaissance were collected from the kitchens of those people who had the staff to prepare such food and the easy availability of the ingredients used in those recipes. Italian renaissance food occupies a special place in forming the identity of the Italian cuisine as it is seen today.
