Italian Food ABC
Back in 2017, shortly after meeting my Italian partner, I started to understand how truly important food is for an Italian. They care so much about each ingredient, recipes, and even the way of eating, and often with good reason. I started making these illustrations so I can learn little bits of the Italian language as well as the food culture. For each letter/food, I wrote a little bit about what I learned as I experience the life here. In the end, I made a poster of these illustrations all together.
A di Arancia
Arancia is orange in Italian, and they are widely used in Italian cuisine, from cakes to cocktails. While on vacation in Sicily, I had the most delicious spremuta, or freshly squeezed orange juice, in my life! They were sold in markets and squeezed right on the spot. Spremuta can be easily found in every bar, but only have them in the winter, summer is not orange season!
B di Biscotti
Biscotti, as in cookies, are so important for Italians! If they are eating at home, a few cookies and a coffee can be breakfast. Every supermarket has a whole aisle just for “breakfast cookies”. I am slowly growing to like this kind of breakfast. Remember to dip the biscotti into the coffee before eating them!
C di Cocomero
Cocomero, or watermelon, is one of the first words I learned because it is my favorite fruit! Watermelon is also a summer fruit in Italy. While they are not as big as they come in Taiwan, they are equally good! The weird thing I found is that no one is making watermelon juice, one of the best juices ever!
D di Dragoncello
Dragoncello is tarragon, meaning the little dragon. Tarragon is a native plant in Central Asia and is has spread west to Italy after the Crusades. Pretty plant and pungent spice!
E di Espresso
Most Italians start their day with a cup of "caffe". Although the Italian coffee is known in the world as espresso, it is really called “caffe” here. I am still getting used to the super strong espresso, so usually I get a caffe macchiato freddo. It's espresso with some cold milk. (Bonus weird fact: Italians don't usually have cappuccinos after noon. It's considered a breakfast drink and more difficult to digest. So after lunch, they just have a simple caffe.)
F di Fagioli
Like a lot of Taiwanese people I've never been a fan of beans. We think of beans as a dessert ingredient, while in Italy it is served as a savory dish. It is also my husband’s favorite thing to eat, so over the years, I’ve learned to cook it and grown to like the taste. It can be used in soups, pasta or simply just as it is with some good olive oil and salt.
G di Gelato
My favorite kind of gelato is pistachio, and stracciatella, and cioccolato fondente, and tiramisù. God there are so many!
H di Habanero
It was difficult to find an Italian word for food that starts with H. It's because there aren't many words that start with H in the Italian language, except for foreign words. So I could only find hambuger, hummus, or halibut. Habanero peppers are so pretty to paint, so here we go!
I di Insalata
I just love all of salad leaves at the market in Italy, so many colors and choices. Nothing better than a good big salad in the summer!
L di Lampone
Same as the salads, raspberries are also hard to find so I enjoy them while I can when they come in the late summer.
M di Marmellata
Marmellata as in jam. There are so many flavors of jam, including tomatoes! They taste good on little fette biscottate, or toasted crackers, as well as on pound cakes.
N di Negroni
One of the most iconic Italian cocktails, Negroni, was invented in Florence in 1919. It is dry and bitter, and usually consumed before dinner.
O di Olio
It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that (Southern) Italians can't live without olive oil. It's used in pretty much all the dishes, in huge amounts too! I was shocked to see how much was used in a simple pasta at first, but have grown to love the taste.
P di Pizza
This one doesn’t need much explanation. It could very well be the most eaten food around the world! In Rome there is a kind of pizza that is thinner than the Napoletana one, which I finally managed trained myself to eat the whole thing (because in Italy everyone eats their own pizza, not much sharing involved).
Q di Quadrucci
Quadrucci con ceci, which means pasta squares with chickpeas. This delicious and hearty dish is traditionally Roman, but it can also be found in other parts of Italy. Quadrucci is essentially fresh tagliettelle, an egg pasta, cut into squares. The pasta is then cook with chickpeas and vegetable stock.
R di Ravioli
There are so many types of pasta in Italy, and ravioli is the extra delicious one because it has stuff inside! In central and south Italy, it is common to find them stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach. The egg pasta sheets are cut into strips with a tool called rotella to create the pretty zig zag edges. The pasta is boiled and then stirred in sage and butter!
S di Sfogliatella
It is a shell-shaped dessert often found in Naples. There are two types of sfogliatella, one is with crispy dough as pictured here, and one is a softer version that looks more like a bun. Inside the sfogliatelle, there is an amazing filling made of orange-flavoured ricotta cheese and candied citrons. At first glance, the sfogliatelle look a bit like croissants, but it isn't as soft and have an interesting texture. Be sure to try one if you're in Naples!
T di Torrone
Torroni start to appear at the end of the year as it is a festive food for the holiday season. This delicious nougat is made with egg white, honey, sugar, and of course, toasted almonds. There are several versions of Italian torrone, some are softer and some crumbly. They could also include hazelnuts and pistachios, and even some citrus taste!
U di Uva
Needless to say, grape is such an important fruit for Italians. Not only you can make wine with it, grapes are also used in various dishes. Grapes reached Italy from the Near East around 2 century BC, after the conquest of Greece. Nowadays, Italy is the third biggest producers (for both wine and table grapes) in the world, after China and America.
V di Vino
Italy is the largest wine producer in the world, and maybe that's why there are so many good Italian wines! Every region grows grapes as well as produce their own wines. Fun and useful tip: “If it grows together, it goes together". Traditional regional dishes are natural matches with wine produced in the same region. Not only because they were developed together over time but the ingredients and grapes also share the same natural resources. choose the wine based on what region the dish is from. For example, porchetta, a homey dish from the mountains of Abruzzo, will go well with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Z di Zabaione
A typical Italian desert that is loved by many. It is made of only 3 ingredients, egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine. It tastes similar to eggnog, although it can be changed into many different forms like gelato or cream for dressing a desert.