Italian Food and Wine

"The main thing to remember about Italian cuisine," says a Florentine chef introducing his cooking courses for foreigners, "is that it doesn’t exist. First, because the term cuisine is French, but more important because in my country, thank heaven, we have no uniform way of cooking."

He might have added that "Northern Italian cuisine" was invented abroad, apparently to indicate restaurants that do not serve pizza or spaghetti and meatballs smothered in tomato sauce. To suggest anything more than arbitrary links between the regional dishes of northern Italy—the braised beef and creamy risottos of Piedmont, the seafood and herb-inspired touches of Liguria, the pasta and pork delicacies of Emilia or the schnitzel and dumpling fare of Alto Adige, for instance—is little short of heresy. The same could be said of the southern regions where, however, the flavors of the Mediterranean remain generally more intact than elsewhere.

On analysis, la cucina italiana is a miscellany of regional, provincial, local and family dishes that vary from season to season and cook to cook. It is a deliciously random fund of little treasures, of recipes rarely written down but passed intuitively from one generation to another, modified according to the produce available and enhanced by knowing hands.

What sets the cooking of Italy apart from that of any other country is the variety of ingredients and spontaneity of the preparation. In places you can find the Mediterranean diet at its purest in extra virgin olive oil with durum wheat pasta, bread, fresh herbs, vegetables and fruit, fish and cheese, and wine from the nearest hillside. But you can also find some of the richest fare of Europe with fresh egg pasta and sauces based on butter and cream, meat pâtés and cold cuts, beef, pork, poultry and game, lush pastries and sweets, and wine lists that carry grand old vintages from regions north and south. It depends on the time and place, of course, but wherever you dine in Italy expect to be surprised.

Still, there is no denying that some cooks have attempted to standardize the fare. You can find spaghetti alla carbonara on menus in Milan and costoletta alla milanese in Rome, peperonata in Verona and polenta in Palermo. All healthy citizens regularly eat pasta in some form or other and nearly every village north and south has a pizzeria. But the variations from place to place are infinite, and as any experienced gastronome will insist, you have to travel to the place of origin to taste the foods and wines of Italy together at their authentic best.

Cognoscenti will tell you that the ultimate in fonduta con tartufi (cheese fondue with white truffles) is made around Alba in Piedmont and served with a local Dolcetto. Sicily’s rare pasta con le sarde (with sardines and wild fennel) is at its best around Messina matched with a white from Etna. For zampone sausage with lentils it’s Modena and a dry Lambrusco di Sorbara; for risi e bisi (rice and peas) it’s Venice and a Tocai from Friuli; for trenette noodles with pesto it’s Genoa and a rare white Lumassina; for ossobuco (braised veal shank) and risotto milanese it’s Milan and a Barbera from Oltrepò Pavese; for tagliatelle noodles and meat ragù it’s Bologna and a hearty red Sangiovese di Romagna; for bistecca alla fiorentina with white beans it’s Florence and a robust Chianti Classico. And, of course, for pizza napoletana it’s Naples and a vivacious white Asprinio from Aversa.

A typical Italian meal may range through three to five dishes, sometimes more. But let’s consider the fundamental courses of antipasti (appetizers or openers), primo (pasta, risotto or soup) and secondo (main courses, usually meat, poultry or fish) with some further suggestions for vegetables, cheeses, fruit and desserts. Here are some matches of foods and wines that complement each other. Still, despite what you might have heard about obligatory pairing of local dishes with local wines, the food of Italy is usually admirably adaptable. So, naturally enough, are the wines. Experiments with other combinations are only to be encouraged.