Italy - Blog post #3

In italy, one of the main ingredients used is wine. It helps add richness to many of their main dishes, It also is a common drink served with most meals. Wine, like many people know comes from grapes, therefore it is not a limited resource. This, however, is why Italy has so many vineyards. They are usually beautiful, and are a big tourist attraction. Wine is used in is Chicken Marsala, Bucatini Carbonara, Veal Scaloppine with Wilted Parsley, Lemon and Sesame, Herbed Fazzoletti with Asparagus and Burrata, Italian Meatballs in Caper-Tomato Sauce, etc. Another obvious, yet essential ingredient, the tomato. Also not a limited resource. Tomatoes are used in the most common Italian foods such as pizza, and tomato sauce, and all of the pasta. Some background on the tomato: The tomato comes form the plant family of the solanaceae. The first written account of a tomato in Italy dates to 1548 and it was in Tuscany.  The tomato was given the name “pomidoro,” which means natural components, “pomi d’oro,” golden fruits. It has now turned into the Italian, “pomodoro (pl. pomodori)." The pomodoro’s rise in Italy was not a quick one. Many of the Italian dishes we consider "staples" that use tomatoes are actually quite young, born in the late nineteenth century when the tomato saw its greatest expansion throughout Italy. The tomato is grown throughout the world, in almost every garden you can find. It is delicious and is very rich in flavor.