Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr
That makes sense now, except that most northern dishes don't have tomatoes or tomato sauce. My maternal grandparents came here from Italy, but I've never been able to find out exactly where. I've been told that it's somewhere central. My grandfather had blue eyes as do I, but my Scottish grandparents also had blue eyes so I'm not sure where I got them from. Both of my parents had brown eyes.
Northern Italians are closely related to the Swiss as far a cuisine and customs. That is why the blue eyes and lack of tomatoes.
On an interesting note, as much as we associate tomatoes and tomato sauce with the Italians, there were no tomatoes in Italy, or Europe for that matter until Christopher brought them back from the Americas in the 1490s. I'd love to learn what Italians ate prior to that.
|
"The difference between Northern and Southern Italian food is that in the North butter and cream are common, while in the South it is olive oil and tomatoes.
Northern food also can feature more high end cuts of meat. This completely glosses over the regional differences between Bologna,Tuscany, Campania, Puglia, etc.
In common usage, Northern vs. Southern Italian is also used to differentiate the simple tomato sauce heavy spaghetti and meatball dishes common to Americanized Italian restaurants vs. the perceived more refined cuisine of fine dining Italian restaurants."