[QUOTE=Dr Winston O Boogie jr
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.[/QUOTE]
Italian Food Before Columbus History of Italian Food
Italian Food Before Columbus *History of Italian Food
Couscus? Who would have thought?
VERY interesting, although long read. Please keep scrolling down past the Byzantines, etc. on above hyperlink.
The Ancients, Etruscans
The Greeks
The Romans
The Arabs
The Byzantines
""Christopher Columbus
Everyone knows the story of Christopher Columbus sailing to the new world for the Spanish Crown, Columbus was a Genoese Italian . What may be less known is that on his and other Spanish voyages they brought back the tomato, corn, potatoes, hot peppers, squash, chocolate and the sweet potato. From Spain the new vegetables spread across Europe. This trade across the ocean is known as the Columbian Exchange and it marks the beginning of what we consider modern Italian cuisine""