Italian friselle (or freselle, frisedde, fresedde, frise) is a typical tarallo made essentially of durum wheat, combined in varying quantities with barley.
Like I wrote on the homepage of this site, Italy and italian people are not always just having food in their minds, despite what one may think.
That is, I, being Italian, can tell that it is not just food that we are talking about here: it is rather about a food culture that goes proudly along with an intimate connection italians have with the territory, the peoples and their roots.
For the foreign visitor, a villa among the hills surrounded by the rural idyll of nature and the farmers' simple and genuine lifestyle is perhaps the exemplification of all that italian culinary tradition represents.
My recommendation to you, if you're willing to discover the traditional, genuine history of italian food, is not just to walk through the woods and the hills in Tuscany, but to walk through the many cities of the italian peninsula, smelling and tasting their specialties and listening to the stories about them and the people who created and still maintain them alive.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
Truth is, Italy has become a model to imitate in the way ingredients are to be prepared, cooked and then consumed in company.
There are even studies that want to prove that the italian way of cooking and eating brings benefits to people's health and that it is, therefore, to learn and adopt in some of its gastronomic lessons.
So, back on track: today's clich of the villa surrounded by olive trees, with salami and prosciutti everywhere and the farmer diligently looking after these products (I love this image!) have been accurately tailored on the (magnificent) Tuscan countryside.
I woud say that italian food history combines elements of the italian alimentation history and of the italian gastronomy. But do not let my word fool you: this journey is going to be certainly a pleasure. Discovering means also uncover savors and tastes not known before.The deeper we will go together into the italian gastronomy, the more variety an richness comes to the surface.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
HOW THEY LOOK LIKE
Thinking about all the different typical food products that invade the italian tables, it's easy to think that just everything there derives from skillful hands of people that from father to son, from generation to generation, follow the discipline that their great-grand-father used according to the farmers' and countryside traditions of the territory and of the italian food history.
Indeed these products are traditional and follow long prescribed preparation methods and processes, but observing more closely we will together discover that italian food history and, for that matter, of Italy in general, is less of a simple farmers' tradition as we think.
A FARMERS' TRADITION?
It is not a chance that gastronomic literature found so many and so noticeable exponents in Italy: the economic development, civil, technical, humanistic and artistic advancement of the many Comuni (Commons), was not having any equal at the time (possibly not only in Europe).
The color depends on both the baking time and the flour composition (more or less wheat/barley flour): color can then range from light to (very) dark brown.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
Think about the typical crostini di fegato toscani (tuscan crostini with liver) or the bistecca alla fiorentina (florentine steak): these dishes are far from being poor, and the rural masses could only dream of such delicacies!
Up to the first half of the 17 century, and by looking at the first documentations produced in 1861 (just after Italy's Unification) to give an account of the status of the italian population, endless accounts can be read of how precarious and poor the dietary conditions of the common people in the countryside were.
The poverty of farmers' diet is still today echoed in many of the proverbs that have been handed down.
This fashion for spices was in a large part due to the desire to touch, feel, possess the exotic, whatever it was. Courts in medieval Italy (and across Europe) were resting on the everlasting battles to be recognised as the most rich, noticeable and extraordinary.
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
A history of italian food that only covered what farmers used to eat in the countryside would risk to sound a bit monotonous and awkward, to the modern passionate: long chapters on vegetarian soups and breads prepared from lower quality ingredients would be present and this is not what I want to give you here.
Like I wrote on the homepage of this site, Italy and italian people are not always just having food in their minds, despite what one may think.
That is, I, being Italian, can tell that it is not just food that we are talking about here: it is rather about a food culture that goes proudly along with an intimate connection italians have with the territory, the peoples and their roots.
For the foreign visitor, a villa among the hills surrounded by the rural idyll of nature and the farmers' simple and genuine lifestyle is perhaps the exemplification of all that italian culinary tradition represents.
My recommendation to you, if you're willing to discover the traditional, genuine history of italian food, is not just to walk through the woods and the hills in Tuscany, but to walk through the many cities of the italian peninsula, smelling and tasting their specialties and listening to the stories about them and the people who created and still maintain them alive.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
Truth is, Italy has become a model to imitate in the way ingredients are to be prepared, cooked and then consumed in company.
There are even studies that want to prove that the italian way of cooking and eating brings benefits to people's health and that it is, therefore, to learn and adopt in some of its gastronomic lessons.
So, back on track: today's clich of the villa surrounded by olive trees, with salami and prosciutti everywhere and the farmer diligently looking after these products (I love this image!) have been accurately tailored on the (magnificent) Tuscan countryside.
I woud say that italian food history combines elements of the italian alimentation history and of the italian gastronomy. But do not let my word fool you: this journey is going to be certainly a pleasure. Discovering means also uncover savors and tastes not known before.The deeper we will go together into the italian gastronomy, the more variety an richness comes to the surface.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
HOW THEY LOOK LIKE
Thinking about all the different typical food products that invade the italian tables, it's easy to think that just everything there derives from skillful hands of people that from father to son, from generation to generation, follow the discipline that their great-grand-father used according to the farmers' and countryside traditions of the territory and of the italian food history.
Indeed these products are traditional and follow long prescribed preparation methods and processes, but observing more closely we will together discover that italian food history and, for that matter, of Italy in general, is less of a simple farmers' tradition as we think.
A FARMERS' TRADITION?
It is not a chance that gastronomic literature found so many and so noticeable exponents in Italy: the economic development, civil, technical, humanistic and artistic advancement of the many Comuni (Commons), was not having any equal at the time (possibly not only in Europe).
The color depends on both the baking time and the flour composition (more or less wheat/barley flour): color can then range from light to (very) dark brown.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
Think about the typical crostini di fegato toscani (tuscan crostini with liver) or the bistecca alla fiorentina (florentine steak): these dishes are far from being poor, and the rural masses could only dream of such delicacies!
Up to the first half of the 17 century, and by looking at the first documentations produced in 1861 (just after Italy's Unification) to give an account of the status of the italian population, endless accounts can be read of how precarious and poor the dietary conditions of the common people in the countryside were.
The poverty of farmers' diet is still today echoed in many of the proverbs that have been handed down.
This fashion for spices was in a large part due to the desire to touch, feel, possess the exotic, whatever it was. Courts in medieval Italy (and across Europe) were resting on the everlasting battles to be recognised as the most rich, noticeable and extraordinary.
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
A history of italian food that only covered what farmers used to eat in the countryside would risk to sound a bit monotonous and awkward, to the modern passionate: long chapters on vegetarian soups and breads prepared from lower quality ingredients would be present and this is not what I want to give you here.
About the Author:
Many of you are probably researching about Italian food traditions. You can find some of the best information that you are looking for about these traditions on the Internet.
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire