Introduction:

Annie: What’s up guys? Welcome back to our podcast, “Food Away From Home (World Tour)”, with your hosts Annie, Cece, and Shiv. In this episode, we will be exploring the variety of popular foods and sweets from Italian cultures, as well as the differences between the Northern and Southern parts of Italy. Now we'll hand this off to Cece.

Segment 1: North vs. Southern Italy

Cece: Thank you Annie! Being Italian, born in Rome, I can tell you that Italy is a place not-to-be missed. Italy is a bright, unique, and amazing place, with many different cultures, and traditions, making it special, and different from other parts of the world. In this segment, we will be talking about the Northern parts of Italy, versus the Southern parts of Italy, and what makes them similar and different. Now, we will hand this off to Shiv:

1. Shiv: In Northern Italy, the foods vary more from pasta, meats and fish, as well as more heavy, and filling dishes, due to the cold climate.
2. They use a lot of butter, cream, and cheese. Fun fact, “cheese” in Italian is called “Formaggio”.
3. They also use a lot of grains, such as rice and corn. These ingredients help with forming “Polenta”, a potato and grain dish with red sauce toppings, very good, and “Risotto”, a bowl of rice with any choice of fillings.
4. Lots of herbs are used as well, going from rosemary to basil, and thyme as well.
5. They are used to add more flavor to the dishes, and make them more aromatic and fragrant.
6. Northern places in Italy can include the mountainside, “Alpi” or “Dolomite”, which are very important and touristic mountain ranges in Italy. Some mountain ranges and Northern places in Italy also are very close to Austria, making the people there bilingual and cross-cultural, due to how they are both Austrian and Italian. Meran and Tyrol, are one of these places
7. Cece’s been to Meran, and personally, it is one of her favorite places to visit when going to the Northern part of Italy.
8. It is part Austrian and Italian, so you see people that speak Austrian and Italian as well as English.
9. It consists of certain meats called “Wiener Scnitzel”, which is a breaded, as well as fried, veal cutlets, which is meat from younger calves of cows. It is very good, and perfect for a winter-weather meal.
10. There is also a pasta meal called “Spaetzle”, which is a type of pasta with shorter, and smaller pieces of pasta dough making it up, and it goes very well with plain and sausages, spinach filled spaetzle with small pieces of bacon or ham, and also with plain spaetzle with small pieces of fresh caught salmon. Spaetzle are known for going with plain ingredients, and would not go very well with red sauce. Spaetzle are Cece’s favorite pasta meals when going to the Northern parts of Italy.
11. In the Northern areas there are more focuses on meats, such as cows, calves, lamb, rabbit, pig, and sheep.
12. When going to Italy, and when it comes to having a nice filling meal on a cold day, you should definitely take a trip to Northern Italy, and visit Meran or Tyrol.
13. Then there is the countryside, like Umbria and Peruggia, where Cece’s grandpa is from (Todi). The countryside can be found anywhere in Italy, and they also have many amazing foods.
14. Having many sorts of “farm or tavern” aspects and restaurants, they serve a lot of meats like lamb, sheep, cows, calves, rabbits, and chicken.
15. They also are experts in pasta, and have a specialty of “Pasta al Tartufo” which is plain pasta with some cream and truffle, and it is very very good, perfect for both a delicious lunch as well as dinner.
16. Finally there is the South of Italy, where it is warmer, and typically more tropical.
17. You can go to some islands off the coast of Italy, such as Capri, which would serve you a lot of very good fish, as well as pasta.
18. You can also go very South to Sicily, which is the closest region of Italy to Africa, it is very hot, and it has a lot of fish, pasta, and gelato options for food. Cece has been to Sicily, and describes it as one of the best places she has ever been to. It is beautiful; the scenery of the beaches and the transparent-turquoise waters, the good food, the nice people, the cool language and accents, and the weather.
19. There is also Sardegna which is very famous for its amazing beaches, weather scenery as well as its very good food.
20. Calabria also has very good scenery and food, beautiful waters and beaches as well.
21. In the South, the foods are also highly “packed” and filling, even though the temperatures are warmer.
22. They focus more on fish instead of meat, due to the fact that they are more coastal.
23. However there is always a great deal of pasta.
24. There is also a lot of gelato and pastries.
25. The people are very lively-more than in the North.
26. The language and accents are thicker and different than those of Rome.
27. Cece has visited more of the Northern areas than the South, and prefers the Northern food more.
28. There is also the center of Italy, where Rome, or Lazio, is, and it has a great deal of everything; pasta, gelato, pastries, meats, fish, and vegetables as well. And pizza.
29. Being from Rome, cece has had the most food from Rome, especially at her grandmas house 🙂 😀
30. Cece jumps in: Yes my grandmother is town-wide known for her famous “Pomodori con il riso” which are stuffed tomatoes with rice and then surrounding grilled vegetables, and “Gnocchi al sugo”, which are small little circular pieces of dough for pasta with red sauce made from scratch at home. She takes pride in her meals and always tries to teach me when I come over……..it does not end well haha 👍

Segment 2: Popular foods

Shiv: There are many delicious foods in Italy. Pasta and pizza are commonly eaten foods in Italy. In this segment of popular foods, we will be talking about the popular foods in Italy and where you might be able to locate some of these cuisines. Cece, take it away.

Cece talks about popular foods - Thanks Shiv

1. Capoboi - restaurant- seafood and pasta - popular foods: sea bass, zucchini flowers, and lots of fresh fish.
2. Sicilily- great street food, arancini- rice with fillings like sugo, with red sauce, or others, and the rice is then fried for a solid background-very good,
3. Sorrento- fish, mozzarella, and pizza.
4. Locanda Grutti- good pasta and prosciutto (ham) as well as meats.from Umbria, Italian countryside
5. Locanda Il Cavaliere good hand made pasta and meat, from Umbria.
6. Le Streghe, meaning the witches, from tyrol, which have home made pasta, meats, fish, and more. Have austrian half italian
7. Cacciani-roman cuisine, pasta, and meats
8. Locanda delle Grazie: roman, meats, pasta, fish.
9. Now onto Annie

Segment 3: Sweets

Annie: Thanks Cece! There are many delicious sweets in Italy, ranging from ice cream/gelato, pastries, tiramisu, and many more. Italy is known for sweet treats. Now Cece will finish our podcast off.

Annie talks about sweets

1. Cornetti- Italian croissants, sweeter, and a pastry, good for breakfast, not for salty things
2. Triramisu-coffee based dessert with tiramisu cookies and cream filling
3. Meringue-Meringue- egg whites and sugar whipped into meringue, you bake it at a low temperature, and it gets hard on the outside, and soft on the inside.
4. Cannoli- fried outside but sweet, cream cheese filling, and chocolate chips inside or pistachio-truly good.
5. Panna cotta-sweet white cream with usually fruit (especially strawberries) with chocolate drizzle.
6. Gelato- sweet, and delicious Italian “ice cream”, where the cream is softer, and fluffier.
7. Maritozzi con la panna and Maritozzi con il gelato- pastry with sweet cream filling, or the same pastry with gelato filling.

Ending: Annie: In the end, Italy is a very interesting and cultural country with many unique and fascinating food and desert options, and most definitely part of our top ten choices, that you have to visit! *Pause* Thank you so much for listening to Food Away from Home today and

All: We will see you guys next week!

Music Credits:

1. Intro - Cruise control - Patrick Patrikios
2. Outro - Invisible - Anno Domini Beats
3. Transitions - Stalling - Topher Mohr and Alex Elena

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