Fragrant, Sensuous, Inspired Food
The coastal regions of French Provence and Italian Liguria, known collectively as the Riviera, have stirred the souls and palates of writers and food lovers for centuries. Otherwise sensible scribes and connoisseurs reach for words like “paradise” when asked to describe what they have seen or tasted there.
The region’s resplendent markets are a culinary basket of raw ingredients sufficient to romance the taste buds of any self-respecting gourmand. Herbs – thyme, basil, rosemary fennel, oregano and many, many others, – are central to Ligurian cuisine and many grow wild. It’s no wonder Ligurians call their cuisine la Cucina Profumata, the perfumed kitchen.
NICE AND GENOA ~ TWO CULTURES, ONE CUISINE
While the Mediterranean cities of Genoa and Nice each has its own distinct cuisine, the two cities – once both part of the House of Savoy – share a common tradition of dishes, recipes and ideas about food that taken together, form a sublime and inventive food, Riviera Cuisine.
It was the port city of Genoa that first gave Italy and the world basil pesto as well as ravioli, focaccia and minestrone. And it was Nicoise specialties such as ratatouille, daube of beef, aioli, and bouillabaisse that inspired poets in the nineteenth century.
Renowned Genoese classics include pansotti with walnut sauce, trenette with basil pesto, and stuffed breast of veal with salsa verde. On the French side of the border in Nice, are such classics as pissaladiere, a pizza-like tart with anchovies and olives, Swiss chard gratin and salad Nicoise. A number of dishes from each city are essentially identical: For instance in Nice, pesto is known as pistou; for the French, gnocchi is pâtes fraîches. Farinata, a Genoese chickpea-flour crepe served with black pepper and olive oil, is twin to the Nicoise specialty, socca.
The food is lean, based largely on vegetables, fruit, olive oil, wine, fish and grains. The culinary kinship between the two cities is both rich and historic.
A FOOD STEEPED IN HISTORY
The roots of Riviera Cuisine begin in Genoa, a longtime maritime and trade power. The city was an important seaport hemmed in by mountainous, difficult terrain and during its first fifteen hundred years, the city alternated between busy port and quiet fishing village. Vines, olive and chestnut trees, and small kitchen gardens dotted the countryside. Despite difficult growing conditions, steep terrain, and a lack of water in the countryside, an unusual degree of culinary inventiveness formed the basis for a resourceful peasant cuisine.
The Genoese were always a great seafaring people and traded extensively with Europe and the Middle East. Native son Christopher Columbus, sailing under the flag of Spain, brought back from the New World potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers corn, squash, zucchini and pumpkin. The introduction of these ingredients would fundamentally change Mediterranean cuisine forever.
NICE, A FRENCH CITY WITH AN ITALIANATE SENSIBILITY
For more than four centuries Nice was a part of the kingdom of Provence. In 1388 it cast its lot with the Savoyards, whose dominion eventually extended to include Liguria, Piedmont and other territories in what are now Italy, France and Switzerland. By the eighteenth century, the Savoys were kings of Sicily and then Sardinia, and it was under their aegis that the Italian states were united. Five hundred years later, in 1860 – the very year that Italy was united into a modern nation – Nice became part of France once again. Although Nice was never really Italian, the official language of Nice was Italian from 1561 until the union with France in 1860. An Italianate sensibility prevails there to this day.
thx for that
Posted by: jean daniel | June 29, 2009 at 09:39 AM