Venetian cuisine

Venetian cuisine, from the city ofVenice, Italy,or more widely from the region ofVeneto, has a centuries-long history and differs significantly from other cuisines ofnorthern Italy(notablyFriuli-Venezia GiuliaandTrentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol), and of neighbouringAustriaand ofSlaviccountries (notablySloveniaandCroatia), despite sharing some commonalities.
Cuisine in Veneto may be divided into three main categories, based on geography: the coastal areas, the plains, and the mountains. Each one (especially the plains) can have many local cuisines, each city with its own dishes.
The most common dish ispolenta, which is cooked in various ways within the local cuisines of Veneto. Polenta once was the universalstaple foodof the poorer classes, who could afford little else. In Veneto, the corns are ground in much smaller fragments in comparison with the rest of Italy: so, when cooked, it resembles a pudding.
Typical of many coastal areas, communities along the coast of theVenetian Lagoonserve mainlyseafooddishes.
In the plains it is very popular to serve grilled meat (often by abarbecue, and in a mix of pork, beef and chicken meat) together with grilled polenta, potatoes or vegetables. Other popular dishes includerisotto, rice cooked with many different kinds of food, from vegetables, mushrooms, pumpkin orradicchioto seafood, pork meat or chicken livers.Bigoli(a typical Venetian freshpasta, similar toudon),fettuccine(hand-madenoodles),ravioliand the similartortelli(filled with meat, cheese, vegetables or pumpkin) andgnocchi(potatoes-made fresh pasta), are fresh and often hand-made pasta dishes (made of eggs andwheat flour), served together with meat sauce (ragù) often made with duck meat, sometimes together with mushrooms or peas, or simply with melted butter.
Cuisine from the mountain areas is mainly made of pork orgamemeat, with polenta, as well as mushrooms or cheeses (made by cow milk), and some dish fromAustrianorTyrolesetradition, such ascanederliorstrudel. A typical dish iscasunziei, hand-made fresh pasta similar to ravioli.
Among the typical seasoning of Venetian cuisine, you can findbutter,olive oil,sunflower oil,vinegar,kren,senape,mostarda,salsa verde.
In his bookLa cucina veneziana, Giuseppe Maffioli discusses howJewish cuisinedeeply influenced Venetian culinary practices. Venice adopted numerous Jewish dishes, such as vegetables preparedalla giudia, varioussalt codrecipes, almond-based pastries, and puff pastry. A notable example ispesce in saor—fried fish marinated with vinegar, raisins, pine nuts, and eggplants—which initially alarmed Venetians who thought it might be harmful. Additionally, the Jewish habit of preparing risottos with a variety of vegetables became commonplace in Venetian kitchens. Locally, the termalia giudiarefers to tomato sauce.
The following are dishes typical of the three subregions of the Veneto. The page forVenetian languageprovides additional information on writing and pronouncing the dishes' names.
Among the many Venetian desserts, the most well-known are:
Vicenza, along with Venice, has one of the most distinctive cuisines in the Veneto. Previously, the Vicentians were often referred to as themagnagatiormangiagatti(meaning 'cat eaters') due to the alleged presence of cats in their cuisine (caused from poverty in the past and during World War II), though the cooking of cats is now illegal in Italy. Typical plates of the city and the surrounding area include:
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