In truth, food is one of the cornerstone of Italian culture and even if times are changing and life is more and more frenetic, Italians still find a great pleasure in sitting at a table, at home or at the restaurant, and share a good meal together: this is because to the people of Italy, Italian food and wine are part of their culture and, very often, also of their own family history. Each Italian will tell you about their family way to cook a specific dish, using recipes often passed on through generations. If this is somehow common also in the rest of the world, in Italy it truly has a deeper significance. This, however, doesn't mean that Italians don't enjoy discovering new foods or new ways of preparing familiar dishes, maybe matching them with a different wine: this is, once again, a sign of how much Italian food and wine mean to the people of Italy, how important they are in their everday life.
As many of our articles will show you, especially those on traditional cuisine, either cooked at home or enjoyed at a fair or sagra, Italians are very much attached to their food and wine heritage. If, for some years, the trend of foreign cuisines did become popular in the country, especially among young professionals, it is this very category that, today, has been ridiscovering the pleasure of traditional Italian cuisine in all its regional varieties, along with a marked desire to source produce in an environmentally friendly manner.
The attention to Italian food and wine has risen, of course, also abroad, where Italian restaurants are among the most popular: certainly, not all of them serve the real stuff! Fear not, though: our Food and Wine Section has everything you need to know to recognize proper delicious Italian food when you dine out and loads of recipes and advice for when you fancy play chef in the kitchen. On our website, you'll also find a lot of interesting articles on the history and the heritage of Italian food and wine, so you can keep the conversation going during those dinner parties!