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Fancy a bit of mama’s home cooking? Imagine a guide to eating your way round long-legged Italy…

Forget your cordon bleu and your nouvelle cuisine– Italy is all about back-to-basics, Editno-nonsense fare. It’s an all out carb-fest of a place that’s not embarrassed to say it likes its food. And the best bit is Italy’s said to have one of the healthiest diets in the world. So what better excuse to dive headfirst into a bowl of steaming pasta or reach for that second slice of pizza? When in Rome and all that…

But it’s not just food that gets people stuffing napkins in their collars, it’s the Italian approach to mealtimes. In fact, you could say food is the backbone of everyday life. Lunch is a two-hour affair, whatever the day, and evenings are played out around the dinner table.

So it comes as no surprise that the country has got an impressive dining scene. Go down any backstreet, and you’ll wander past trattorias packed with people twizzling spaghetti around their forks. Past pizzerias where chefs in marshmallow hats toss frisbees of dough into the air. And past waterfront ristorante tempting you in with fish plucked fresh from the sea. You certainly won’t go hungry in Italy.

One thing to remember before you start our gastro tour – with all that bright red tomato sauce splashing around, just don’t wear anything white…

Venetian Riviera

Primi

Polenta – While pasta certainly gets a look in, it’s all about polenta in these parts. Made from maize, this yellow staple looks a bit like marzipan. It’s usually grilled and sprinkled with parmesan. The flavour? Imagine taking a pestle and mortar to a bag of Doritos and you’re almost there.

Secondi

Risotto – The secret to this rice dish is TLC – white wine has to be stirred into the mix gradually. Properly cooked risotto should be soft and liquid with an al dente bite. Get it wrong and you could be dishing up rice pudding. Try risi e bisi, made with peas, pancetta and cream.

Dolce

Tiramisu – Translated, tiramisu means ‘pick me up’. Reason being, this rich sponge cake is laced with coffee so a caffeine fix is all part of the deal. Add indulgent layers of soft mascarpone and a generous dusting of cocoa powder and you’ve got one belt-loosening dessert.

Vini

Prosecco – Italy’s answer to champers, this sparkling wine makes a great aperitif. For full-on bubbles ask for Prosecco Frizzante – otherwise go for Prosecco Spumante. Add a slug of fresh peach juice and you’ve got yourself a Bellini, darling.

Neapolitan Riviera

Primi

Insalata Caprese – Along with streets paved with Gucci, Capri is famous for this salad. Thick slabs of mozzarella share plate space with equally thick slices of tomato, all garnished with torn basil and oregano. Dress with extra virgin olive oil and ground black pepper and you’re good to go.

Secondi

Pizza Margherita – It may be the plain Jane of the pizza world but it’s arguably the best. It was invented in 1889 by Rafaele Esposito. He cooked up a patriotic-looking pizza for Queen Margherita, with tomato, mozzarella and basil standing in for the colours of the Italian flag.

Dolce

Baba Napolitana – This limoncello-soaked brioche is the mother of all liqueur cakes. While the roots of the baba are hotly debated – it would seem the French came up with it first – most agree the Neapolitan version eclipsed earlier incarnations and has never been beaten since.

Vini

Radici Taurasi – Since famous foodie, R W Apple Junior, of New York Times fame, declared “Neapolitan wine finds high notes”, southern Italian wines have been enjoying their moment in the sun. He described the Radici Taurasi, a majestic red, as the “Barolo of the south”.

Tuscany

Primi

Ribollita – Once upon a time, this stodgy soup was power food for peasants. Its name means ‘reboiled’, but don’t let that put you off. Bubbling with wholesome ingredients like cannellini beans, bread, zucchini and Tuscan black cabbage, it’s a pot of soul-warming satisfaction.

Secondi

Bistecca alla Fiorentina – Steak fans won’t be able to resist this Florentine favourite. As thick as a brick, this icon of Tuscan cuisine is seasoned with rosemary and then has a brief encounter with the grill before being drizzled with olive oil and spritzed with a wedge of lemon.

Dolce

Torta della Nonna – ‘Grandma’s cake’, this sweet pudding is the Tuscan take on the humble custard tart. Sprinkled with pine nuts and edged in crumbly pastry, it’s incredibly moreish in a wonderfully down-to-earth way. Second helpings are a certainty.

Vini

Chianti – Forget those immortal Hannibal Lecter lines and dive into a glass of this rich ruby nectar at the first opportunity. With its floral, cherry and nutty notes, this Tuscan-grown legend is the granddaddy of Italian reds.

Sicily

Primi

Arancini – These balls of rice are stuffed with bolognaise or mozzarella, rolled in breadcrumbs and dropped into hot oil. They look like satsumas when they reappear, hence their name – arancini means ‘little oranges’. Just don’t expect a vitamin C boost. Their other name is bombetti – fat bombs!

Secondi

Sarde a Beccafico – Fancy a fish supper? Then give this traditional Sicilian dish a whirl. Breaded sardines are stuffed with a sweet and savoury combo of pine nuts, anchovies, cinnamon, grapes and raisins, and fried until golden. Makes battered cod sound positively boring in comparison.

Dolce

Cassata – This calorie-fest of a pudding dates back to Sicily’s Arab days. Made from sponge cake, it’s filled with creamy ricotta, almond paste and candied fruits. An added helping of sugar and chocolate nudge this naughty-but-nice number into the molar-dissolving end of the spectrum.

Vini

Marsala – Lord Nelson was a big fan of this dessert wine. In fact, Marsala became a standard ration for the British fleet. Even now the navy still keeps stocks aboard its ships. It’s the perfect after-dinner tipple and the prestigious Pellegrino label is one of the top corks.

Adriano Comegna writes for First Choice Holidays, a leading travel operator specializing in last minute holidays.  (Image: micurs)

On my recent trip to Florida, one restaurant chain stood out for both taste and value – Sweet Tomatoes (also known as Souplantation in some areas). We happened into it one afternoon after rejecting the nearby Italian restaurant we’d been considering.

Sweet Tomatoes, Dania Beach

When we walked in we were greeted by a salad bar several feet long, and this on its own would have been enough to keep us happy. Not only did it have a huge selection of fresh individual salad items (including a couple of things I’d never heard of), but it included three lettuce based salads, two pasta salads and potato salad. You could put as much on your plate as you wanted, though we discovered that if you were too full of salad you would miss out on the other items on offer. To accompany your salad you could choose from water, iced tea, lemonade, strawberry lemonade and soda. Read more »

Where The Locals Eat

There’s nothing worse than heading to a new city on business, arriving late at night and wondering where to go for a good meal. I should know. I once went on a business trip to Spain and by the time I had got my bags and found a taxi to my hotel, it was already nearly midnight. I know the Spanish eat late, but the local kitchens were closed and I found myself at the Spanish version of Mickey Ds – not what I wanted after a long trip. The next day, I was prepared and I asked the locals I met at the hotel where I could score a good meal so I could have a great dinner that night. When it comes to getting a good meal, you can’t beat local advice – and that’s the premise behind Where The Locals Eat.

Top Eateries In Each State

Where The Locals Eat gives you easy access to the top 100 restaurants in the 50 largest US cities. Since these are where you are likely to be doing business, then this is a great place to find restaurants serving your favorite dishes. The site balances ‘lengthy surveys of serious diners and hopelessly hooked restaurant habitues with the opinions and extensive research of certified foodies’ to bring you the top choices and they are constantly being updated. You can search the site by city and distance to select a restaurant within walking distance of your hotel. Read more »

Yet another fun thing about traveling to another country is seeing bad English translations. Japan leads the category (again) in this one! The category has its own name: “Engrish” and there’s no shortage of examples of it online. Here are some of my own pictures of Engrish from my trip to Japan, along with some links to additional endless “Engrish!” Read more »

Charlene wrote a glorious article on wine and hiking last week. Although mixing strenuous activity with my imbibement isn’t my cup of tea (or glass of pinot noir, as the case may be), her mention of Roshambo winery out of Healdsburg, California piqued my interest.

Roshambo injects a playful hipness into their whole operation – from their industrially-decorated tasting room/art gallery (now at Cornerstone Gardens) to their Roshambus (a tour bus cum-wine-tasting mobile), decorated by local artists, which will bring their wine to the masses. But is it all style and no substance? Read more »