Why Italians Love to Talk About Food Read Online Free PDF

welcome to the chair capital! Less important economically, but characteristic nevertheless, is another product of Friulian woodworking: the nutcracker.
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    In order to ensure the necessary supplement to their rather monotonous diet, Friulian peasant families in the poorest wooded areas (especially those in the hills, where oaks, chestnuts, and hazelnut trees grow) always raised a pig. The animal roamed freely, feeding on acorns and chestnuts. Friulian pigs, rightly considered quality specimens, are fed today with whey (a by-product of local dairy farming), marc (a byproduct of the local wine industry), and also, of course, corncobs.
    The butchering of the pig is still of fundamental importance in the daily life of the countryside. This is the most important event for both the family and the entire region: children stay home from school to attend it, and the adults take a day off. Family and neighbors await the great moment: the arrival of the
purcitar
, the itinerant swine butcher. First the pig’s throat is surgically slit; then the animal is placed on a workbench to allow the blood to drain. Meanwhile the excitement grows all around. It is necessary to proceed quickly, since the intestines and blood must be processed within a day. The farmers roast tasty blood sausages and make a sweet bread with blood and cracklings (
pan de frizze dolce
).
    In San Daniele del Friuli they age one of the two most famous
prosciutti crudi
(uncooked, cured prosciutto) in Italy, the San Daniele to be precise, which is eaten with figs or melon and is the subject of much romantic admiration. In Carnia, in the extreme north of Friuli,
speck
(smoked ham) and Montasio cheese are produced. This cow’s milk cheese, aged from two to several years, was developed by Benedictine monks in the twelfth century for pilgrims who, traveling to Rome along the Aquileia road, needed provisions that were not perishable (see “ Pilgrims ”).
    Local wines considered particularly suited to accompany pork sausage—Collio, Grave del Friuli, and Colli Orientali—are among Italy’s best white wines. In order to maintain their prestige, the state limits the area of the vineyards. Wine in Venezia Giulia and in Friuli is an indispensable accompaniment to human relationships, a cardinalelement of the ritual of the
tajut
(little drink). The Friulian who has concluded his workday and wants to enjoy some well-earned relaxation sits in front of the entrance of a bar and invites acquaintances passing by to drink a little glass with him. This is a unique aspect of the richness and quality of social life: “The glasses are tiny, friendship is big.” The wine is usually accompanied by
pinze
(focaccias) and
presnitz
(cakes of walnuts, raisins, and candied fruit).
    It is common knowledge throughout the world that the Friulians distill exclusive grappas (in this area Friuli vies with Piedmont). The production of grappas in these parts is viewed as an aesthetic process. Elegant flasks and goblets in thin blown glass, intended for the bottling and sampling of grappas, are manufactured both in the region itself and in the workshops of Murano. A dazzling container with grappa, enclosed in a wooden case and displayed in the window of a fashionable bar in Rome or Milan, can cost as much as five hundred or a thousand euros—or as much as the vendor has the nerve to ask.

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    TYPICAL DISHES OF FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA

    First Courses
Bisna
, yellow polenta with beans and sauerkraut, seasoned with a
soffritto
of salt pork and onion.
Brodetto gradese
, Grado-style fish soup, with small fish from the local rivers.
Rane pescatrici
(angler fish),
acerine
(perch) in olive oil, garlic, and vinegar. Plum gnocchi. Friulian soup (
iota
), which contains beans, milk, white turnips, and cornmeal or, in another version, potatoes, sauerkraut, and smoked pork. A famous specialty is
pistum
, gnocchi made of bread crumbs, sugar, eggs, herbs, and raisins, cooked in pork