September 27th, 2009 |
Published in
Cuisines | 2 Comments
- The first known Italian food writer was a Greek Sicilian named Archestratus who lived in Syracuse in 4th Century BCE. His writing was a poem that spoke of using “top quality and seasonal†ingredients of the freshest nature.
- A common misconception is that espresso (Italian Style Coffee) contains more caffeine than coffee but the opposite is true. The longer roasting period of the beans extracts more of the caffeine, thus giving espresso roast beans less caffeine content.
- In French medieval cuisine, banquets were common among the aristocracy. Multiple courses would be prepared, but served in a style called service en confusion, or all at once.
- Modern pizza originated in Italy as the Neapolitan pie with tomato. In 1889 cheese was added.
- There are approximately 3500 different shapes of pasta. Examples include spaghetti (thin rods), macaroni
(tubes or cylinders), fusilli (swirls) and lasagne (sheets).
- The chocolate truffle was first created by M. Dufour in Chambery, France in December 1895. There are three main types of chocolate truffles: American, European, and Swiss.
- Portuguese breakfasts often consist of fresh bread, with butter, cheese or fruit preserves accompanied with strong coffee or milk. Sweet pastries are also very popular, as well as breakfasts cereals eaten cold and mixed with milk or yogurt and fruit.
- The French eat more cheese than any other nation in the world – a total of 20.4kg (45lbs) per person per year. Some 400 different kinds of cheese are produces in France.
- The croissant, the gem of French baking, isn’t French. It was created by Austrian bakers and brought to Paris from Vienna by Marie Antoinette in 1770.
- The pressure in a bottle of champagne is about 90 pounds per square inch, about three times the pressure in automobile tires.
