The Piedmontse have long treasured their rich heritage of good
food and wine.
Their traditions of excellence are now famous all over the world
and in authoritative international restaurant guides and reviews the highest
ranking Italian restaurants are always Piedmontese.
This resounding success is
owed to the supreme skill of chefs in blending the flavors of tradition with
modern innovative cuisines, as well as to the superlative quality of fresh
Piedmontese produce.
A region and its people maintain their identity through their
unique cuisine, which is the combination of what the lands yields them and their
skill in transforming this produce into food.
Throughout any normal day, Piedmontese people constantly
make use of the myriad of quality products available. Fresh fruit in season and
excellent milk provide a healthy balanced breakfast. For lunch there are the
cheeses from high mountain pastures and meat from beef cattle, bred for quality,
handled by butchers skilled in traditional methods. Piedmont can boast no less
than nine cheeses certified as protected in origin DOP (denominazione di origine
protetta).
The traditional breeds of cattle and pigs are guaranteed not
only by government inspection but also by the producers’ own voluntary labelling
system and the Piedmontese butchers’ hallmark of quality - COALVI (Consorzio di
Allevatori Vitelli Razza Piedmontse).
Piedmontese traditional cooking has a wide range of wonderful
cakes and biscuits for afternoon tea or coffee, enough to satisfy the sweetest
tooth. And at dinner time genuine Piedmontese produce provides rich and
satisfying meals. Superb rice, truffles and a wide range of fresh vegetables are
luxuries that are the norm for anyone living in this region.
With their meals
the Piedmontese can choose to drink spring waters, varying in mineral content
and flavour, or sweet or dry wines: red, rosè, or white, but always of excellent
quality. In actual fact, 80% of the wines in Piedmont carry DOC (denominazione
di origine controllata) e DOCG (denominazione di origine controllata e garantita)
certification.
A wide choice of birrerias cater for dedicated beer drinkers,
who will also be delighted to discover small traditional breweries throughout
Piedmont, where they can sample traditionally made, high quality beer and ales.
The secrets of Piedmontse cuisine can only be discovered
through a long journey through time, tastes and flavours. Every two years the
Salone del Gusto, Italy’s most important food and wine fair, takes up the
challenge to guide us on this voyage of discovery, and succeeds magnificently,
judging from response from critics and public.
But this is only one of many examples of the celebration of
the food and wine culture in the region: they range from the Fiera del
Tartufo (Truffle Fair) in Alba to the Cheese fair held in Bra; from
the Universita' di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo (University of
Gastronomic Sciences) to the ICIF (Italian Culinary Institute for
Foreigners) in Costigliola, Asti; not to mention those two important cultural
organizations, Piedmont Internazionale and Slow Food.
Events, schools and projects, all aimed at presenting high
quality Piedmont food and wines, and confirming the Regional government’s
commitment to their protection and promotion.
Not just eating to live then, but learning how to develop the
capacity to appreciate the subtleties of taste and flavour. The awakening of
this new interest in the culture of food and wine is also owed to the untiring
efforts of the chefs and restaurateurs who have worked over the years to
recreate and develop recipes from the traditions of Piedmontese cuisine, while
finding the classic wines to accompany and complement them.
Today Piedmontese food and wine offers products with certificates of
origin, Denominazione di Origine Protetta (DOP), of provenance, Indicazione
Geografica Protetta (IGP), of traditional farming methods (PAT). These products
include rice from the provinces of Vercelli and Novara, milk and cheeses from
high mountain pastures, fruit grown on the foothills of the Alps, vegetable
produce and the superb Piedmontese beef and pork: all guaranteed and regularly
inspected for certification by local government, by Consortiums or by the
producers’ own labeling.
Piedmont has always offered an abundance of wild produce from the land,
especially in autumn, the season of truffles and mushrooms. Known and
appreciated since ancient times, the white truffle was a prized delicacy in all
the royal courts of eighteenth century Europe. And time has not dimmed its
appeal or value: at truffle auctions today some rare varieties are sold for
astronomical prices, as high as 2000 Euros per kilo.
Courtesy of Regione Piedmont
