At the table - Piemonte Feel

Piemonte cuisine offers dishes rich in flavor and history. The variety of the territory and its climate characterize the gastronomy of various Piemonte geographical areas. Historically, subalpine cuisine developed along two lines: the “poorer” cuisine tied completely and in every way to the world of peasants and land and to the raw matter which the land provided, and to a more elaborate cuisine from the courts and nobility and, as the Piemonte territory had been under Savoy dominion for a long time, with many French influences.

Today, Piemonte gastronomy has rediscovered its local cuisines and is promoting them and, by doing so, is also promoting the high quality of its many typical products, not just of its raw produce. All tastes and even the most demanding palates can be satisfied at the Piemonte table from the aperitifs to the many antipastos (carne all’albese, Torino giardiniera, and vitello tonnato – veal with tuna sauce), to the substantial and tasty first courses (agnolotti verdi con fonduta di Castelmagno, gnocchetti della Val Varaita, panissa di Vercelli, risotto al Barolo, and soupa grassa), to second courses enhanced with various side dishes (brasato al Barolo, Piemonte gran bollito misto, pollo alla Marengo, tapulon, bagna caoda, and fonduta di Raschera) accompanied by the famous Torino grissini (les petites baton de Turin which Napoleon liked so well), all followed by desserts from fantastic pastry shops (bonet, torta di nocciole, and zabaione). Characteristic of this cuisine is the use of butter and lard (the use of which, however, has been diminishing since the last century and substituted with oil), the use of raw vegetables, the preparation of “second courses” with particular “cuts” of meat, the variety of cheeses, the use of truffles, and garlic.