What did they used to eat in Italy?!

[XmisterIS]

It just occurred to me (like a bolt from the blue ... the kind that makes you spit out your dinner, stand bolt upright and shout, "Holy sh1t!!") that Italian cooking uses a lot of tomatoes ... and that the tomato comes from the New World.

So I wonder what Italian cooking was like before the tomato was invented!

 

[Wigsie]

Dry.

 

[Over The Hill]

Chips

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Dough discs with cheese

 

[Over The Hill]

Just Wikid it
"The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. However, in certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as tabletop decoration before it was incorporated into the local cuisine in the late 17th or early 18th century."
So they may have had them around for 100 years before they decided to try to eat one!

 

[rich p]

No tomatoes before then? It didn't take them long to ketchup though

 

[slowmotion]

This going back a bit, but they did seem to eat pretty well...

http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/roman.html

 

[Brains]

What did they eat before Marco Polo bought back pasta from China !!!

 

[User169]

It's like curry ante-chilli

 

[Cab]

What did they eat before Marco Polo bought back pasta from China !!!

There are recipes detailing something thats basically the same as pasta going back as far as the Roman writer Apicius.

 

[XmisterIS]

There are recipes detailing something thats basically the same as pasta going back as far as the Roman writer Apicius.

Yes, I think gnocci (or however you spell it!) is the closest modern Italian thing to Roman pasta.

 

[NickM]

No tomatoes before then? It didn't take them long to ketchup though

Boom boom! (groan........)

 

[Dave5N]

Yes, I think gnocci (or however you spell it!) is the closest modern Italian thing to Roman pasta.

Really? The Romans used potatoes?

So they did reach America after all.

(I know Gnocchi can also be made from flour)

 

[Dave5N]

Gnocchi can be made with semolina as well Dave (Gnocchi alla Romana) - they don't have to be potato ones.

I know.

 

[theclaud]

Dishes which could have tomatoes in but don't are often described in Italy as in bianco, affirming the importance of tomatoes even in their absence. I don't know whether that helps with the question, but I do think it's rather wonderful.