French or Italian cuisine: are they that different?

0
210
French or Italian cuisine: are they that different?

Europe is famous for the variety of different kinds of cuisines. The most popular are French and Italian. The two are in eternal battle for the title of the best cuisine on the continent. Both French and Italian dishes put a huge emphasise on the taste. There are also some confusions on how different are both cuisines. What are the differences and similarities?

French or Italian cuisine: are they that different? pizza

Source: http://www.saltflakeslondon.co.uk

What makes them different?

Italian’s put a lot of emphasize on vegetables, meats or fish. The secret here is to make it simple. A cuisine for home. It’s the ingredients that take the spotlight. The trick is to focus on the fresh ingredients and their variety. To make an Italian dish you don’t need to stick exactly to the procedures. The dishes are easy to prepare. Italians put more pressure on simplicity and homely type of cooking.

French food is restaurant oriented and made to impress. Even though, it’s also flavour rich, the biggest difference is the process of preparation. It’s more elaborate and requires some complicated preparations. French cuisine is an experience and festival of flavours.

What makes the cuisines most distinguishable is the traditions and geography. Varied kinds of available ingredients manage to create a different kind of experience. The process of preparation also influences the enhanced tastes.

French or Italian cuisine: are they that different? nice plate

Source: http://www.saltflakeslondon.co.uk/menu/

The similarities of both cuisines

Both Italian and French depend on seasonal and regional foods. They use what’s available around them. Taking away the master chef kind of cooking you can notice a lot of similarities in local, “normal” cooking. In everyday cooking we can recognize certain types of cuisine:

  • Seasonal. In Europe, summer is for vegetables and different kinds of fruit. Autumn usually meant the hunting season. Both cuisines focus on availability of the fresh products throughout the seasons. There were also attempts to break free from these constraints throughout the centuries.
  • Regional. Each region in Italy and France is famous for special foods based on regional delicacy. Seafood is famous in the Mediterranean area. Certain vegetables fare better in the north. Olives and grapes prefer the warmth of the southern lands. Regional cuisines make up for the heritage of both Italian and French cuisines.
  • Contextual. While preparing the dishes, people used to take advantage of the remaining ingredients. After baking the bread, they would use the remaining heat for preparing pizza in Italy and tarts in France. Some popular dishes like bouillabaisse soup used different kinds of leftover fish.

Both French and Italians put a great emphasise on fresh ingredients. There are many similar things about the dishes: stews, roasts, bread, wines and other liquors.

It’s hard to say, which one is the best as both cuisines promise a good feast of tastes. The two shows different kind of approaches to preparation processes.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here