Famous Piedmont and Torino foods - By food author Howard Hillman

Famous Piedmont
and Torino dishes

Food tips you can trust

Famous specialties
of Piedmont and Torino

Bagna Cauda

Translates as "hot sauce". Its ingredients are olive oil, chopped garlic and anchovies, butter, and sometimes sliced tartufo bianco (white truffles, another Piedmontese edible ecstasy). Into this heated sauce the diner dips a wide choice of cold raw vegetables. Red wine is the traditional accompaniment.

Fonduta

It's made by melting Fontina cheese (from the neighboring Val d'Aosta region) with milk, butter and eggs. The cook tops the resulting "fondue" with sliced white truffles.

Bollito Misto

Literally, "mixed boiled". Meat is the prime ingredient.

Agnolotti

Piedmont-style ravioli. Widely popular.

Grissini

Long, thin, crisp breadsticks. Originated in Torino. Now found globally.

Chicken (or Veal) Marengo

Created in Piedmont to help Napoleon celebrate his victory at Marengo.

Piedmont
cooking philosophy

Traditional

The region has Torino, Italy's most modern and industrialized metropolis. However, the approach to food in Piedmont remains reasonably loyal to yesteryear's principles of bringing out rather than masking the natural flavors of the cooking ingredients.