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Italian cuisine
Venice and its
region Veneto
a concise guide
for diners & travelers
Rice reigns in
Venice and Veneto
Rice, not pasta, is the principal starch staple of Venice and is typically served combined with other
ingredients.
 Its most splendid application is in the
vegetable dish Risi e Bisi, literally Rice and Peas.
Outside Venice, in the Veneto region, the
firm cornmeal-mush specialty, Polenta, rivals and in some places supplants rice as the primary starch
staple.
Pasta, though in the third place in the
starch popularity poll, has over the last century been steadily increasing its share of the market.
Seafood is a
Venice and
Veneto favorite
The principal source of animal protein comes from the seafood caught in the cool northern
Adriatic Sea. These waters exclusively yield one of the world's greatest culinary delights, the scampo.
When seen on American menus, "scampi" almost invariably means
oversized shrimp, lacking the delicate, sweet flavor of true scampi.
Other excellent local seafood worth sampling
includes shrimp, crayfish, cuttlefish, mussels, eel, sole and mullet.
Leading
meat dish of Venice
Though meat dishes are a minority in Venice, one is world famous: Fegato alla Veneziana, tissue-thin
calves' liver slices sauteed with onions.
Wines of Veneto
From southwestern Veneto near the "Romeo and Juliet" city of Verona come three reasonably good
wines: the dry white Soave, the light bodied red Bardolino, and its sibling, the slightly
fuller bodied and better Valpolicella.
Best city for gourmets
Venice is the top all around food city in Veneto. Criteria include
cooking, food markets, cooking ingredients, cooking schools, beverages, dining and
restaurants. Verona is the runner-up.
Click a Italian region to
learn about its cuisine
and famous dishes
Also learn
about these
exciting
world cuisines
My food & wine
credentials
My books have been critically acclaimed by major magazines and newspapers. Click
the button below to read a sampling (in Acrobat format).
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