Venice cuisine

tips on Venice
food & beverages

 

Major starch staples
of Venice and Veneto

Rice reigns

Rice, not pasta, is the principal starch staple of Venice and is typically served combined with other ingredients. The most splendid application is in the vegetable dish Risi e Bisi, literally Rice and Peas.

Polenta

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

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

Adriatic Sea

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.

More Neptune stars

Other excellent local seafood worth sampling includes shrimp, crayfish, cuttlefish, mussels, eel, sole and mullet.

Meat

Fegato alla Veneziana

Though meat dishes are a minority in Venice, one is world famous: Fegato alla Veneziana, tissue-thin calves' liver slices sauteed with onions.

Wines

Veneto's world famous trio

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.

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©2010 HQP / Hillman Quality Publications