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Italian sounds abroad: panettone
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Lingua del ciboPanettone is both one of the most characteristic and characterising desserts of Italian cuisine, and one of the most famous and most frequently exported. The origin of the word can be found in the Milanese panattón, augmentative of pan (bread) or...
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Pasta, the queen of the table
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Lingua del ciboThe fact that pasta, especially as of the Middle Ages, has played a fundamental role in the diet of Italians is shown by the antiquity of the many words used to describe it, first and foremost maccheroni and ravioli. Cited in Boccaccio's...
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Words with the fragrance of coffee
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Lingua del ciboThe noun caffè indicates both the tropical shrubby plant of the Coffea genus and the famous drink made with the beans of the latter, which are roasted and ground. Coffee comes from the Turkish qahve, which in turn comes from the Arabic qahwa. The...
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Gastronomic dialectisms, the artichoke from Italy to the world
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Lingua del ciboBy artichoke, we commonly indicate the plant species Cynara cardunculus, a perennial plant of the Asteraceae. The Italian term is an Arabism which comes from ḫaršūf ( Enciclopedia Treccani, s.v. carciofo; DELIn, s.v. carciofo). There is no...
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Pizza, an Italian fairytale
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Lingua del ciboToday, pizza, is the best-known Italian word in the world and most representative dish of Italian cuisine. Its story is truly unusual and, in some ways, mysterious. Today's meaning of pizza, i.e. that of a 'round focaccia of leavened dough,...