Pizza VS Polenta

Every region, as we know, has its own typical dishes, symbols of tradition, but two, in particular, have become synonymous, respectively, with Southern and Northern Italy: we're talking about pizza and polenta.

by Silvia Semonella

Pizza

Recently added by Unesco to the list of "World Heritage" traditions, together with the art of Neapolitan pizza-makers, pizza is known throughout the world and is the symbol of the South and, in particular, of the city of Naples. It consists of a dough, usually made from flour and water, which is rolled out and topped with tomato, mozzarella and other ingredients, then baked in a wood-fired oven.

The etymology of the name "pizza" is said, by some, to derive from pinsa (from the Neapolitan language), the past participle of the Latin verb pinsere, or from the verb "pansere" (meaning to pound, crush, press), which in turn is borrowed from pita (Mediterranean and Balkan), of Greek origin; according to this latter theory, the word would derive from Hebrew, Arabic and the Greek πίτα.

The origin of pizza is mysterious and, according to the earliest written records, the word was first used in the city of Gaeta, in 997.

Although it's now a product enjoyed almost all over the world, pizza is a dish originating from Neapolitan cuisine. The best-known variety is certainly the Margherita, topped with tomato, mozzarella (in the traditional recipe, not buffalo mozzarella but fior di latte) fresh basil, salt and oil.

Tradition has it that, in June 1889, to honour the Queen of Italy, Margherita di Savoia, the chef Raffaele Esposito of the Pizzeria Brandi invented a dish which he named precisely Pizza Margherita. Tomato, mozzarella and basil represented the same colours as the Italian flag. The philologist Emanuele Rocco, in the second volume of the book “Usi e costumi di Napoli e contorni descritti e dipinti” (Customs and traditions of Naples and its surroundings, described and illustrated) by Francesco De Bourcard, published in 1858, wrote about various topping combinations with different ingredients:

“Le pizze più ordinarie, dette coll'aglio e l'oglio, han per condimento l'olio, e sopra vi si sparge, oltre il sale, l'origano e spicchi d'aglio trinciati minutamente. Altre sono coperte di formaggio grattugiato e condite collo strutto, e allora vi si pone disopra qualche foglia di basilico. Alle prime spesso si aggiunge del pesce minuto; alle seconde delle sottili fette di mozzarella. Talora si fa uso di prosciutto affettato, di pomidoro (pomodoro), di arselle, ec. Talora ripiegando la pasta su se stessa se ne forma quel che chiamasi calzone.” (The most ordinary pizzas, called garlic and oil, are topped with oil, and sprinkled over with, besides salt, oregano and finely chopped garlic cloves. Others are covered with grated cheese and seasoned with lard, with a leaf or two of basil placed on top. To the first, small fish are often added; to the second, thin slices of mozzarella. Sometimes sliced ham is used, or tomatoes, or clams, etc. Sometimes the dough is folded over itself to form what is called a calzone.)

Polenta

Polenta, on the other hand, is an ancient dish of Italian origin made from cereal flour.

A dish fairly widespread throughout Italy, it was certainly, for a very long time, the staple food of people's diets in certain northern alpine, pre-alpine, lowland and Apennine areas of Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, Trentino, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Marche and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The term "polenta" derives from the Latin puls, a kind of spelt polenta (in Latin far, from which "farina", meaning flour, is also derived) which formed the basis of the diet of ancient Italic peoples. The Greeks, on the other hand, usually used barley.

All of this, of course, was before the arrival of maize, introduced into Europe after the discovery of America.

The most common variety in Europe is the so-called “yellow polenta”, made from maize, which is cooked in a large pot, in boiling water, stirred continuously for at least an hour.

Usually stone-ground, it is served covered with a cloth and there are several variants: polenta alla carbonara, made with maize flour, pork, bacon and grated cheese, typical of the Marche region, polenta taragna, white polenta, made with flour from Biancoperla maize, which is, indeed, white in colour, polenta e osei (polenta with small birds), polenta cropa, polenta uncia, polenta e bruscitti, made with chopped meat, typical of the Varese area and upper Milan region, buckwheat polenta, frascatula and Sardinian polenta.

Polenta taragna is typical of Valtellina and Lecco, but also of the Brescia and Bergamo areas, and its name derives from the tarai (tarell), a long stick used to stir it inside the copper pot in which it is prepared. Made with a mixture of flours, including buckwheat flour, it therefore has a typically dark colour, unlike yellow polenta.

Polenta e osei, finally, is perhaps the best-known version. Typical of the Bergamo area, it is characterised by being served alongside birds commonly found in the local plains, such as pheasants. The variant with rabbit or braised and roasted meats is also very popular.