THE RUSTIC FLAVOURS OF LORENCE
Nothing goes to waste in this traditional and earthy style of cooking
Florence is at the heart of Italy’s Tuscany region. Birthplace of the Renaissance, the storied city’s art and architecture have long drawn travellers.
Excellent olive oil, world-renowned wine and plentiful fresh produce make it a destination for food lovers. The cuisine is simple and unpretentious, and like the city itself, steeped in history and tradition.
In Florentine (Hardie Grant/ Chronicle Books, 2016), author Emiko Davies takes readers on a trip to the stunning Tuscan capital, which has been her home for the past 11 years. She offers a window into its pastry shops, bakeries, markets, trattorie (small Italian restaurants), butcher shops, enoteche (wine bars) and street food scene in her debut cookbook.
The recipes in Florentine, as on Davies’ popular food blog (emikodavies.com), represent both regional and historical dishes.
Some were inspired by her husband Marco’s Tuscan family, while others are rooted in historical references, such as carabaccia (a Renaissance soup rumoured to have been Leonardo da Vinci’s favourite).
Others yet were adapted from Pellegrino Artusi’s 19-century cookbook, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (University of Toronto Press, 2003). Polpette di trippa (tripe meatballs) is one such recipe, which Artusi himself found in a cookbook from 1694.
True to its medieval origins, nothing is wasted in Florentine cooking. It’s “earthy and rustic,” Davies writes, and its cooks are “masters of thrift.”
There are even uses for the water you’ve cooked beans in, and several of Davies’ recipes call for “the precious liquid.” Leftover polenta can be set and enjoyed the next day in a manner similar to crostini. Stale bread is added to soups for body.
Davies grew up in Beijing, China, in “an international household” — her mother is Japanese and her father Australian. After studying fine art in the U.S., she moved to Italy where she says she quickly felt at home.
When she started familiarizing herself with Florentine food ways, one thing immediately struck her: There is no such thing as Italian cuisine, but rather it consists of 20 different regional cuisines.
“One of the best ways to travel in Italy is to eat your way through each town — and not just each region but each town. Because every single town, no matter how small, will have its specialty that you can only find in that town. That’s something that I really, really love about Italy,” she says.
“Even within Tuscany, travelling from one town to another … say you travel from Florence to Arezzo or to Pisa or to Livorno, you’ll find different dishes in every town.
“And that’s what I wanted to really show in Florentine — that this is Florentine cuisine. This is what you find in Florence.”