How is Italian food in the south of Italy compare to the north of the country?

Answer 1

Southern Italian cooking is largely (although by no means exclusively) vegetarian. Beans, capsicums (peppers), eggplants, zucchini, olives, garlic and olive oil are mainstays of cooking. When meat is used, it is often the poorer cuts of meat, but slow cooked- it is important to note that although the meat might be a cheaper cut, it is not inferior meat- the southern Italian people are masters of using what they have to achieve an optimal result. The cooking reflects the traditionally poorer socio-economic status of the south. The style is more mediterranean and is almost a fusion between Greek and Spanish cooking. The north is traditionally more wealthy than the south, and tends to cook a lot more like the French and Germans. Foods are richer, with butter, cheese, cream, and a lot more meat is used in Northern Italian cooking. Also, polenta is consumed regularly by many northerners, often as a main source of carbohydrates, in place of rice or pasta.