Veneto

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Venice is the land of mountains and rivers, creating an enviornment a perfect for rich foods . The Venetians inhabited this land many years ago, coming from Eastern Europe. They are known for very strong traditions, mainly due to their ability to keep their independence for a long time. Since the VI century BC, the Venetian people held a very strong political, ethnical, and cultural identity.

Unlike many other regions throughout Italy, the cuisine of Venice is very unified, where in other regions, each city has a different twist. Their cusine is built around trading on the sea; things like spices, techniques, and other foods were brought to Venice from other nations. The 4 main stables of their cuisine is built upon polenta, beans, stock fish, and rice. These 4 stables were shown throughout the dishes we made today, with each containing one of these ingredients.

Fun Fact of the Day 
List the DOP and IGP products of Venice. 
Due to their rich cultural history, it is to no surprise that their are many DOP and IGP denominations in Venice. Here are just a few:
Meats: 
Cotechino di Modena IGP
Mortadella di Bologna IGP 
Prosciutto Veneto Berico Euganeo DOP
Salame di Cremona IGP 
Soppressa Vicentina DOP 
Cheese: 
Asiago DOP 
Grana Padano DOP 
Provolone Valpadana DOP 
Vegetables: 
Asparago di Badoere IGP 
Radicchio di Chioggia IGP 

A traditional dish from Venice with very deep roots is moleche, a soft shell crab only harvested from April to May and October to November. The traditional preparation is just soaking the live crabs in egg, butter, and cheese overnight, then frying them in butter. 

Here is some research I did about wine of the region: 
My favorite part about the Venice region is the wines! They are known for their prosecco made with the glera grape. Venice is one of the largest produces of DOC wines in Italy. The region is protected from the harsh northen climate because of the Alps, setting the stage for a cooler climate, which is well suited for grape varietals like Garganega. In Venice, there are 2 different wine areas that are very recognizable: 
1. More eastern area, close the loagoon and between the hills of Treviso; This area produces prosecco and other grapes like Merlot, Verduzzo, Tocai, Verdiso, and Carmenere. 
2. More western area, close to Garda Lake and the city of Verona; Produces wines made with corvina, garganega, trebbiano of Soava, Oseleta, and Rondinella. 

Today I made a recipe traditional to Venice, verze sofegae. This is a very simple preparation made with savoy cabbage, lard, rosemary, and garlic. The flavor of the cabbage being braised in the lard is something exceptional. The flavor profile is very similar to spinach, but at a different level. This would be an excellent side dish with a hearty meat.

Overall, here are my final tasting notes on the region of Venice: 
- Red wine is used in a lot of the cooking preparations
- Both fish and meat are eaten fairly equally (unlike many other regions where one is more dominate than the other) 
- White polenta is very popular 
- Things are cooked with meat! (Both a fish and meat dish we made today was braised in milk)
- A lot of the veggies are braised 
- Herb used most: Sage! 

With love, 
Baylee

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