“QUANDO SENTITE PARLARE DELLA CUCINA BOLOGNESE
FATE UNA RIVERENZA, CHE SE LA MERITA”.
Pellegrino Artusi
BOLOGNA, LA CAPITALE GASTRONOMICA D'ITALIA
The presence of churches, historical buildings , monuments and art are symbols of an ancient city such as Bologna that hosts the world's oldest university.
Another aspect that makes Bologna a wonderful and great city is the gastronomic aspect. In fact Bologna is the food capital city of Italy.
The Medieval charm of this city center goes very well with the huge culinary patrimony that characterized Bologna.
If you are always on a diet and you care too much about calories you should stay away from "La Grassa" (the fat city) , but if you are not you will be generously rewarded from the extraordinary culinary culture of the city.
To expose all the culinary excellences of gastronomic culture of Bologna , I will have to keep on writing and you will have to read pages and pages of words. There are in fact, multiple legends regarding the origins of Tortellini, Tagliatelle and many many other dishes.
The tangible detail we can tell for sure is that the culinary fame of this city has its roots in the medieval time , when at the court of rich and powerful families, history says, the best and well known chefs were already pleasing those fortunates with their skills.
THE BELLY BUTTON OF CASTELFRANCO EMILIA
One of the most famous dishes that characterized the culinary tradition of the area is the Tortellino Tradizionale di Castelfranco Emilia, village that, at the time, was under the government of Bologna. This dish has a very ancient origin indeed, the first writings of this dish are around the year 1200. The peculiarity of this kind of pasta is the legend that explains why it has the shape of a belly button. the legend says that a beautiful woman, tired of her long journey , was searching for a place to sleep and she went in a "Locanda" where the "oste" accompanied her to her room and, almost shocked from her beauty , he was spying her from the keyhole. The only thing he managed to see was her belly button. He made his way back to the kitchen and with the local ingredients he had, he prepared small squares of egg pasta filled with raw ham from Modena, Parmesan cheese, Mortadella di Bologna and other ingredients. The final touch? he made this little filled pasta squares "dancing"around his fingers and he finally he recreated that perfect belly button.
TAGLIATELLE TRADIZIONALI AL RAGÙ
TORTELLONI ORO E ORO NERO