Italy is the home of some globally-loved dishes. These include lasagne, spaghetti bolognese, pizza, and tiramisu. However, many don’t know that Italy has some interesting and unique dishes you can also find. Due to its variety of regions and the ingredients grown in these regions, there’s a host of unique Italian food you can try out when you next visit.
Top Six Unique Foods
We start with six Italian luxury food products you can only find in the country. If these make you crave authentic dishes, you can browse the unique Italian food | Dolceterra.com selection of products to order from.
National Specialties
Wherever you go in Italy you’re sure to find something delicious, like these dishes:
- Focaccia di Recco: We all know and love focaccia. However, Liguria adds a twist to this beloved bread with the town’s thin-baked focaccia. Unlike the standard dish, it has a layer of creamy cheese called crescenza in the middle.
- Spezzatino Alla Veneta: If you want a nostalgic taste when visiting the best European spots, Italy’s version of beef stew is just the thing. They boil small cubes of veal or chuck shoulder beef for hours in a tomato, wine, herbs, and vegetable broth. They conventionally serve the stew over rice, potatoes, or soft polenta.
- Bottarga: An interesting yet delicious dish you should try is this dried and salted tuna roe garnish. Traditionally, Italians grate this product over risotto, pasta, and antipasti dishes like you would cheese.
- Canederli: Leftover bread never gets wasted in Trentino-Alto Adige. Instead, this region mixes the bread with milk and eggs to create a new bread dumpling dish. They add spices, cheese, and smoked ham for extra flavor and boil it in beef or chicken broth.
- Maccheroni di San Giuseppe con La Mollica: Do you know sweet pasta? We certainly didn’t until we heard about this spaghetti dish tossed in a sweet sauce. The sauce contains honey, oil, raisins, and breadcrumbs.
- Cicerchiata: Another unique Italian food is small, honeyed, fried doughballs placed in a ring on the plate. The result resembles chickpeas, but it’s topped with colorful sprinkles and is a dessert.
Two Weird But Unique Foods
There are many Italian luxury food options that we would love to try. However, a few sound pretty weird, though reportedly delicious.
- Lampredotto: This traditional dish is made from a cow’s fourth stomach. The stomach is boiled in water with parsley, tomatoes, celery, and onion before being served over rigatoni pasta or a bread roll.
- Pani Cà Meusa: It’s an Italian street food sandwich made with spleen. Many love this local delicacy, served on a sesame roll with the spleen and veal lung fried in lard. The last step is grating some Caciocavallo cheese on top.
Enjoy a Bite of Italy at Home
While unique Italian food only appears in Italy, that doesn’t mean you can’t try it in the US. Various sites like Dolceterra sell authentic Italian ingredients. Who knows, you might be able to try your hand at recreating these dishes—at least until you can visit Italy and try them yourself.
