1. Guide to the base food of Italian cuisine

2. The territory: the “Tuscia romana” Known by that name since the Middle Ages, the Roman Tuscia, that land of the Etruscans, covers a territory that extends from Allumiere and Tolfa, until Canale Monterano and Manziana, to get to the municipalities that border the lake, Bracciano, Anguillara sabazia, Trevignano Romano and that through the ancient Via Clodia includes Oriolo Romano, Vejano, Bassano Romano, Romano Barbarano, Blera and Villa San Giovanni in Tuscia; today, in the third millennium, it remains an original and genuine place, rich in traditions, places to visit and good things to taste and discover. The products of agriculture, fisheries and our craftsmen, still have the taste of our land: land of Tuscia..

3. Bread’s history The bread was known to homo erectus, who was preparing grinding grain between two stones with water, then baking the dough on a hot stone. Around 3500 BC Egyptians discovered fermentation, a fresh baked dough left the next day, it was more soft and fragrant. To the Egyptians the bread was not only a source of food but also of wealth. From Egypt the art of baking passed in Greece. The Greeks became very good bakers, produced more than 70 qualities. Posted at bases recipe ingredients like milk, oil, cheese, herbs and honey. They were also the first to bake bread at night. Bread spread even among the Romans and after the fall of the Roman Empire, the bread became the food of the peasants, even if it was different from that of our days as were used for low value cereals such as millet.

4. The bread Bread has always been the staple of our diet, in fact, every Italian family has a center table a basket of bread. We find at least a different kind in any country if not in every home, our bread is typical of Allumiere, recognizable by the characteristic yellow color, it is produced with durum wheat flour; the other typical bread is the filone sciapo, made from wheat flour and without salt.

5. The firewood furnace’s history The earliest forms of furnace back to Ancient Egypt: they were cone-shaped and made of clay, the upper part, where you put the food was divided by the bottom, where there was a fire, by a stone that sent the heat at the top and in this way they cooked food. The Greeks inherited the art of construction of the furnace and perfected it introducing the dome and the room unique. With the passage of time the furnace was perfected up to the modern bakery

6. The traditional firewood furnace The traditional wood-burning oven, used until about 20 years ago, but still used in some traditional ovens, had an ideal structure to cook evenly and retain heat. Oval, was isolated from natural materials, the foundation was cooked, because she had to absorb the moisture in the bread. It wiping with a cloth moistened with water and attached to the end of a stick called monnolo. It burned only wood of oak and other trees sweet.

7. The “mola” The “mola” is a revolving stone rubbing, crushing the grain to produce flour was introduced in the East to replace tools such as mortars that had a little more yield. The “mola” was used in various ways, first were slaves or animals to make it turn, then it was applied to windmills or watermills.

8. Ingredients The bread is made with a few simple ingredients and for their simplicity the bread is so widespread; the ingredients used are different from place to place, but the main ones are: Flour: the most used is that of wheat, but there are also using other. Yeast: can of beer or natural; despite it being a main ingredient it isn’t used sometimes and in such cases we have the unleavened bread, which is lighter and quicker to prepare. Water: is the ingredient that never missing and never varies. There are others ingredients that are used or not used according to the traditions of the place; some ingredients are salt, olives, cheese, honey, but there are many others.

9. The long chain and the short chain The chain is the set of companies which would create and market a product. A long chain is a set of companies that produce an object at long distance between them, while the short chain, the distance is minimal. Today, most of these companies is a long chain, this involves some advantages but also some disadvantages, namely: Advantages Greater diversity of foods, such as in Rome you can have products such as bananas that at Rome never grow More work, in fact, the long chain employs many people, such as truck drivers, who otherwise would find themselves unemployed More money to farmers who would not sell the local products if they would sell only in the local area Disadvantages: Increased cost of the product An environmental problem, in fact the transport produces exhaust The products, having to be transported for several days, when we bought them they aren’t fresh Sometimes the products they transport that could easily be avoided, for example the case that produced an orange in Sicily should go to the head office which is located in Milan, before returning to Sicily, where it is sold The short chain remedy the disadvantages of that long because the cost of products is less and less as the transport so there is less exhaust gas and the products arrive fresh, but the benefits of long chain are the disadvantages of that court. In conclusion, at least in my opinion, you should use the short chain whenever possible and, although the latter can not fully replace the chain long, would be a start.