Italian friselle (or freselle, frisedde, fresedde, frise) is a typical tarallo made essentially of durum wheat, combined in varying quantities with barley.
Many of the most famous italian traditional dishes and recipes take their name from a city: bistecca alla fiorentina, spaghetti all'amatriciana, prosciutto di Parma to just name a few.
That is, I, being Italian, can tell that it is not just food that we are talking about here: it is rather about a food culture that goes proudly along with an intimate connection italians have with the territory, the peoples and their roots.
For the foreign visitor, a villa among the hills surrounded by the rural idyll of nature and the farmers' simple and genuine lifestyle is perhaps the exemplification of all that italian culinary tradition represents.
My recommendation to you, if you're willing to discover the traditional, genuine history of italian food, is not just to walk through the woods and the hills in Tuscany, but to walk through the many cities of the italian peninsula, smelling and tasting their specialties and listening to the stories about them and the people who created and still maintain them alive.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
Truth is, Italy has become a model to imitate in the way ingredients are to be prepared, cooked and then consumed in company.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
Malnourishment and hunger are fundamental elements of the italian food history and all our accounts proceed through the food habits of the dominators and of the dominated, through the daily alimentation and the meals of the higher classes.
This image evocates the myth of a lifestyle been built on thousands of small rural traditions and identifies the italian food history as fundamentally linked to the agricultural and the farmers' traditions.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
In the end, this is the beauty of this journey: we will not reach a destination, but will always find new starting points.
Friselle have a characteristic shape, derived from their production process: they are typically circular and with a hole at their center.
Indeed these products are traditional and follow long prescribed preparation methods and processes, but observing more closely we will together discover that italian food history and, for that matter, of Italy in general, is less of a simple farmers' tradition as we think.
A FARMERS' TRADITION?
Sizes are variable: friselles diameter and their holes diameter can vary from 5-10 centimeters to 20 or more.
But it would be nave to believe that such a literature was produced either produced for the masses or that it represented the eating habits of vast portions of the population.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
And again, it is not a coincidence that the recipes described in these books were very similar to each other: if you think about it, this fact is hardly surprising.If it's true that these books were if not commissioned at least, certainly, endorsed by those who could afford gastronomy as opposed to a simple diet, then you will not fail to notice that the public to which the subject of these works appealed was neither too wide, nor disconnected.
Up to the first half of the 17 century, and by looking at the first documentations produced in 1861 (just after Italy's Unification) to give an account of the status of the italian population, endless accounts can be read of how precarious and poor the dietary conditions of the common people in the countryside were.
The poverty of farmers' diet is still today echoed in many of the proverbs that have been handed down.
This fashion for spices was in a large part due to the desire to touch, feel, possess the exotic, whatever it was. Courts in medieval Italy (and across Europe) were resting on the everlasting battles to be recognised as the most rich, noticeable and extraordinary.
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
A history of italian food that only covered what farmers used to eat in the countryside would risk to sound a bit monotonous and awkward, to the modern passionate: long chapters on vegetarian soups and breads prepared from lower quality ingredients would be present and this is not what I want to give you here.
Many of the most famous italian traditional dishes and recipes take their name from a city: bistecca alla fiorentina, spaghetti all'amatriciana, prosciutto di Parma to just name a few.
That is, I, being Italian, can tell that it is not just food that we are talking about here: it is rather about a food culture that goes proudly along with an intimate connection italians have with the territory, the peoples and their roots.
For the foreign visitor, a villa among the hills surrounded by the rural idyll of nature and the farmers' simple and genuine lifestyle is perhaps the exemplification of all that italian culinary tradition represents.
My recommendation to you, if you're willing to discover the traditional, genuine history of italian food, is not just to walk through the woods and the hills in Tuscany, but to walk through the many cities of the italian peninsula, smelling and tasting their specialties and listening to the stories about them and the people who created and still maintain them alive.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
Truth is, Italy has become a model to imitate in the way ingredients are to be prepared, cooked and then consumed in company.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
Malnourishment and hunger are fundamental elements of the italian food history and all our accounts proceed through the food habits of the dominators and of the dominated, through the daily alimentation and the meals of the higher classes.
This image evocates the myth of a lifestyle been built on thousands of small rural traditions and identifies the italian food history as fundamentally linked to the agricultural and the farmers' traditions.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
In the end, this is the beauty of this journey: we will not reach a destination, but will always find new starting points.
Friselle have a characteristic shape, derived from their production process: they are typically circular and with a hole at their center.
Indeed these products are traditional and follow long prescribed preparation methods and processes, but observing more closely we will together discover that italian food history and, for that matter, of Italy in general, is less of a simple farmers' tradition as we think.
A FARMERS' TRADITION?
Sizes are variable: friselles diameter and their holes diameter can vary from 5-10 centimeters to 20 or more.
But it would be nave to believe that such a literature was produced either produced for the masses or that it represented the eating habits of vast portions of the population.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
And again, it is not a coincidence that the recipes described in these books were very similar to each other: if you think about it, this fact is hardly surprising.If it's true that these books were if not commissioned at least, certainly, endorsed by those who could afford gastronomy as opposed to a simple diet, then you will not fail to notice that the public to which the subject of these works appealed was neither too wide, nor disconnected.
Up to the first half of the 17 century, and by looking at the first documentations produced in 1861 (just after Italy's Unification) to give an account of the status of the italian population, endless accounts can be read of how precarious and poor the dietary conditions of the common people in the countryside were.
The poverty of farmers' diet is still today echoed in many of the proverbs that have been handed down.
This fashion for spices was in a large part due to the desire to touch, feel, possess the exotic, whatever it was. Courts in medieval Italy (and across Europe) were resting on the everlasting battles to be recognised as the most rich, noticeable and extraordinary.
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
A history of italian food that only covered what farmers used to eat in the countryside would risk to sound a bit monotonous and awkward, to the modern passionate: long chapters on vegetarian soups and breads prepared from lower quality ingredients would be present and this is not what I want to give you here.
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Many of you are probably researching about Italian food traditions. You can find some of the best information that you are looking for about these traditions on the Internet.
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