When eating enough wasn’t a certainty but only a possibility the talent of cooking new dishes with the leftovers was perfected almost to a fine art. In this way, they solved two requirements, using up the bits of what was produced by the sweat of the brow and doing something to please God Almighty who would not put up with any waste of food. He donates to us through nature. In other words, the chef, the creative source of inspiration at the basis of all cookery that makes a virtue of need, was poverty. In this area too, the cooking has been applied and adopted to combine the necessity of limited expenses with the natural search for results to satisfy the smell, the taste and that nondescript something that we call the soul.
Now, everything has changed radically, but the tradition of those simple dishes is alive, carried on with dignity by the women of local families or, at least, by those who are part of a rapidly changing society but do not want to lose this rich heritage belonging to the culture of food and therefore to the civilization of the usage and customs of a society that claims the right to be defined as such. On examining an ideal menu, created by the people of the Chianti, we can come across unforgettable encounters with rich vegetable soups, cooked on a low flame with some chopped vegetables, the ‘battuto’ and a lot of experience; we shall have the joy of seeing a fine array of soups which includes an indlsputable winner at the toll of the list, the famous ‘ribollita’, eaten the day after, this bread soup tastes even better. Then there is the ‘pappa al pomodoro’ tasting and smelling of basil, garlic and tomato and, also, ‘panzanella’, a choice peasant dish which testifies to what we have just said, seeing that bread that had been left over for a few days and had got too dry, was soaked, squeezed and seasoned with salt, basil, onions and tomatoes. An extremely simple tasty dish still served in the same way today, perhaps with the addition of a few vegetables, so as to give us the idea that we no longer live in the same straitened circumstances. The staple of all these dishes is bread, which in Tuscany is prepared without salt, in long, round or square loaves, baked in a wood oven when possible and always excellent but certainly better eaten the day after. Once the good smell of fresh bread has gone, the taste is even better, like a full-bodied wine that needs to be opened several hours before drinking, to reveal its persondity.
Bread is also the main ingredient in the ‘fettunta’: bread toasted over the embers, rubbed, still hot, with a clove of garlic and a drop of oil to enhance the taste of unseated bread and this simple masterpiece is ready to be sacrificed to any famished mouth. The ‘insaccati’, the cured ham and salami are among the most tasty in Italy. Meat dishes are not numerous but are the ‘forte’ of all good cuisine. Then, there is a vast choice of beef, pork, lamb, grilled or cooked in baking hot ovens or on the flame for our delight.
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See also:

Preserving Chianti Homemade Cooking, Culinary Vacation in Chianti, The Most Famous Butcher of Chianti in Panzano, Chianti Sheep and Pecorino Cheese, The Most Famous Butcher of Chianti in Panzano, Pigs of Chianti – Cinta, San Felice Chef: Antonio Fallini

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