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If you're craving a creamy, Italian comfort food dish, risotto is the way to go. The dish is made from short-grain rice, which is consistently stirred while broth or stock is gradually added. Common additions include mushrooms, onion, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Risotto first appeared sometime in the 14th century, when rice was introduced to Italy...

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Above the green hills of the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy, an agile farmer leaps across terraced lemon groves overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Balancing between one wooden pole and another, the not-so-young acrobat defies gravity, bending to pick lemons and transport them in crates weighing more than 25 kilograms (55 pounds) between vertical ga...

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Eggplant is undeniably one of the most popular vegetables used in Italian cuisine, especially during the summer, and eggplant cream takes it to a new level. There are classic eggplant recipes like eggplant Parmigiana or pasta alla Norma, but it's always fun to switch it up – chocolate eggplant parmigiana, anyone? The recipe isn't as contemporary as...

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The rate of coeliac disease among Italians is rising. Studies have found that what used to affect one percent of the population now affects 1.6%, in part thanks to Italy’s famed pizza and pasta, and the modified starch they contain. Being coeliac is taken so seriously in Italy that for the most impacted there’s a stipend of 140 euros available each...

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After a very challenging season, a handful of northern Italian olive oil producers struck gold at the 2022 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. Producers demonstrated their resilience in the face of weather extremes. However, the ungenerous spring and summer led to significantly lower yields in most areas of northern Italy. “It has been a very compl...

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Buoyed by falling euro quotations against the dollar, with a +19 percent jump Italian food exports achieve yet another historic record. More than a third of the value of the Italian F&B system is realized outside the borders of the European Union. This is according to an analysis by the Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti on the effects of the...

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As we all know: the Italian-based diet, especially the vegetables that are popular in Italian cuisine, are easy on the palate and easy to grow.  Yes, it’s safe to say Mediterranean vegetables are among the healthiest around. Here are a few facts you may not have known: Spinach You can grow the spinach indoors, that is the easiest way. This superfoo...

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On a warm April day, with poplar pollen cruising through the air like snowflakes in midwinter, Graziella Traini welcomed me to her farm in Montedinove, in the heart of Marche, a hilly region half the size of Tuscany, in central Italy. All around, towns and farmhouses stood on hilltops like meerkats scanning the horizon; as far as I could see, man-m...

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Italian producers won the highest number of awards for the sixth consecutive year at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. At the 2022 edition of the world’s largest olive oil quality competition, producers from Italy earned 158 Gold and Silver Awards. Spain came in second with 128 awards. However, this year’s tally represented a significant drop...

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Italy boasts a unique and unrepeatable heritage of biodiversity. More than 3 million hectares, or about 10.5 percent of the national surface area, are protected in Italy today, and this system complements the Natura 2000 Network, which covers a total area of about 6 million hectares, 19.3 percent of the national territory. About 21% of Italy's agri...

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