Local traditions and culture in Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Although Italy is known to be the heaven of pizza and pasta, there is one special dish that must be mentioned of Northern Italy. That is "polenta"! In ancient times, what would later be called as polenta started out as one of the earliest and simplest foods made from grain. Made from wild grains and later from primitive wheat, faro (a popular Italian grain), millet, spelt or chickpeas, the grain was mixed with water to form a paste that was then cooked on a hot stone.

In Roman times, polenta was the staple of the mighty Roman Legions and would eat it in a hard cake like form, much like today. By this time, milling techniques had greatly improved and the course grind favored for polenta had mostly been replaced by flour. However even though bread was widely available in Ancient Rome, the legions and the poor people preferred the simplicity and tastiness of polenta. For the next few centuries, nothing changed in the history of polenta, much like the living conditions of those who ate it most: the peasants.

I learned about polenta when a friend from Udine cooked it for us using his mum's "paiolo". Paiolo is the round bottom copper pot used for cooking polenta, accompanied by a long wooden spoon known as "tarello". This is the traditional way of cooking polenta and it requires some serious patience as you need to stir it slowly for about an hour. I had the chance to taste polenta prepared in this traditional way. My friend, Alessandro is a patient guy:) He also told us that many poor people survived in Northern Italy during the second world war thanks to polenta.

If you are too lazy to go for the traditional way and still wonder the taste, you can find instant potenta in supermarkets. I'm sure the taste wouldn't be that good though!

P.S.: I still have to find the photos I took when Ale was cooking us polenta. Till I find those, I'm gonna use the ones I found on the net.