0_Wizard
I love Italian food! Even though it's so good, it's often so simple! Many dishes have only two to four main ingredients!
Italian cuisine is characterized by its simplicity, with many dishes having only two to four main ingredients.
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Italian cuisine
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Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine is food typical from Italy. It has developed through centuries of social and economic changes, with roots stretching to antiquity. Significant changes occurred with the discovery of the New World and the introduction of potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, maize and sugar beet, this last introduced in quantity in the 18th century. Italian cuisine is known for its regional diversity, especially between the north and the south of the Italian peninsula. It offers an abundance of taste, and is one of the most popular and copied in the world. It influenced several cuisines around the world chiefly that of the United States.
Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David, CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes. Born to an upper-class family, David rebelled against social norms of the day. In the 1930s she studied art in Paris, became an actress, and ran off with a married man with whom she sailed in a small boat to Italy, where their boat was confiscated. They reached Greece, where they were nearly trapped by the German invasion in 1941, but escaped to Egypt, where they parted.
Thai cuisine
Thai cuisine (, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand. Balance, detail, and variety are of paramount significance to Thai chefs. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components and a spicy edge. Thai chef McDang characterises Thai food as demonstrating "intricacy; attention to detail; texture; color; taste; and the use of ingredients with medicinal benefits, as well as good flavor", as well as care being given to the food's appearance, smell and context. Australian chef David Thompson, an expert on Thai food, observes that unlike many other cuisines, Thai cooking rejects simplicity and is about "the juggling of disparate elements to create a harmonious finish".
Indonesian cuisine
Indonesian cuisine is one of the most vibrant and colourful cuisines in the world, full of intense flavour. It is eclectic and diverse, in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 populated islands of the total 17,508 in the world's largest archipelago, with more than 300 ethnic groups calling Indonesia home. Many regional cuisines exist, often based upon indigenous culture and foreign influences. Indonesia has around 5,350 traditional recipes, with 30 of them considered the most important. Indonesia's cuisine may include rice, noodle and soup dishes in modest local eateries to street-side snacks and top-dollar plates.
Vietnamese cuisine
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages of Vietnam, and features a combination of five fundamental tastes (Vietnamese: "ngũ vị") in the overall meal. Each Vietnamese dish has a distinctive flavor which reflects one or more of these elements. Common ingredients include fish sauce, shrimp paste, soy sauce, rice, fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables. Vietnamese recipes use lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, Saigon cinnamon, bird's eye chili, lime, and Thai basil leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking is greatly admired for its fresh ingredients, minimal use of dairy and oil, complementary textures, and reliance on herbs and vegetables.
Offal
Offal , also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs excluding muscle and bone. As an English mass noun, the term "offal" has no plural form. Some cultures strongly consider offal as food to be taboo, while others use it as everyday food, or in delicacies. Certain offal dishes—including "foie gras", "pâté" and sweetbread—are considered gourmet food in international cuisine. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine and may be consumed especially in connection with holidays.
Filipino cuisine
Filipino cuisine (Filipino: "Lutuing Filipino" or "Pagkaing Filipino") is composed of the cuisines of 135 distinct ethno-linguistic tribes found within the Philippine archipelago, however, majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Filipino cuisine are from the cuisines of the Bikol, Chabakano, Hiligaynon, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Meranaw, Pangasinan, Sebwano (or Bisaya), Tagalog, and Waray ethno-linguistic tribes. The style of cooking and the food associated with it have evolved over many centuries from their Austronesian origins (shared with Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines) to a mixed cuisine of Indian, Chinese, Spanish, and American influences, in line with the major waves of influence that had enriched the cultures of the archipelago, as well as others adapted to indigenous ingredients and the local palate.
1_Apprentice
I don't know a lot about Italian food, other than I like it.  Are there a lot of regional variations?
0_Wizard
Yes! There are actually huge variations! Especially between the north and south parts of the Italian peninsula.
Italian cuisine is known for its regional diversity, especially between the north and the south of the Italian peninsula.
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Italian cuisine
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History of Italy
Since classical times, ancient Greeks, Etruscans and Celts established settlements in the south, the centre and the north of Italy respectively, while various ancient Italian tribes and Italic peoples inhabitated the Italian peninsula and insular Italy. The Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the city of Rome as a Kingdom, which eventually became a Republic that united Italy by the third century BC and emerged as the dominant power of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea as a consequence of the military victories of generals such as Scipio, Aemilius Paullus, Scipio Aemilianus, Gaius Marius, Lucius Sulla, Pompey and Julius Caesar.
Socii
The socii ( in Classical Latin; in Italian Latin; in English; "allies") were the autonomous tribes and city-states of the Italian Peninsula in permanent military alliance with the Roman Republic until the Social War of 91–88 BCE. After this conflict, all Rome's peninsular Italian allies were awarded Roman citizenship and their territories incorporated in the Roman state. The Romans themselves referred to their confederates as the "socii Latini" ("Latin allies"), although most were not members of the Latin tribe strictly speaking, but members of various other Italian tribes and city-states. In everyday usage, the word socius could mean "associate" or "partner" in general.
Italians
The Italians ( ) are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy, who share a common culture, history, ancestry and language. Legally, all Italian nationals are citizens of the Italian Republic, regardless of ancestry or nation of residence (though the principle of jus sanguinis is used extensively and arguably more favourably in the Italian nationality law), and are distinguished from people of Italian descent and from ethnic Italians living in territories adjacent to the Italian Peninsula. The majority of Italian nationals are native speakers of Standard Italian though some Italians are also proficient in other languages native to Italy (often colloquially referred to as "Italian dialects").
Italy
Italy ( ; ), officially the Italian Republic (), is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants it is the fourth most populous EU member state. Since classical times, ancient Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Greeks established settlements in the south of Italy, with Etruscans and Celts inhabiting the centre and the north of Italy respectively and various ancient Italian tribes and Italic peoples dispersed throughout the Italian Peninsula and insular Italy.
History of Rome
During the 5th century BC, Rome gained regional dominance in Latium, and eventually the entire Italian peninsula by the 3rd century BC. The population of the city at this point is estimated at about 310,000 people. With the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 BC, Rome gained dominance over the Western Mediterranean, displacing Carthage as the dominant regional power. The Roman Empire was established under Octavian in 27 BC, after Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul, followed by a period of civil war. The city of Rome now surpassed a population of one million, likely the first city in history to reach this size (compared to world population of about 200–300 million at the time).
Culture of Italy
Italy is considered the birthplace of Western civilization and a cultural superpower. Italy has been the starting point of phenomena of international impact such as the Magna Graecia, the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, the Renaissance, the Risorgimento and the European integration. During its history, the nation gave birth to an enormous number of notable people. Both the internal and external faces of Western culture were born on the Italian peninsula, whether one looks at the history of the Christian faith, civil institutions (such as the Senate), philosophy, law, art, science, or social customs and culture.
Military history of Italy
The military history of Italy chronicles a vast time period, lasting from the overthrow of Tarquinius Superbus in 509 BC, through the Roman Empire, Italian unification, and into the modern day. The Italian peninsula has been a centre of military conflict throughout European history: because of this, Italy has a long military tradition  In the 8th century BC, a group of Italic tribes (Latins in the west, Sabines in the upper valley of the Tiber, Umbrians in the north-east, Samnites in the South, Oscans and others) shared the Italian peninsula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans in the North, and the Greeks in the south.
1_Apprentice
What are some of the variations?  Do all regions focus on tomatoes and pasta?