Historical notes on Ligurian cooking
The cuisine of Liguria is a classic cucina povera (peasant cooking), based almost exclusively on local products that are cultivated on small parcels of land literally carved out of the sea and the mountains. During the Marine Republics in the 1200s, Genoa became the preeminent harbour of the Mediterranean, enjoying flourishing trade with the known world of the time and discovering foodstuffs such as baccalà and stoccafisso which were reworked, with a touch of originality, to become the base for buridda soup.
Another of the region’s most popular dishes also derives from the time of the Marine Republics: farinata di ceci, which – according to popular legend – was the result of an unusual incident. Returning victorious from the Battle of Meloria against Pisa in 1284 the Genoan fleet was caught in a violent storm. Sacks of chickpea flour on board were upended, their contents mixing with that of barrels of olive oil and soaking up the seawater that had come in. Once the sea had calmed, the sailors were given a bowl of this practically inedible mixture as a meal. Taken up to deck, the mixture dried in the sun transforming into a tasty focaccia. The recipe was developed and declined in various versions, later spreading across Italy. In addition to the farinata di ceci, whose high protein content made it the breakfast of choice for Genoa’s port workers, the camalli, a very similar procedure lead to the castagnaccio, a sugarless dessert of chestnut flour, sultanas, pine nuts, oil and rosemary developed in Lunigiana and the area around La Spezia, places with an abundance of chestnuts.
Another significant influence came from the previously unknown elements brought by Christopher Columbus from the Americas. Two products in particular, the tomato and the potato, indelibly marked the gastronomical – and also the political and social – history of the Old Continent. Columbus brought dozens of exotic products like tobacco, corn, cacao, pumpkin, bell peppers, to mention just a few of the key elements.
Ligurian cooks were extremely sought after during the Renaissance, as they were considered the bearers of an original and most desirable gastronomic culture. However, the classic Ligurian recipes were only systematically organized in the 1700s as Vincenzo Agnoletti notes in his La nuova cucina economica. These are recipes that demonstrate little influence of neighbouring French cuisine, dishes created with an abundant use of olive oil and exclusively from local foodstuffs, emblematic of the history and geography of a region which, thanks to a microclimate unique in Northern Italy, produces a variety of fruit and vegetables that accounts for almost all the cultivated land.
