Most non-Italians can identify with the variety of differing Italian foods on offer in both Italy and in many other countries around the world. The Italian diaspora has ensured that Italian food is popular in so many countries around the world. If you are a non Italian you could easily be forgiven for thinking that pasta equates to Italy as roast beef does to the English.

Nothing could be further from the truth – as if you are English you could attest too. What about Lancashire Hot Pot you might say. Or Haggis if you were Scottish.

Well – Italian food also has regional differences and subtleties just as much as British food does. In fact though some dishes are peculiar to a particular region (wild Boar dishes to the North of the country for instance) other commonly known dishes actually have huge local differences. Perhaps the presence or absence or a perfumed herb, or a particular kind of tomato. Perhaps the meat is slow roasted separately before being added to the dish at the last minute in one village, and cooked as part of the whole dish in the next.

However it is also true to say that whilst some dishes have large regional variations some dishes are ubiquitously Italian. However some of these dishes, history tells us, did start out in particular Italian locations. Pizza for example. Commonly believed – in Italy anyway – to have originated in Naples but now found all over the country – not to mention the world. Risotto too – commonly held to have originated in Milan, and now found the world over – though perhaps not as widely eaten as Pizza (no fast food risotto restaurants!). Like many other gastronomic cultures, Italian food has been influenced by a lot of other different styles including North African cookery and of course in coastal areas of Italy – beautiful and mouth watering fish dishes mixed with pasta – the delightful pasta Vongole for instance, which as long as you are partial to shellfish is the most mouth watering way to eat clams.

Calamari is another Italian favourite. Cooked with garlic, olive oil parsley and lemon juice the secret ingredient is actually cayenne pepper. It would not be unfair to say that Italian food whatever part of the world you happen to be living in, is amongst the tastiest there is – but then perhaps I’m biased.

Evan Righter has been reviewing Italian cookery at cookery schools in London.

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