 A Brief History of Tuscany Cuisine
The Etruscan had a cuisine made with wild boars and hares. The wild boar was the favorite meat in the Etruscan cuisine. Most of the territory was covered by woods where the boars were numerous and the Etruscans hunted them with the help of ferocious dogs- probably Assyrian mastiffs.
In the 1300s, Florence became one of the most important centers of world culture
international city that attracted tourists and merchants
with
its boundless beauty and endless possibilities. Fresh fish and seafood, meat and
poultry, vegetables, cheese, and freshly pressed extra-virgin olive oil were
sold in the town markets. At this early time, there were already some exquisite
convenience foods ready to be purchased: cooked spinach and Swiss chard could be
bought alongside herb sauces in the city's shops and on street corners. Fridays
and Saturdays were both meatless days, giving rise to a wealth of typically
Tuscan fish specialties that are prepared to this day: baccala in zimino,
cacciucco, and a number of grilled, fried, and braised dishes that made the most
of the offerings of the Arno river and the Mediterranean. The Medieval pie is a fine expression of the
extravagant foods of this time.
In 1434, Cosimo de' Medici became the Signore of the city and
did much to make his beloved Florence powerful and prestigious. Two of the
dishes that have made Tuscany famous reflect Florence's prominence as an
international city. Florentines had long been cooking a perfectly roasted pork
loin when Cosimo de' Medici persuaded the Pope to move the Ecumenical Council of
the Greek and Roman Churches to Florence in 1440. When the Council met in
Florence, this treasure of Tuscan cooking was baptized by visiting Greek priests
who exclaimed "aristos!" (magnificent, splendid) upon biting into the crisp,
moist meat. Thus was born the name arista, a name still used after five
centuries. The splendor of the Renaissance cuisine is still in vogue today with faraona alla prugna and insalata reale.
 A similar story can be told about Florence's famous grilled steak, made from the
prized Val di Chiana beef. The year was 1500, the day of the feast of San
Lorenzo; the streets of Florence were crowded with tourists and celebrants. Beef
was grilling in the Square of San Lorenzo. Some English tourists had the fortune
of savoring the succulent grilled meat, and upon finishing their portion
demanded more "beef steak, beef steak, beef steak." Over the years the
Florentines transformed the words beef steak into bistecca, and their bistecca
alla fiorentina is still renowned throughout Italy.
In 1533 Caterina de' Medici married the future King of France
and moved to Paris, followed by her troop of chefs. A lover of fine food and
drink, Caterina revolutionized the essentially medieval cooking of France and
transformed it into a refined cuisine. France owes many of its basic ingredients
and signature dishes to Caterina's Florentine cooks: olive oil, beans, peas,
spinach, artichokes, and ricotta were unknown in France until Caterina
introduced them.
In 1860, Florence joined the new Kingdom of Italy. Italy as a
country was born under King Vittorio Emanuele II, bringing together the varied
history and colorful past of its many regions. Pellegrino Artusi - born in Rome
but raised in Tuscany - published La Scienza in Cucina e l'Arte di Mangiar Bene
in 1891, when he was seventy-one years old. This highly personal work was a
veritable love story with the food of Italy and has become a classic; Artusi can
be considered the founder of Italian cuisine, for he unified the disparate
cooking traditions of the farmers and the bourgeoisie.
Today's cuisine has a lot of traditional dishes that descend from
the cuisine of the countrymen and the paisans like panzanella, crostini toscani, pappa al pomodoro and bruschetta toscana.
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