Italian Foods to Try When You Travel to Italy

If you ask us, the best part of traveling to Italy is sampling all the different Italian foods. Every region of Italy has it's own cuisine and local specialties, which you can try everywhere - from street vendors to Michelin-starred restaurants.

The next time you travel to Italy, here are some dishes you should sample:

Roman specialties.

Rome is best known for rustic cooking that's rich, meaty, and comforting on a cold, winter night. Braised beef and roasted suckling pig - porchetta - are very popular. But there's also lots of fresh produce so vegetarians can eat well in Rome too. Artichokes, known in Italy as carciofi, are available everywhere in spring. They're prepared many different ways, and they're absolutely delicious.

Zucchini flowers, zucca, are abundant in late summer and early autumn, when they're stuffed with cheese and anchovies and deep fried. You can sample both by ordering a Fritto Misto or mixed fried appetizer.

Rice croquettes, which are also deep fried, are another good choice for vegetarians. There's often a little square of cheese in the center that melts during frying. Gnocchi made with potatoes or semolina is often made without meat.

Two of Italy's most famous pasta dishes come from Rome - Bucatini All'Amatriciana and Spaghetti alla Carbonara. The first is made with tomatoes, onions, and pancetta, the second with eggs, pancetta, and Parmesan cheese.

Veal Saltimbocca is stuffed with sage leaves, ham, and cheese, then lightly breaded, sautéed, and baked. Adventurous eaters can sample organ meats at traditional Roman restaurants. Whatever you order, save room for the Roman version of cheesecake, Torta di Ricotta.

Neapolitan specialties.

When most Americans think of Italian food, it's southern Italian cooking that comes to mind. The cuisine developed around Naples features plenty of tomatoes, cheese, garlic, fresh herbs, and onions. The city of Naples serves the best pizza in the world. In fact, Neapolitan pizza is regulated by the Italian government, like Parma ham or Chianti. If you're traveling in Campania, as the region is called, eat pizza often.

Seafood is another good choice. In most cases, it's fresh from the Mediterranean and simply prepared - quickly grilled or sautéed, and finished with olive oil, lemon juice, and fresh herbs. Shellfish, including squid, shrimp, and mussels are often served in pasta dishes. And swordfish is wonderful here.

Meat is less popular here than in Rome, and cheese is a key ingredient in many dishes. It's used to fill pasta dishes like lasagna, cannelloni, or ravioli, and to top dishes like Eggplant Parmesan - Parmigiana di Melanzane. Mozzarella made from water buffalo milk is very popular.

Sfogliatelle is a wonderful dessert that combines ricotta cheese, almond paste, and puff pastry. What's not to like? The area around Sorrento is famous for its lemons and one of the best known products is Limoncello. Served ice cold, it can be enjoyed before or after meals.

Sicilian specialties.

An island off the west coast of Italy, Sicily has a tremendous history. Over the centuries, it's been ruled by many civilizations. And each had an influence on Sicilian food, which features bold, pungent flavors. Subtle, it's not. Fresh seafood, including swordfish, tuna, and sardines, is on the menu daily. And there are vegetables aplenty. One of the best-known Sicilian dishes is Caponata, a spicy blend of tomatoes, olives, onions, and peppers. It's delicious served on fish. Another local favorite is Panelle, which is made from fried ceci or garbanzo beans.

Sicilian desserts are some of the best in Italy. Cannoli, light pastry tubes filled with sweetened ricotta cheese, and Almond Biscuits are sold in bakeries all over the island. And the Sicilian Cassata - a cheescake made with ricotta and candied fruits and nuts - should not be missed.

Tuscan specialities.

Florentine cuisine is the simplest in Italy. The country's best beef comes from here. And no visit to Florence is complete without trying Bistecca alla Fiorentina - a thick, local steak that's been marinated with olive oil, garlic, and herbs, and then charcoal grilled. Beans, called fagioli, often accompany grilled meats and vegetables. And no Tuscan meal is complete without a glass of local red wine, such as Chianti or Montepulciano.

Game like boar, rabbit and duck are delicious braised in the wine. And cured meats, including Parma ham, are first rate. Salt Cod, or Baccala, is combined in an earthenware pot with tomatoes and garlic and baked until tender. Bread salad, Panzanella, and tomato soup, Pappa al Pomodoro, are popular at lunch. Bologna, in the northern part of Tuscany, is best known for its hearty meat sauce. For dessert, try lemon tart or the dense spice cake known as Panforte.

Learn more about Italian foods here. Or learn more about travel to Italy here. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M_Ottersen

Food Allergies - What You Should Know

Food allergies, also known as hypersensitivity, effect between 1-2% of adults and can pose a real challenge for the sufferer. Though may people may have an intolerance for certain foods, a true food allergy is different. When an allergic person consumes an allergen, their immune system responds with a number of symptoms. The appearance of symptoms follows the digestive tract. The reaction may start with tingling or numbness in the lips and mouth, move downward to stomach cramping and digestive upset, then working through the blood stream can result in rashes or hives. The most serious form of reaction, called anaphylaxis, results in lowered blood pressure and swelling of the tongue and throat. This can stop airflow to the lungs and lead to death. In the US, there are an estimated 150 to 200 deaths a year caused by anaphylaxis.

Because the primary treatment for food allergies is simply avoiding the allergen, one of the biggest challenges for the food allergy sufferer is detecting hidden allergens that are present in many processed foods. In the U.S., food labels are required to list the eight most common allergens in "plain language". These eight foods - milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, shellfish, fish and soy, make up ninety percent of the allergic reactions. The labeling requirement has been very helpful to food allergy sufferers, but even clear labeling is no guarantee of purity for the most severely allergic, due to the potential for cross-contamination in the manufacturing process.

Cross-contamination occurs when the machines used to process an allergen-containing food then process a food that does not contain an allergen. Although the machinery has been cleaned, traces of the allergen can still be present and get into the food, leading to tragic results for an allergy sufferer. That is what makes living with food allergies difficult. Additionally, though labeling is required, some packaging is misleading in it's contents. For example, a product that is labeled "non-dairy" can still legally contain the milk protein casein, which is an allergen. Cross contamination can also occur after manufacturing. If a deli slices cheese on the same machine they use for meat, the meat can become cross contaminated with the milk proteins from the cheese.

So what is a food allergy sufferer to do? The first course of action is to educate themselves on labeling practices. Knowing where to look in a label for allergen information is a good first step. Avoiding foods that are labeled with the allergen is the primary method of treatment, since there is no cure for food allergy. Next, the food allergy sufferer must learn about ingredients that could contain allergens. For example, milk protein can appear under many labels and milk protein allergy can be caused by casein and whey. Both products are used as additives in manufacturing, even for some meat and fish products. Finally, the food allergy sufferer must know how to recognize the signs and how to treat himself or herself in case of anaphylaxis. This includes carrying and knowing how to use an epinephrine injector. A medical alert bracelet or necklace should also be worn at all times.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Allergies Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Hummingbird Food Recipe - How to Make Hummingbird Food

Hummingbirds are probably one of the most popular birds that people try to attract to their yards. Of course one of the simplest ways to attract them is to add to your yard the plants that they naturally feed on. This can include flowering plants like honeysuckle or trumpet creepers. But you may not be able to locate these where you can easily see them, so the next best solution is to mount a hummingbird feeder where you can see it, and that means you will need to fill it with hummingbird food.

The classic formulation is make make a solution of one part sugar to four parts water. Most experts suggest that you use cane sugar (the white granulated type is fine.) Starting with one cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar should be enough to begin with, but you can make more and store it if you want. Let it cool and then store it in the refrigerator. Try not to store it for more than a couple of weeks.

The water should be boiled first, this not only makes it easier to dissolve the sugar in the water, but helps eliminate the chlorine and any other baddies in the water.

Add the sugar at a rate of 1 cup of sugar for four cups of water. Note that you can depart from this ratio somewhat, and in fact in the wintertime you may want to add more sugar to boost the energy content of the mix. Stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved.

Be sure to use real sugar, artificial sweeteners are "low calorie" which means they have no nutritional value, and would do the birds no good. Don't use honey, as it has different sugars (not the sucrose naturally found in nectar) and it tends to ferment quicker as well.

Natural nectar is odorless and clear, so there is no need to add food coloring to the mix, and the color of the feeder should be enough to attract your hummingbirds.

That's all there is to making your own humming bird food.

But after you've made the hummingbird food for your feeder, it is critical that you clean your feeder often.

Go to backyard-birdz.com to get more information on cleaning hummingbird feeders, or or you can also find more tips on what to look for in hummingbird feeders there as well.

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The Dangers of Food Poisoning

Food Poisoning

When you visit a restaurant, you expect to be served thoroughly cleaned and cooked, safe food. When you purchase perishable goods from a grocery store, you expect for these products to have been stored properly and labeled with the correct expiration date. When food providers fail to take this care to deliver you with safe and uncontaminated food, you run the risk of suffering from food poisoning.

Every year, there are approximately 76 million cases of food poisoning in the United States alone. Hundreds of thousands of these victims are hospitalized for treatment, and up to 5,000 victims die from these illnesses annually. Clearly, food poisoning is a relatively common phenomenon. Typically, it is caused by bacteria or salmonellae.

Typically, food becomes contaminated when it is exposed to fecal matter during the processing or harvesting procedures. Meats and produce that are not cleaned and cooked through can still possess these dangerous microorganisms when they are served an ingested. Meats and other perishables can also spoil if they are not stored properly.

Most of the time, food poisoning is very uncomfortable but relatively mild. Rarely does it ever reach the point of being life-threatening. Depending on what type of contaminant has entered your body, you may experience any combination of the following symptoms:

· Nausea
· Stomach cramps
· Vomiting
· Diarrhea
· Fever
· Nervous system damage

If your diarrhea is bad enough, you can become extremely dehydrated. Sometimes, victims will also experience bloody diarrhea. If you ever notice your stools being off-color, as if they have blood in them, you should seek medical attention immediately.

While most people typically recover from food poisoning on their own without outside treatment, some severe cases will require professional medical attention. In general, however, most people are advised to follow these guidelines to avoid the worsening of symptoms and to have the speediest recovery possible:

· Avoid dehydrating agents such as caffeine
· Avoid dairy products, as they can upset the stomach
· Avoid solid foods until the worse of the diarrhea has passed
· Make sure you replace your lost fluids

Of course, if your condition persists or worsens over time, you should visit a doctor.

Contact Us

If you have suffered food poisoning as the result of a restaurant or food manufacturer's negligence, then you may have the right to claim damages. To explore your legal rights and options, contact the Las Vegas personal injury lawyers of Palmer & Associates, P.C. by visiting http://wpalmerandassociates.com/

Joseph Devine

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Chocolate - Your Favorite Health Food

Eating chocolate is better for you than you think. There are many benefits of eating more chocolate. First, flavonoids in cocoa has several benefits, such as balancing blood pressure, reducing blood clotting, improving blood flow to brain, preventing cell damage, and improving processing of blood sugar that can reduce the risk of diabetes.

Besides, like caffeine, the chemicals in dark chocolate, especially the chemical phenylethylamine can improve your mood. Even, theobromine, a component in cocoa, may be more effective as a cough medicine than standard drug treatments.

However, many chocolates can be high in calories, sugar, and saturated fat. Thus, to maximize the health benefits of chocolate, avoid eating processed chocolate products that have refined sugar and milk fat and choose the purest dark chocolate you can find - at least 60% cocoa solids.

Many people, especially women become huge fans of chocolate. It is not only because its taste, texture, and smell, but also its benefits when consuming it.

Here are a few tips in eating chocolate.

1.When you begin eating chocolate, make sure you do it one bite at a time and let the flavors release on their own, so you can examine the texture of the chocolate.
2.To really enjoy and appreciate chocolate, take the time to taste it and be still. Give the chocolate some respect by avoiding some disturbance, like the phone ringing, the TV sound, etc.
3.Clear your palate from other tastes interfering with your experience of the chocolate.
4.Spend more time just smelling the chocolate. Warm it up more with your finger, close your eyes, and let your smell-imagination run wild since different chocolates will recall different odors.

Tasting chocolate is like tasting fine wine. There are subtleties of flavor and tones that you can train yourself to appreciate and judge the qualities of a piece of chocolate. In short, find the best dark chocolate you can, get the health benefits of good chocolate, and let chocolate be your favorite health food.

Zane Marquez is an experienced writer in writing many articles. Besides about chocolate, he also writes lcd projector bulb. Join him at sanyo projector bulb and you will be interested in it.

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Making Your Own Baby Food

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends starting your baby on solid food between four to six months of age. The tongue reflex will cause the baby's tongue to push substances, like food, out of his or her mouth until about four months old. Also, the digestive system is not yet mature enough to manage solids and does not produce the necessary enzymes for breaking down food.

Once your baby is old enough to start eating solid food, you may be concerned about the food that you introduce to your child. A good way to know exactly what is going into your baby's food is to make it yourself. Although this may sound difficult, it is easy with the right tools and is more cost-efficient than purchasing jarred food.

You should have a food processor, steamer basket and ice cube trays at hand. It is best to purchase organic fruit and vegetables when making your own baby food. It is now easy to find fresh, frozen or canned organic vegetables in your local grocery market. For a quick food serving with lots of vitamins and nutrients, mix a can of organic pureed pumpkin with some pumped breast milk and put the mixture into a clean ice cube tray. You can also steam some organic frozen peas or some fresh carrots. Steam the vegetables until soft and put them into the food processor. You can add a little breast milk to thin out the mixture if you have trouble pureeing the vegetables. Put the mixture into an ice cube tray and freeze.

Not only has no sodium or preservatives been added to your baby's food (be sure to check the label if using frozen or canned food), but you now have serving sizes that you can store in the freezer with less waste than jarred food. With jarred food, once you open a jar, you have to serve it to your baby before it spoils. With the frozen veggie cubes, your baby can have a variety of food at any given meal rather than you trying to serve the rest of the open jar. Simply thaw or reheat one or two cubes and serve to your baby!

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The Fat Burning Power of Food

There are certain foods that burn more fat than the calorie content of the food itself and others that promote the release of fat from cells. The effects of these foods will be slightly different in each individual. As each person has a different metabolic rate the benefit from these fat burning foods will vary. The faster your metabolism is to start with the better these foods will work to help your body burn fat.

Foods that contain vitamin C:

Your body needs vitamin C to efficiently burn fat. Eating foods that are high in vitamin C can help to metabolize (break down) fat quicker. Vitamin C reduces the effectiveness of fat. It reduces its content and can liquefy or dilute fat. By diluting the fat, it makes it less effective, and easier to flush out of your system.

Foods high in fiber:

High fiber foods are good because they trick your stomach into thinking it is fuller faster, reducing the overall amount of calories that you eat. Vegetables are a great source of fiber and those that have an outer skin can help you to burn fat as they use up more energy being digested.

Some actually have a negative calorie effect in that your body will use more energy digesting them than it receives. A good example of this is celery, cucumber and beet root.

Dairy foods:

Recent studies have shown that dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt increase the breakdown of fat in cells. Eating dairy products was shown to be far more effective than taking a calcium supplement alone. Ensure that you stick to low fat dairy products only.

Hot and spicy foods:

Eating hot or spicy foods actually increases your metabolism and therefore your ability to burn fat. Chillies are first-rate fat-burners and some research has found they can increase your calorie burn by up to 8% for as long as three hours after eating. This is because the capsaicin found in them is a super nutrient that speeds up your metabolism and helps you burn off more energy.

Water:

When trying to reduce the fat content of your body, whether it is belly fat or bingo wings it is very important to drink lots of water. Water is the only true zero calorie food that occurs naturally. Drinking water keeps the body hydrated. Lack of proper hydration can dramatically slow down your metabolism and this in turn will reduce the amount of fat your body can burn off.

Most bodily functions require water, so if you are not getting enough your body can not function properly.

Commonly people mistake thirst for hunger and eat when they should be drinking water. Drinking plenty of water helps the body to flush out toxins. As the word suggests, toxins are toxic to your body and if they are not removed the body builds a protective layer of fat around them so that they cannot harm the body, these are generally deposited around your middle. By drinking plenty of water and flushing away the toxins rather than storing them as fat you will reduce the total fat in your body.

Negative Calorie Foods:

While all foods have some calories, they all also require energy by the body to digest them and this is where the negative calorie effect comes in. If a certain food requires the body to burn more energy in the digestion process that it actually produces it will create a calorie deficit; i.e. you will have expended more calories than you received.

We all know that in order to lose weight we have to use up more calories than we eat. Adding some of these negative calorie foods into your daily diet will give you a boost to losing weight!

Some fruits and vegetables are the best negative calorie foods. Spinach, lettuce, cucumber and celery are good examples but there are far more out there! Just be aware of how you prepare these foods and do not add too many calories in the cooking process!

My name is Dr Elizabeth Hughes.
I've spent the last 21 years studying human biology, have a PhD in scientific research, and have personally researched diet, fitness and well being for the last 12 years. Through extensive research I have discovered how to maintain a healthy weight and reduce my overall body fat. http://www.FatBellySlim.com

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