Lombardia | Eating The World

One of our essential tasks whenever we are visiting a new location is to sample some of their typical local sweets, known in Italy as dolci tipici. When we visited Lombardy, the Northern Italian region including Milan and Lake Como, we were exposed to an Italian cake that was very different than any other we had tried: Sbrisolona. The crumbly cake was make with almonds (not unusual for Italy) and cornmeal (a bit more unusual). Polenta – cooked ground cornmeal – is popular in the north of Italy, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that it found its way into some Northern Italian sweets as well. The true home of the sbrisolona is the city of Mantua / Mantova, where it has become an icon, later spreading past its borders, and across the region. In Lake Como, we sampled Sbrisolona for the first time, and we were intrigued by its crumbly, slightly sandy consistency, which was really different than any cake we had tried before (somewhat more akin to a streusel topping in bar/cake format). This is the perfect cake to eat for breakfast or with a cup of tea, as it is substantial and not too sweet. There is also a recipe for sbrisolona cookies in Dorie Greenspan’s Dorie’s Cookies cookbook. David Lebovitz and La Cucina Italiana also have good recipes for this super-simple cake.

Individual Sbrisolona for sale in Lombardy by VeganTraveller

In Italian Cuisine, there are many special treats to commemorate Day of the Dead / All Souls’ Day / Commemorazione dei defunti on November 2nd. However, most of these are sweet – called in Italian “sweets of the dead” or i dolci dei morti – including pan dei morti, torrone dei morti, Frutti di Martorana, and ossi dei morti! Shockingly, from time to time, even the Eaters are in the mood for something a bit more savory. For that craving, we turn to the far northern Italian region of Lombardy, which celebrates Day of the Dead with Minestra dei Morti, or “Soup of the Dead.” This is a humble pork broth soup served with vegetables and chickpeas, typical of cucina povera or “peasant cuisine” meant to make humble ingredients stretch. The legumes, strangely enough also have connecttions with the dead, being linked with funeral rites and offerings for the dead since antiquity. Typically this recipe was made with a whole pigs head, coinciding with the typical season of the hog slaughter, though you can go for a more standard cut of pork nowadays. We plan to make the recipe from Memorie di Angelina this November 2nd.

Tag Archives: Lombardia

Sbrisolona: A Must-Try Italian Dessert from Lombardy

Minestra Dei Morti: Soup of the Dead

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