Italy In SF

Emilia-Romagna is known as the gastronomic heartland of Italy. Although the region’s largest cities like Parma and Bologna are widely celebrated, not much time is ever spent talking about its sea-bordering land, Romagna, a land of culinary treasures- and the place where I am from. Products like the sea salt of Cervia (historically used by the Popes, and the goldmine of the Roman empire), Formaggio di Fossa (pit cheese, a type of pecorino ripen in underground pits, fosse) and squacquerone (a soft fresh cheese that can’t be preserved and needs to be consumed within two days of production) are only available in Romagna. Among these treasures, piadina is the most beloved of all, as its tradition is rooted in the farmers’ heritage that characterizes this region.

Piadina is essentially a flatbread that can be traced all the way back to Roman times. A typical “poor man” fare, its recipe only calls for water, flour, and salt- and in prosperous times pork fat. The dough is rolled in rounds and then cooked over a heated flat stone, although nowadays pans or griddles are the norm. Throughout history, food was never abundant for the field workers of Romagna, so many families ate a diet mostly made of piadina, sometimes flavored with anchovies. My grandparents still tell stories of those times of scarcity, and they say that a single anchovy should serve as piadina flavoring for the whole family!

Nowadays piadina can be a bread substitute, a snack, or a whole meal- depending on how you serve it. In all cases, piadina needs to be eaten on the spot, freshly prepared, and it is a perfect street food as it is eaten with your hands. Piadinerie (street kiosks) dot the landscape of Romagna for you to enjoy a warm piadina at every corner! Enjoy it as a bread, accompanying main dishes of meat or fish, or as a whole meal, cut in half sandwich style and filled with salami, prosciutto, or squacquerone and arugula. A variation on piadina is crescione, or cassone, where the piadina dough is filled with different ingredients (the most traditional being herbs), folded and cooked, similar to a calzone.

As with many regional foods in Italy, it is very hard to find piadina outside of Romagna. However, I’m finding more and more piadina listed in the Bay Area’s restaurant menus! Not really an Italian joint, Tomatina has piadina on its menu for both lunch and dinner, while La Strada in Palo Alto makes a good piadina (although they use pizza dough instead of unleavened dough) for lunch only.

Filed under: Traditional Foods