Florentine
cuisine remains the guardian of a great tradition
consisting of simple dishes, often prepared with
humble, genuine ingredients like bread, oil and
vegetables. However, it does not lack in elaborate
and imaginative recipes, like the meats prepared
in dolceforte, reminiscent of the splendor and
eccentricity of the renaissance courts when the
aim was more to amaze the guests than to satisfy
the palate.
Some of these dishes have become famous all
over the world, like the Florentine steak. Others
have vanished from the tables even in the city,
probably due to requiring exceedingly long preparation
times or calling for ingredients that are increasingly
hard to find. On these pages we have presented
some of the most well known and characteristic
dishes of Florentine cooking, accompanied by
a short list of selected wines from the surrounding
area and a calendar of the main oenogastronomic
events around about Florence.
