Italian Cuisine: A Trip to the Island of Sardinia

By Troy Pentico


The island of Sardinia           Malloreddus is a Sardinian    
perhaps most quickly conjures    pasta that can be found in    
up the idea of sardines. A       many stews and pasta dishes   
small island off of the          accompanying chicken or rabbit
western coast of Italy, it       basted in fennel or saffron.  
certainly incorporates seafood   Malloreddus is a grooved pasta
in to much of its regional       that very much resembles      
cuisine. However, Sardinia has   gnocchi in taste and texture,
such a rich and various          and is made of semolina flour
history that it bears little     and sometimes seasoned lightly
resemblance to the traditional   with saffron, while most      
idea of Italian cooking. Like    gnocchi is made with potato.  
many other Italian regional                                    
cuisines, Sardinia's regional    Stews are very popular in the 
taste is often a surprise for    regional cuisine of Sardinia, 
a palette that is expecting      and even meat and poultry     
red sauce and parmesan cheese    dishes are served in rich     
to be the beginning and end of   cooking sauces that could just
traditional Italian cooking.     as easily be served as soups. 
While it is a region of Italy,   For this reason, accompanying 
Sardinia's history is shared     a Sardinian entre with a      
with explorers of many           hearty crusted bread or a side
European nations, such as        of potatoes makes for a very  
Greece, France, and Spain.       filling meal. Pasta, in the   
This diverse history of people   traditional sense is not as   
shows in the traditions and      large a part of Sardinian     
culture of this isolated         cooking as in other regions of
island destination.              Italy. The pastas of Sardinia 
                                 are more commonly associated  
While, being an island,          with Middle Eastern cuisine.  
seafood, especially shellfish,   Hearty grains and fusilli more
plays a large part in the        commonly accompany the dishes 
regional cuisine of Sardinia,    of Sardinian regional         
very few Sardinian meals do      cuisine, as opposed the       
not incorporate lamb, a rich     lasagna, spaghetti or linguine
resource in the mountainous      that Americans more commonly  
inland of the island of          associate with Italian        
Sardinia. In addition to the     cooking.                      
lamb's meat, a favorite of                                     
Sardinian chefs, very few        Between the diverse history   
meals are complete without the   of Sardinia's people, from    
company of sheep's milk and      France to the Middle East, and
wild fennel. Stews and roasts    the various different         
are popular choices for the      landscapes and resources that
people of Sardinia. Looking at   can be found throughout the   
any Sardinian recipe, it is      island, it is hard to put     
easy to see that the cuisine     Sardinian cuisine into one    
of this hilly island is a        category. One thing is for    
veritable stone soup of the      sure though, while you will   
many different cultures that     find many different types of  
have passed through the island   food on the island of         
over the years.                  Sardinia, it is unlikely that
                                 you will find anything like it
The seafood traditions of the    anywhere else in the world.   
Greek isles can be found in                                    
the mussel stews and roasted                                   
lobster dishes that keep the                                   
island's fishermen busy.                                       

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