When I lived in Turin, I always looked forward to paying a visit to my local panetteria (feminine, plural: panetterie), which is the Italian word for bakery. In addition to various types of homemade bread (pane), the counter was always piled up with breadsticks (grissini), pastries (pasticcini), slices of focaccia, farinata and pizza, and various …
Broccoli is one of a handful of Italian words that was imported into the English language in its plural form to denote the singular, much like panini, pepperoni and zucchini. The proper singular is actually broccolo with an o rather than an i at the end of the word. It is the diminutive of brocco, …
Any food that causes a burning sensation in the mouth when tasted can be called piccante, which is the word for spicy or hot in Italian. It comes from the French word piquant of the same meaning. The plural form of this adjective is piccanti. There is no distinction between masculine and feminine: it’s always …
Summer is the season for strawberries, which are known as fragole (feminine, singular: fragola) in Italian. Just as in English, the word refers to both the plant and the fruit it produces. The common variety we buy from stores and markets tend to be grown in large strawberry fields (campi di fragole) by farmers and …
Today’s word of the day was my favourite vegetable as a child: the humble carrot or carota (feminine, plural: carote) in Italian. Once you’ve washed (hai lavato) and peeled (pelato) your carrots, there are numerous ways to prepare them. I always preferred eating raw carrot sticks (bastoncini di carote crude) as a child but these …
When I was working as an au pair for an Italian family in Turin, the three children I looked after would begin every meal with a cheerful chorus of Buon appetito! (Bon appetit! / Enjoy your meal!), an expression many Italians say before eating. The proper response to this expression is grazie, altrettanto (thanks, likewise) …