The Venetian culinary
tradition dates back to ancient times and is probably one of the most
important in Italy.
For many centuries the Maritime Republic of Venice dominated the
Mediterranean building up profitable relations and intense trade exchanges with
a range of disparate and distant civilisations, but above all with the East,
self-styled as one of the cradles of Italian cuisine which is now esteemed all
over the world.
These encounters introduced new foods – spaghetti which are clearly related to Oriental noodles, baccalà (dried
cod) and stoccafisso (salt cod) – as well as innovative cooking methods - like
the “saor”, a marinade made from
onions, vinegar, sultanas and pine-nuts.
The “saor” which is basically a “Sweet
and sour” is a cooking concept imported from the East by Venetian sailors who used
it to preserve foods during their long journeys.
