Italian life Archives - Vorrei Delicious Italian Food Blog

My Top 6 Italian Easter Treats

5 March 2017 || Desserts, Eat your way around Italy, Italian life

Happy Italian Easter! Much less commercialized than in the UK, Italian Easter celebrations focus on food, friends and family as well as on the more solemn, religious aspects of the holiday. Like many Italian holidays, Holy Week is characterized by rituals and traditions, and celebrated in many diverse ways across Italy, reflecting regional differences. Celebration in […]

Italian Christmas Recipes You Will Love!

20 September 2016 || Christmas recipes, Desserts, Eat your way around Italy, Italian life, Main courses, Recipes

Christmas: what a wonderful time of the year! So wonderful that we are already looking forward to all the merry festivities! And what is more exciting than getting a few, interesting Christmas Recipes on what to cook during those joyful days? Here are five Italian Christmas Recipes you will love! We picked them out just […]

How To Prepare The Perfect Italian Picnic!

16 June 2016 || Italian life, Main courses, Recipes, Salads, Side dishes

Summer must be just around the corner and how better to celebrate its arrival than with a proper, Italian picnic? All you will need is a bit of creativity and some tips on which foods to take with you in order to make your day out feel like a feast amongst the cypress trees in the Tuscan […]

Italian Street Food Tales: Florence

29 April 2016 || Eat your way around Italy, Italian life

Following our last post on Street Food in Sicily, here is the second in our occasional series about Italian Street Food, and this time we are in Tuscany! Italian Street Food Delicacies from Beautiful Florence Tuscany is home to some of the most famous dishes in Italy and perhaps not one of the places you might think of […]

A Week of Neapolitan Easter Food

2 March 2016 || Eat your way around Italy, Italian life

Neapolitan Easter Food Traditions The celebration of Easter in Naples is quite an event, combining established religious practices with traditional customs, some of which have pagan origins. Yet, the pivotal part of this holiday for the locals is most certainly the culinary itinerary they will be following! For the typical Neapolitan, food is always an important part of each […]

Valentines Day – 10 facts you need to know about the Saint of lovers!

31 January 2016 || Italian life

We celebrate Valentines Day every year, but who exactly was the Saint of Lovers? 1) St. Valentine isn’t just the Patron Saint of courting & engaged couples, lovers, love and happy marriages; his remit also includes epilepsy, fainting, greetings, plague, travellers, young people and … bee keepers (he is said to ensure the sweetness of […]

What You Need to Know about the Mediterranean Diet

25 August 2015 || Food and well being, Italian life

The Mediterranean Diet Did you know that the Italians live on average 18 months longer than the Brits? A comparison of health outcomes in 19 countries over 20 years published in the Lancet put Britain at number 14 in the life expectancy table, down two places since 1990. Italy fared much better rising from 5th to […]

12 Ways with Italian Coffee at Home

24 April 2015 || Drinks, Italian life

Savour a rich Italian coffee at home with our 12 serving suggestions! Do you know your caffe macchiato from your ristretto? Your shakerato from your marocchino? We all know that it’s hard to find a bad cup of Italian coffee but did you know how many different ways there are in Italy of drinking this […]

Aperitivo Time!

16 March 2015 || Drinks, Italian life, Wine and Prosecco

Apart from the sunshine, the people and the pizza, it’s the ritual of ‘Aperitivo time’ that we miss most since moving back to the UK from Rome. The Aperitif hour signals the end of the working day, a moment to relax (usually in the sunshine), drink a glass of something refreshing (generally just the one), with […]

Italian Food Superstitions – Ten of the best!

6 February 2015 || Italian life

Italian Food Superstitions. Italians are generally very superstitious people (especially the further south you go). They may deny this but even the most logical, sensible Italians seem unable to resist following the many age-old rituals that are such a big part of every day life. Anyone ever placed garlic placed on the television to help their […]

Meet Giovanni Marvulli, our organic extra virgin olive oil supplier.

29 October 2014 || Eat your way around Italy, Food and well being, Italian life

We recently visited Matera and stopped by to chat to Giovanni Marvulli our ‘Cenzino’ olive oil supplier. We wanted to see his vast olive grove and learn more about his award winning organic extra virgin olive oil. Giovanni, tell us about your passion for quality organic extra virgin olive oil… Ever since I was […]

Top 10 Italian Love Phrases!

3 February 2017 || Italian life

Somehow everything sounds so much better in Italian, from simple words such as ‘Fagiolino’ (the word for bean) and ‘Stuzzicadenti’ (tooth pick) to the many ways of expressing ‘amore’. You are never too old (or young) to learn Italian, so in honour of Valentine’s Day, here are our top 10 Italian love phrases: 1) Ti […]

Cucina Povera – 5 Traditional Recipes

20 June 2016 || Calabrian recipes, Italian life, Pasta, Recipes, Soup, Vegetarian

What is Cucina Povera? Cucina Povera (the kitchen of the poor/frugal cooking) has its origins mainly in Southern Italy and dates back to times when families had no means to provide fancy, expensive foods. Back In The Day Many lower class, country families lived off the little they could afford to buy, but mostly on […]

Italian Street Food Tales: Naples

25 May 2016 || Eat your way around Italy, Italian life

Following on in our series of articles on Italian street food (Street Food in Sicily and Street Food in Florence), it’s time to head to the Campania region, home to one of the most significant cities when it comes to scrumptious food: Naples! Ready, grab your forks…get set…go! Naples Street Food: Neapolitan Pizza and Much […]

Easter Bread with Coloured Eggs

18 March 2016 || Bread, Italian life

Italian Easter Bread Recipe This simple, colourful Italian Easter Bread is a real favourite and is prepared by families across Italy in the days leading up to Holy Week. Children have great fun dying the eggs and decorating this braided loaf. This a soft bread with a light lemon flavour. It goes with everything, from cheese […]

An Italian Easter Cake To Amaze Your Taste Buds: The Colomba

1 March 2016 || Desserts, Italian life, Vegetarian

Easter time in Italy, as in countries across the world is a time spent with friends and family. Naturally, every Italian celebration has its special foods that are to be traditionally prepared and eaten during these days and Easter is no exception. The Easter Dove One of these lip-smacking treats is the Easter Colomba, a […]

The Slow Food Movement: Embracing Good, Clean and Fair Food

25 August 2015 || Food and well being, Italian life

The pasta protest on the Spanish Steps The movement began on the Spanish Steps in Rome in 1986. McDonalds wanted to open a franchise there and many Italians, who generally have a lukewarm relationship with fast food, were not happy about it. One man was particularly dismayed. Carlo Petrini, the founder of the movement descended upon […]

Buon Ferragosto!

13 August 2015 || Antipasti, Italian life, Recipes, Side dishes

Today it’s Ferragosto, Italy’s traditional midsummer holiday and families up and down the boot will be preparing for their celebrations – menus for huge Ferragosto meals will have been decided upon and the food will be ready to transport to the nearest beach, park or mountain! Now that most Italians no longer disappear on holiday for […]

Our Top 3 Aperitivi to Make at Home

19 March 2015 || Drinks, Italian life, Wine and Prosecco

3 Easy Italian Aperitivi Recipes Fancy having friends over but don’t have the time to plan and cook a full dinner? Why not invite them for early evening aperitivi? The setting is informal and relaxed and the food is quick, easy to prepare and looks stunning – a platter of delicious mediterranean olives, sun dried tomatoes and aubergines, a selection […]

Diamante’s Chilli Pepper Festival

28 February 2015 || Eat your way around Italy, Italian life

Calabrians love peperoncino (chilli pepper), they put it in everything from pasta and risotto to cocktails and ice cream. They believe that chillies bring good luck and scare away the ‘malocchio’ or evil eye and naturally they produce the best and spiciest chillies in Southern Europe. So if a region is qualified to hold an […]

Italian Aphrodisiac Foods – Vorrei’s Top Ten!

27 January 2015 || Food and well being, Italian life

The word aphrodisiac comes from the name of the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite and since the ancient times people have believed in the power of aphrodisiac foods. But do they really work? Italian cuisine features so many known aphrodisiac foods; Why not create a fabulous meal using as many of the ingredients you can […]

Ten Steps to Italian Pasta Perfection

15 May 2014 || Cooking tips, Italian life

Your complete guide for a perfect pasta dish! Perfect Italian pasta doesn’t stick together, it’s not soggy or lukewarm and you definitely shouldn’t add oil to it! Here are our ten tips for making it just like mamma! 1) Your pan should be as large as possible and ideally nice and tall rather than wide. 2) […]

Black Summer Truffles: The Great Taste You Expect at a Price You Won’t!
Experiment with Black Summer Truffles - All The Flavour at a More Accessible Price! Who doesn’t love the delicious, earthy… Read more
The Italian Cupboard: 20 Basic Italian Ingredients
The Italian cupboard: 20 basic Italian ingredients that you must have! The Italian ingredients in a cupboard will probably be fairly… Read more
Senatore Cappelli Organic Pasta – A Mark of Guaranteed Quality
Just How Healthy is the Pasta in your Cupboard? A recent investigation into the most common pasta brands in Italy,… Read more
Going Natural: Why Natural Wines Are The Next Big Thing
From New York to Sydney, the world's most fashionable eateries are all following the same trend: A move towards serving… Read more
Nduja Spicy Salami – A Traditional Calabrian Treat
If you love chilli and foods that have a strong, meaty flavour then you absolutely MUST try one of the… Read more