As many know, the Tuscan culinary tradition is based on simple ingredients, most of the times inexpensive and easy to find. These recipes were born of ages of hardship and famish, invented by people that did not want to give up on enjoying their meals even after a full day of hard field work in the countryside. Their poor conditions and pauperism forced them to do with what they had at hand, most of the times vegetables they would cultivate, herbs that grew spontaneously, leftovers from previous meals (wasting food was also considered a sin, an offense to God) and very little or no meat at all. Bread was (and still is) an important staple in Tuscan cooking. In ancient times peasant bread was almost always stale, as there was no daily bread baking and ovens used to be centralized and far from the majority of the population. Therefore it needed to be baked all at once once a year, upon charge. In addition, flour storage was not safe and the best solution was making bread all at once and storing it in the so-called “madia” or food pantry made for bread (a large and deep wooden box with a lid where bread loaves used to be stacked up and for storage). Therefore, with months bread would become stale, hence nowadays you still have the usage of stale bread in Tuscan recipes.
There is a score of Tuscan recipes that can be prepared using the same simple ingredients of the Tuscan tradition. The most famous ones are Panzanella, the stale bread and vegetable salad perfect for summer days and for a quick solution to your daily table routine; yet another stale bread recipe, Ribollita is also a worldwide success from Tuscany; and how to forget Fettunta (Bruschetta) so simple and so delicious; the list continues with Pappa al Pomodoro, a must-try delight. These are just few of the many recipes employing stale bread for their preparation, usually first entries.
But the Tuscan cooking tradition also developed many second courses that were precious protein sources for hard working people. Therefore the inventive of Tuscans started using plenty of peas and beans in their diet, ingredients rich in fibers and proteins. Dishes such as Zuppa di Fagioli (bean soup), Zuppa di Ceci (chickpeas), and Zuppa di Farro (barley), to name a few. It is important to notice that the northern Tuscan portion named Garfagnana managed to survive famines thanks to barley.
All these recipes are based on very simple ingredients, inexpensive to but and easy to find, healthy, nutritious, low on calories and high on taste. More details can be found at this Tuscan recipes page where a growing number of dishes is listed daily.
taken from: http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/blog/20 … s-to-save/