The Culinary Discoveries

The Culinary Discoveries of the great Explorers Among the many goods brought to Europe and Italy by the explorers there were some foods whose importance was understood only in time. First, there was maize, widespread in North Italy, which, at the time of the great famines of the 17th century, became the base for the most common dish: polenta (a sort of meal mush). Then there were potatoes, tomatoes, and beans. Rice from Asia was an instant success and joined pasta as the nation`s first course. Venetian merchants imported sugar from the Orient and this, initially very expensive, was used in medicine and only later in cooking. Last there was coffee, of Turkish origin, and also first used as a medicine.