You don’t have to cook excessive or complicated dishes: just good food from fresh ingredients.
(Julia Child)
Traditional Venetian cuisine is in principle a very basic cuisine, as simple ingredients, preparation and cooking methods have always been used. But it is also a complex cuisine, as it has incorporated all the influences acquired in exchanges with the East and the West, developing a very particular language of combinations and flavors.
Built on remnants of land, isolated from the waters of the lagoon, without being able to grow corn and wheat, Venice has managed to maintain for hundreds of years, despite everything, a primary position in the art of gastronomy.
Direct heir of the Byzantine and Roman tradition, the lagoon cuisine was among the first to compare itself with those of other countries: from the Muslim to the Austro-Hungarian one, passing through the Spanish and French ones. These meetings were born from the coexistence with the Islamic populations on the Eastern markets and from the confrontation with the foreign minorities present in the city since ancient times.
At the base of Venetian cuisine have always been the use and choice of a few products, strictly fresh and genuine, mainly from the sandbanks and lagoon islands, such as vegetables, birdlife and, above all, fish.
That of Venice is a cuisine of resistance. In a city enclosed between the infinite horizon of the sea and the land of the countryside behind it, the lagoon gastronomy is rich in the use of herbs, spices and distant flavors, but very thrifty and full of ingenuity in exploiting all the resources , primarily those at home.
And home in Venice means water, not so much and not just the water of the Adriatic Sea beyond the harbor mouths, but first of all the water of its lagoon which for centuries has been a sort of “garden” of land and water: shellfish and native fish populate this unique ecosystem in the world; peoci that is the mussels, cape that is all the shells, the garusoli, the gransi and the moeche and last but the schie that is the gray shrimps.
All this is easily found every day at the Rialto fish market, one of the oldest markets in the world.
And it is here that we also find the Antica trattoria Poste Vecie, a historic restaurant in Venice, probably the oldest in the city and also a supporter of the Anima Veneziana project.
Below Fabio D’Orfeo explains why Poste Vecie immediately joined the project.
Who is Antica Trattoria Poste Vecie?
The Antica Trattoria Poste Vecie is a historic Venetian restaurant, one of the historic places in Italy; the building dates back to 1500, a destination for historical figures, such as Casanova and contemporary artists.
The restaurant managed by the D’Orfeo family for almost 30 years, offers typical Venetian cuisine, with an eye to the seasonality of the products and research dishes.
It is spread over 2 historic rooms frescoed with paintings by Cherubini with 2 centuries-old fireplaces, and an internal courtyard where you can dine in summer.
Why did you decide to give your support to our project Anima Veneziana?
The project immediately struck us, because it is made up of people who know Venice and who do not stop to illustrate the superficial layer of tourist Venice and who, with this project, want to revive and bring to the knowledge the real Venice. Never as in this period Venice, plagued by atmospheric events such as high water and the pandemic, needs people who bring to light the lost Venice, the hidden Venice.
How do you dream your Venezia?
Undoubtedly Venice, in recent years, has had an escalation of tourist presences which, if on the one hand they have made the fortune of several merchants, on the other hand they have induced the activities to have a too simplistic and commercial attitude; I would like a less chaotic Venice, made up of tourists who want to appreciate the beauty of the story it tells, made up of craft activities and excellent catering and hotel services, where they can give guests a memory to cherish forever.
Thanks to the whole D’Orfeo family for the kind words and for your support!
IF YOU WANT TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT LIKE THE ANTICA TRATTORIA POSTE VECIE, DONATE BY CLICKING BELOW!
