Food in Piemonte is elegant, complex and rich. It is influenced by its vicinity to and historical connections with France: in centuries past, French cooking was common in at Court, in the homes of important families and in the elegant hotels of Turin. Remnants of this affluent cuisine are present along with the foods typically eaten by the region’s farmers, the renowned cucina povera / poor folks’ cooking which is Italy’s version of the Mediterranean diet and based on the excellent ingredients available locally. They serve a wide variety of small, tasty antipasti, rich first and second courses, lots of braised meats, flavorful vegetable side dishes and creamy desserts.

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You’ll find beef from the Piemontese Fassona breed (big white cows, generally lean and tender at the same time, descendants of an ancient migration of the Pakistani version), white truffles (in season from Oct - Jan), bell peppers, leeks, cardoons, rice, peaches, apples, hazelnuts plus from the mountainous east of the region arrive potatoes, alpine cheeses, mushrooms, high altitude fruits and of course excellent wines from all throughout the region.

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Foods to look for are dishes like agnolotti al plin (the tiny ravioli made with a rich egg pasta dough rolled quite thin and stuffed with the left overs from a roast mixed with leafy greens like chard or spinach, served dressed with the pan drippings from the roast), their bagna cauda sauce of garlic with olive oil and anchovies (from Liguria their neighbor to the south), tajarin super fine pasta served with a long-cooked ragu.

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They are preternaturally fond of beef tartare and vitello tonnato (creamy tuna sauce on a thin slice of beef, amazingly good) and the long-cooked brasato/braised in barolo wine, sausages with cabbage, the occasional plate of finanziera / offal. 

Breads are generally soft white bread with French influence and the very Piemontese grissini, or bread sticks the best of which are super thin and made with semolina.

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Piemonte produces 50 - 60 different types of cheeses, all interesting, from alpine cheeses made from cow’s milk in the higher altitudes to fresh, gooey sheep milk cheeses from the hills. Some of the more well known forms are bruss, Bra, bettelmett and castelmagno.  

You will see sweets like giandiuotti (chocolate and hazelnut candies), baci di dama cookies, savoiardi (ladyfingers, apparently a favorite of the Savoys), amaretti and the much-loved pudding called bonet or bunet plus luscious hot chocolate especially in the elegant cafès of the city.

 

WINE in Piemonte .. Barolo and Barbaresco are literally known as the King and Queen of Italian wines. They are both made from the NEBBIOLO grape grown in Langa from which are made wines that are amazingly complex, delicate, expressive and nuanced and that range from fun with lip smacking fruit to seriously aged meditation wines. Fresh and intensely floral, with signature scents of rose, violet, and dried flowers, alongside red fruits like cherry, raspberry, and strawberry. 

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The wines of Barbaresco, which is to the east of the Barolo zone with a generally warmer climate, are highly perfumed with a good acidity and velvety tannins and they have superb aging potential of 10-25 years.

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The clay and sandstone soils of Monforte and Alba subzones (in Barolo) produce more muscular, austere wines while the limestone and clay soils plus the altitude of the La Morra and Barolo subzones produce wines with notably softer tannins and additional deep, earthy aromas.  

Langhe Nebbiolo is usually released on the market after one or two years in the cellar and is meant to be drunk young, Barolo has serious aging potential of 10 -15 years and up to 30 years. 

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In the north of the region at Gattinara nebbiolo is grown in mineral-rich volcanic soils producing elegant, complex wines with high acidity, robust tannins, and delicate, elegant aromatic profile of violet, red fruit, spice, and iron, also with good aging potential.

Don’t let the versatility and fame of nebbiolo distract you from all the other grapes indigenous to Piemonte.

 

Search out reds from grapes like 

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barbera .. full bodied with aromas of cherries and prunes, more acidity than tannin

dolcetto .. full bodied, fruity, low acidity, soft tannins

ruchè .. lip smacking, aromas of rose and spices, soft tannins and good acidity

freisa .. lovely and fresh with aromas of strawberry, raspberry and rose, good flat or fizzy, ages well

grignolino .. tenuous, yummy, savory with aromas of white pepper and rose

pelaverga .. elegant with soft tannins, spicy aromas of white pepper and cherry

brachetto .. aromatic, often used for passito and sparklers

bonarda .. easy drinking fruity red often made into sparkling, also found in Emilia and in Oltrepò as Croatina

 

and whites from grapes like 

cortese .. easy drinking, delicate aromas of white flowers and fruit

Roero arneis .. slightly savory with pear and peach aromas, fun little wine

erbaluce di Caluso .. good backbone and minerality made in flat, fizzy and passito, ages well

timorasso di Derthona .. super full-bodied savory whites, ages well

the rare nascetta .. minerally wines with aromas of exotic fruit and honey, ages well

moscato .. aromatic grape from Asti, well made non-cloying versions are like a drink from a mountain stream, made both flat and fizzy