Risotto and Polenta

Rice and polenta, in various guises, have been important staples for Italians, particularly the peasantry, for centuries. According to historians Alberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari (Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History), “Almost unknown to Greek and Roman writers, rice was introduced into the West by the Arabs, who began cultivating it in Sicily and Spain.” Its cultivation and consumption became important in Italy during the fifteenth century, in the north. Originally a food of the elite, it soon became a necessary staple for the poor, and does not appear to have returned to the tables of the upper classes until the eighteenth century, when genteel preparations such as risotto came into fashion.