Sauces, Condiments, and Spreads

No other Italian region uses sauces, condiments, and spreads to the extent found in Liguria. The principal reason for this is that so many fundamental Ligurian flavors are drawn from ingredients that appear only at certain times of the year, and then often in great abundance. So the frugal people of Liguria devised ingenious ways to capture and exalt these flavors and have them available throughout the year.

There are two other factors at play here. One, already discussed in the introduction, is that many Ligurians have always gone to sea for trade or for fishing. They want to take the fresh flavors of the land with them, and sauces, condiments, and spreads became a logical means to do that.