Tag: Holidays

5 comfort food to be happy even after the holidays – Italian Cuisine

Holidays over? Do not despair, but cook. Prepare these 5 good humor recipes

Do you know what comfort food is? The food that gives comfort, that gives a smile, that makes you feel good, that improves your mood.
A treat for the palate to speak.
It can be comfort food a chocolate cube, a hot soup when it's cold outside, a pizza, an ice cream and even a fruit.
But comfort food is also a dish linked to a moment of life, to a beautiful memory, like a childhood recipe, for example. Remember Proust's madeleines? This is the concept.
Italians generally love homemade comfort foods, those related to home, family recipes, tradition.

All thanks to serotonin

Very often to put of good mood it is not the recipe itself but the raw material. Some foods, in fact, manage to make us smile again more than others.
All thanks to the serotonin, also known as a good mood hormone, a neurotransmitter found mainly in the central nervous system and in the gastro-intestinal tract. In the digestive system it regulates digestion, while in the central nervous system it regulates mood, sleep, appetite, learning and memory.
Good serotonin levels in the blood range from 101 to 283 ng / ml. Serotonin deficiency can cause depression, panic attacks, migraine, hypertension and insomnia.
Our body produces serotonin from tryptophan, a substance that we can take through nutrition. Foods that contain a higher concentration of tryptophan include eggs, milk and dairy products, meat and salmon, algae, soybeans, sesame and sunflower seeds, cocoa, dark chocolate, potatoes, bananas, rice, whole grains, vegetables green leafy, walnuts and almonds.
There are also foods that represent a real source of serotonin. These include cocoa and chocolate, nuts, kiwis, pineapples, cherries, tomatoes, bananas and plums.
Here then 5 quick and tasty ideas (and rich in serotonin!) to be brought to the table to face the end of the holidays with a smile.

Rice in 10 exotic recipes stolen from holidays – Italian Cuisine

With prawns, chicken, curry and vegetables and much more. Here is a collection of good ideas to enjoy rice even in the summer, searching for new and enveloping flavors

In Italy rice is mainly cooked in first courses. It becomes risotto in winter, while in hot weather we prefer it in salads. But it is enough to move away from Europe to discover that in many countries of the world it is such an important food to appear in every dish. Steamed or sautéed in woks, wrapped in banana leaves or simply boiled, it is the king of tasty and unexpectedly sought after recipes from which it would be a real shame not to get the right inspiration.
And before cooking it, flavor it with spices and taste it in unusual combinations, that's it the varieties rice ideal for preparing ethnic dishes.

Basmati

This name actually brings together 14 varieties of rice, whose consumption is increasingly widespread even in Europe. Behind the success of its oblong grains lies a unmistakable scent, able to lead us with the mind to distant goals even with a simple boiling. Poorly starchy and consistent even after cooking, it is perfect to accompany fish and meat dishes, but also to be served with mixed vegetables cooked in a pan or to prepare shrimp based rice salads. The trick to getting the most out of your beans is to wash it well under cold running water before cooking.

Black rice

The origins of this variety are ancient and very precious. Once reserved for the Chinese emperor and his clan, it was defined as forbidden because inaccessible to the people. Rich in flavor and consistent, it goes well with crustaceans and molluscs, but is also very good in cold soups or sautéed with vegetables and spices. THE'high antioxidant power of the substances it contains makes it even more interesting.

Red rice

Full of phosphorus and magnesium, is often confused with the common brown rice. Cultivated on clayey soils and more valuable than other types of rice, it is valuable to counteract the high levels of cholesterol in the blood. To fully enjoy it, try cooking it with black beans and cumin: you will be surprised by the aromatic complexity of the dish and you will benefit from a balanced meal. Alternatively, treat yourself to a fresh salad with red rice, cannellini beans, tuna and Tropea onion.

Thaibonnet

This Thai rice recalls in the scent of jasmine flowers: for this reason you will often hear him called Jasmine. To fully explore its potential, combine it with chicken or shrimp cooked in coconut milk, but also dare more unusual recipes, eating it with stewed fish flavored with ginger or sautéing it with vegetables, pineapple and turmeric.

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Holidays, the goals with the most instagrammable dishes – Italian Cuisine

For two out of three millennials, food is the determining factor in choosing a destination. Here are the ones preferred by the Italians

No longer just the climate, the culture, the richness of the nightlife and the landscapes: today, when it's time to leave, in choosing the destination, even food has become a fundamental engine. According to research, research Tasty Travels (conducted by One Poll on a sample of 9,000 respondents in 29 countries) even two millennials out of three (70%) consider it the determining factor, much more than the beauty of the beaches (41%), promotions and travel offers (15%) and shopping opportunities (18%). And it is no surprise that 76% of young travelers will capture the dishes who will taste just to post their photos on Instagram: in a 7-day vacation, millennial travelers take on average 142 photos, at least a quarter of which are dedicated solely to food.

The importance of food

Here then is that a destination becomes even more coveted if, in addition to breathtaking views, monuments and sites of historical and cultural importance, hotel facilities and entertainment proposals, it also offers the possibility of taking pictures foods that are not only good, but also beautiful, beautiful. In a word: instagrammable.

And what are these delicious destinations then? The tour operator Eden Viaggi has selected the 7 destinations that Italians are favoring this summer. Some are very classic, like Cuba, where the most photographed is the pina colada, a mix between coconut and pineapple and rum, especially if by the sea, or the United States, including extra large burgers, rich milkshakes and delicious pancakes. Others are more surprising and no less fascinating: for example la Jordan, where you can taste some typical dishes such as falafel and hummus, also perfect together, the China, with its typical ravioli and roulades, or even Brazil, where you can certainly try the feijoada and the famous caipirinha.

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