Italiano
A food which, despite its extreme simplicity, is depicted in the Mediterranean Diet is Bruschetta*.
*Its correct pronunciation in Italian would be broo-sket-ta.
Very little is needed: lightly toasted bread, tomato (preferably diced), extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, oregano, garlic (a clove rubbed on the slice of bread).
So again: a simple, but still popular food all over the world (with its original name!).
Finding the origins of this famous appetizer is certainly not an easy job… Bruschetta, like other popular dishes, is lost in legends and various local traditions. Some date it back to the Etruscans, some to the ancient Romans, some to the Middle Ages…
Anyway, it was probably a common peasant food, made from toasted bread, “rubbed” with garlic and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper (obviously without tomato!).
As well as the best (and certainly the most enjoyable) way that oil producers had to check the quality of their product!
Today’s term derives from the central Italian dialect: abbruscato, meaning “toasted”.
And probably today’s recipe was born around the middle of the 19th century, when raw tomatoes were included in the diets of even the less well-off classes.
How it became such a popular food overseas (and especially in the US), I don’t know for sure. Most likely it is not a different story from that of other Italian dishes famous abroad. Initially brought by immigrants, then entered into common use thanks to the popularity of Italian cuisine.
The fact is that bruschetta is easy, fast, healthy, and above all good.
