pixel facebook

Go Local! | La Cucina Bianca: discovering the gastronomic tradition of the Maritime Alps

Food and wine

If you are not a fish lover and therefore dismiss a trip to Liguria out of hand thinking that the cuisine is only seafood, you are making a big mistake! Are you familiar with Ligurian cuisine? In our hinterland, more specifically along the moors that separate us not only from lower Piedmont but also from France, the so-called ‘Strada della Cucina Bianca‘ (White Cuisine Route) winds its way, a food and wine itinerary that will amaze you thanks to its, literal and otherwise, distance from coastal cuisine. The flavours are those of the malghe, high mountain summer pastures, and express the simplicity of the cuisine of yesteryear, bringing to the table recipes based on poor ingredients such as eggs, milk, flour, butter and then vegetables such as leeks or potatoes: hence the adjective ‘white‘.

Our favourites
  • Il Brodo di Erbe Amare: a soup made with borage and nettle tips
  • Le Turle: ravioli filled with mint and potatoes
  • Le Raviore: unlike the Turle, these ravioli are filled only with various wild herbs (nettles, mint, luisa grass, etc.)
  • Gli Streppa e Caccia Là: literally ‘tear and throw there’, fresh pasta created from a mixture of water and flour whose shape is irregular (precisely because it is torn into pieces and put directly into the pot to cook)
  • Il Brusso: fermented ricotta cheese with a really strong flavour
  • I Bastardui: small dumplings kneaded with herbs

Celebrated at the end of August, in the small village of Mendatica, the famous festival of the same name will give you the chance to taste all these recipes on one occasion. However, the Cucina Bianca brings together several villages in one big embrace. You can also enjoy it in Cosio and Borghetto d’Arroscia, Montegrosso Pian Latte, Pieve di Teco, Acquetico, Monesi di Triora, Viozene, and on the Colle di Tenda.

Some addresses not to be missed