plays a part. An Italian cook frys
better than one of any other nationality. In the north very good meat is
obtainable, the boiled beef of Turin being almost equal to our own
Silverside. Farther and farther south, as the climate becomes hotter,
the meat becomes less and less the food of the people, various dishes of
paste and fish taking its place, and as a compensation the fruit and the
wine become more delicious. The fowls and figs of Tuscany, the white
truffles of Piedmont, the artichokes of Rome, the walnuts and grapes of
Sorrento, might well stir a gourmet to poetic flights. The Italians are
very fond of their _Risotto_, the rice which they eat with various
seasonings,--with sauce, with butter, and with more elaborate
preparations. They also eat their _Paste asciutte_ in various forms. It
is _Maccheroni_ generally in Naples, _Spagetti_ in Rome, _Trinetti_ in
Genoa. _Alla Siciliana_ and _con Vongole_ are but two of the many ways
of seasoning the _Spagetti_. Again, the delicate little envelopes of
paste containing forcemeat of some kind or another change their names
according to their contents and the town they are made in. They are
_Ravioli_ both at Genoa and Florence, but at Bologna they are
_Capeletti_, and at Turin _Agnolotti. Perpadelle_, another pasta dish
with a little difference of seasoning, becomes _Tettachine_ when the
venue changes from Bologna to Rome.

There are many minor differences in the components of similarly named
dishes at different towns; the _Minestrone_ of Milan and Genoa differ,
and so does the _Fritto Misto_ of Rome and Turin. I fancy that, as a
compensation, only an expert could tell the difference between the soups
_di Vongole_ at Naples, _di Dattero_ at Spezzia, and _di Peoci_ at
Venice.

The "Zabajone" the sweet, frothing drink beaten up with eggs and sugar,
is made differently in different towns. At Milan and Turin Marsala and
brandy are used in it; at Venice Cyprus wine is the foundation; and
elsewhere three wines are used. It is a splendidly sustaining drink,
whether drunk hot or iced, and Italian doctors order it in cases of
depression, and it might well find a place in the household recipes of
English and American households. The wines of the various towns I have
noted in writing of them. "Vino nostrano" or "del paese" brings from the
waiter his list of the local juice of the grape, and the wine of the
district is the wine to drink. Roughly speaking, the red wine is the
best thr