One restaurant in San Gimignano displays great creativity, either with their food, or with the English translation of their menu. As their special of the day they offer "unaffected co-ed", either sauteed or baked. Here's the menu from another restaurant that we liked better.

Alyson Adventures offers active vacations for gay men, lesbians, and friends. While activities such as hiking and biking are the main focus of our trips (see bottom of page), when we visit Tuscany the local cuisine is an equally memorable and enjoyable part of our trips in Italy.

  The Food of Tuscany  

For centuries, Tuscany's cuisine has been known for its fresh flavors and original combinations. When we travel in Italy, we seek out restaurants that highlight this region's gastronomic talents. One that we particularly like, in the medieval town of San Gimignano, is Ristorante Dorando, whose chef has researched dishes from Etruscan, medieval, and Renaissance times, and presents them with a modern flair.

Ristorante Dorando's menu (which they offer in English translation, as well as Italian) offers a brief history of each dish. From their menu of some twenty selections, here are a few, verbatim as presented on the restaurant's English menu.

Memorable Tuscan cuisine isn't confined to restaurants. One of our favorite repasts is a buffet spread at a winery in the small village of Volpaia.

  Ristorante Dorando  

Selections from the menu 

APPETIZERS

CIANCIFRICOLA, ERBOLATA, PORRATA
They are also called pies because they are made with bread dough, vegetables and eggs and baked in the oven. They seem to derive from "Porrea", a 14th century dish that lent its name to a religious celebration and a meal that used to take place in August in San Lorenzo (Florence). These pies, or omelettes, were surely served as main course: today, they are considered an appetizing hors d'oeuvre.

CIBREO DE' MEDICI
An excellent dish, pride of Florentine cuisine, prepared with finely diced chicken livers and giblets seasoned with ginger and cooked in lemon juice and egg yolk. Legend narrates that Chaterie de'Medici had such a weakness for "Cibreo" that once she over indulged and almost died of indigestion. The typical Tuscan canaps with chicken livers and giblets are surely descendents of this dish.

TAGLIOLINI (THIN TAGLIATELLE) WITH PUMPKIN AND TRUFFLE SAUCE
The florentine Anton Francesco Doni drew inspired from pumpkin to write a full short poem. Pulp and flowers can be cooked in many ways to obtain delicious dishes. Pips of this fruit too, are very good when salted we eat them as passtime.

More about Flavors of Tuscany (hiking)

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MAIN COURSES

TRUFFLED PIGEON PASTRY IN TIMBALE
For centuries various peoples have used meat pigeon as a dainty food. We can evidence it: before dove sculptures have been found in the Etruscan areas, after, in a recipes book of XIV century, a tuscan anonymous used the tender meat to prepare rudimental pastries and timbales that, after discovery of America, were enriched with tomato imported from new lands.

MONKFISH IN A HAZELNUTS CRUST WITH SAUTEED SAVOY CABBAGE
From ancient periods, in Tuscany, they used to eat fish, specially in abstinence and Lent days, before just lake and river fishes, after sea fishes too even if, they were far from marine places. In fact, in Siena, after pestilence of 1349, they could to sell fish again, on Thursday in "Piazza del Campo". Sold fish wasn't always so fresh as it needed cause long distances and shortage of freezers. But authorities used to close their eyes on the matter; they were interested to cash the "toll on catch", a tax imposed to a seller because he could to show his goods. Poor people used to eat fish too; in fact an old law said that in the evening one hour after sunsed, at the ringing of the bell, the "Uffiziali" could to overturn every street stall with goods left over. Everyone could to pick and eat fishes.

GUINEA-FOWL WITH SPICES IN A PUFF-PASTRY CRUST WITH AUBERGINE (EGGPLANT) ROLLS
Etruscans gave great importance to guinea-hens or "Numide Maleagris".. with their dark feathers spotted with wide round tears.. that they used to hunt in brushwoods, where these animals lived in groups of even one hundred. Their delicious and savoury meat was highly appreciated and was cooked in direct contact with the fire, seasonsed with aromatic herbs and spices. Probably, spices and aromas were added to conceil the strong smell of putrefaction that was inevitable due to the lack of ice-boxes.

FLORENTINE STEAK WITH HARICOT BEANS WITH OLIVE OIL
Frescoed tombs give proof that this cut of meat was already adopted by the Etruscans. Steaks certainly originate from the Maremma, and cowherds used to call it "carbonata" (cooked over charcoal), but the name was later changed to "Fiorentina", being Florence the head town of Tuscany. Steak is the most typical Tuscan dish, even if the italian name derives from English. A legend narrates that in 1565, on occasion of a feast held in Florence in Saint Lorenzo Square, beef cooked on a spit was distributed among those present. Some English tourists, having seen the nice slices of meat, starting shouting "beef steak" to have one. The Florentine trasformed the word into the more italian "bistecca". This meat find excellent companions in fresh salads and oven-baked or grilled vegetables, but the ideal side dish are white beans. This type of beans was the only one known until the discovery of America, thanks to which other types were introduced to Europe starting from the early 1500, along with potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco and peppers.

DESSERTS

LEMON SORBET (SHERBET)
Sherbets, the forefathers of ice-cream, were a characteristic part of Medicaen meals. Icy preparations date back to the 13th century, and even to Arab times. Sherbets were prepared with lemon and orange syrups, purified fruit juices or aromatic flavourings with spirit added. Obtaining juice from citrus fruit was a matter of physical strength, and therefore encouraged competitions among the man in Renaissance kitchens. Sherbets distinguished themselves from ice-creams because they were not as sweet. They had to be smooth and frothy and were obtained by preparing and freezing a vanilla cream to which the favourite fruit juice and spirit were eventually added. The addition of raw egg white before freezing proved to be excellent. "Ice-boxes" were ditches dug in areas facing north or along mountain rivers. Sherbets were a special enrichment of the Medicean table and were usually served at the end of a meal. If the banquet was particularly lavish, the sherbet, inevitably made with citrus fruit juice, was served halfway during the meal, helping guests digest the numerous and elaborate dishes served until then.

PECORINO CHEESE WITH PEARS
Metayer was the name given to a farmer who tilled land for a landlord and received half of the harvest as compensation. To make ends meet, the metayer had to declare smaller quantities and keep secret the goodness of some products. For this reason, Tuscan metayers had a saying, which is still used today... the landlord must not become aware that cheese is better with a pear.