Le Marche Food

Le Marche desserts

These include a Pizza Dolce, or sweet pizza and Frustenga a cake made with raisins, figs and walnuts. Breaded olives stuffed with spiced meats, olive d'ascolana, originate from Ascoli Piceno, Le Marche and are available as an antipasto in most restaurants. Lentils and other pulses are grown on the Piano Grande in the middle of the Appenines and are often eaten with zamponi (stuffed pig's trotters).

Restaurants in Marche

You will probably notice different names for marche restaurants besides ristorante, such as osteria, trattoria, agriturismo and pizzeria, but rest assured that all serve up a range of great Italian dishes to savour. Sarnano itself is well served by numerous pizzerias, five agriturismi/farms serving rural fayre using traditional Marche recipes and seven osterie/trattorie (well priced and serving rustic dishes). We are fortunate to have eaten at the majority and have listed some of the best on the Restaurant page to help you in your search for a taste of the real Italy.

Food shops in Le Marche Italy

Most Le Marche shops including food shops are open from about 8.30 am to 12.30 and from 5.00 until 7.30pm. Like the rest of Italy, many shops close on Sunday – except bakers, cake, delicatessans and fresh pasta shops – and for a day during the week.

There are also supermarkets that are open all day, many have fresh counters for meats, fish and cheeses. A typical Le Marche grocer’s shop or deli – alimentari – has most of the food on shelves for you to help yourself, except for the delicatessen counter for cheese, cold meats, etc., where you also need to ask for bread. When ordering from the delicatessen counter or a local market in Italy, most things are sold in units of etti (un’etto/due etti) one etto is 100 grams or slightly less than a quarter pound. For small quantities it is common to use a half etto (un mezz’etto).

An Italian grocery list:

• cheese – formaggio
• milk – latte: full-intero, semi skimmed- parzialmente scremato, skimmed- scremato
• pecorino nostrano (local ewe’s milk cheese), stagionata (seasoned) frescha (fresh)
• parmigiano (parmesan)
• parmigiano gratuggiato (grated parmesan)
• gorgonzola
• Truffle-tartufo
• Ricotta-ricotta
• fresh cream – panna fresca
• bread – pane (bought by the half kilo or kilo (mezzo kilo/un kilo). Note that many Forno (bakers) shops sell specialist breads made with olive oil, such as Pugliese, Siciliana, Arabo etc, all tend to be more crusty on the outside and moister inside.
• “parma” ham – prosciutto crudo
• cooked ham – prosciutto cotto
• olives – ulive
• Fish- Pesce (pronounced Peshay)
• Tuna- Tonno
• Anchovy- acciughe

Unless you use a supermercato, you will have to buy fruit and vegetables from a fruttivendolo or fruit & veg shop. Stocks are strongly seasonal, out-of-season exotic fruit with all of their food miles havent caught on in the Marche.

A shopping list for a Le Marche greengrocers (fruttivendolo):

• french beans – fagiolini
• garlic – aglio
• lemons – limoni
• lettuce – insalata
• melon – melone
• nectarines – pesche noce
• onions – cipolle
• oranges – arance
• peaches – pesche
• peas – piselli
• peppers – peperoni
• potatoes – patate
• rocket – rucola
• tomatoes – pomodori
• water melon – cocomero/anguria
• apples – mele
• aubergines – melanzane
• bananas – banana
• broad beans – fave
• Broccoli- broccoli
• Chilli- pepperoncino
• Cabbage- Cavolo
• Cauliflower- Cavalfiore
• courgettes – zucchini
• cucumber – cetriolo
• fennel – finocchio
• figs – fiche

Meat in the Marche, as in the rest of Italy, is of a very high quality and therefore expensive. Look out for the word nostrano meaning “local” for the best produce as the butcher will know the provenance of his stock, the slaughterhouse and even the farm. An Italian butcher’s is a macelleria.

An Italian butcher’s typical produce:

• beef – manzo/vittelone
• veal – vitello
• chicken (breast) – pollo (petto di pollo)
• legs – cosce
• lamb – agnello
• liver – fegato
• pork – maiale
• rabbit – coniglio
• steak (beef/pork) – bistecca (di manzo/di maiale)
• sausages (excellent) – salsicce
• turkey – tacchino
• mince/ground beef (lean) – carne macinata (prima scelta)

If you are going out to eat at a ristorante, an osteria or trattoria, you may need to translate the menu, try this menu page and carry it with you on your le marche holiday