perched-up hill towns and rustic cuisine. stop filming and just eat it. i m stanley tucci. italian on both sides and i m travel across italy to discover how the food in each of this country s 20 regions are as unique as the people and their past. [ speaking foreign language ] ummian food isn t about expensive restaurants or tricky techniques. it s all about the skill and hard twhoork goes into producing its precious raw ingredients. for instance owe r from innovative farmers and chefs preserving traditional ways of cooking this food from the lands and a note for vegetarians watching, umbrians eat a lot of meat, like a lot of it, huge amounts of it. i surrender. so the pork umbria is named after the umry, one of italy s most ancient people. their landlocked homeland is right in the middle of the country. bordered on the rest by its more glamorous neighbor tuscany, it s often overlooked and while the landscape here is similar, the culture is very different. less fancy,
[ speaking foreign language ] umbrian food isn t about expensive restaurants or tricky techniques. it s all about the skill and hard work that goes into producing its precious raw ingredients. from innovative farmers to noble hunters. and let s not forget the chefs and butchers preserving the traditional ways of cooking. and a note for any vegetarians watching. umbrians eat a lot of meat, like particularly pork. like a lot of it. huge amounts of it. i surrender. to the pork. umbria is named after the umry, one of italy s most ancient peoples. their landlocked homeland is right in the middle of the country. bordered on the west by its more glamorous neighbor tuscany, it s often overlooked. but while the landscape here is similar, the culture is very different. less fancy, if you will. and i hear the locals like it that way. they re like flames, aren t they? i m heading deep into the heart of sagrantino territory, umbria s luscious wrld-renowned red wine, to meet a man
oh my god. that just melts in your mouth. i m stanley tucci. i m fascinated by my italian heritage. so i m traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of these 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. the creations of famous tuscans are known the world over. mick anglo, i think if he were to walk around today, he would be able to walk around florence. it hasn t changed. but it s the hands of the ordinary people that have crafted the incredible food here. it s like christmas in your mouth. yeah. this is a place built on human ingenuity, mind-boggling riches, and an insane amount of bread. i really don t know how they each this much bread. it s delicious, but it s so hot. all great love affairs start somewhere. [ speaking italian ] and for me, my love of italy started right here in florence when i was just 12 years old. that s delicious. you have to taste that. like this tartlet filled with rice pudding. i mean, come on. there is
si, because the milk, it s very fresh. so, how long do you preserve the cheese for? it s one year old. one year?! yes, but we produce pecorino delle balze in four different kind of maturing. so it s like fine wine? yes! since the middle ages, tuscans, particularly the poor, relied heavily on this cheese. i eat a lot of cheese, but i ve never, ever had a chance to make some cheese. it s a great alternative to expensive meats for its nutrition. and this one, which they use in the cheese race, comes specifically from the milk of sarda sheep that graze both on lowland and mountainous terrain. perfect for here, then. time now to chat to the big boss, rosita s father. speaking to everybody here, they tell me that you are the king of cheese.
that s that. all right go ahead, put it in. the tuscans next door like to claim this mellow tasting garlic as their own, but don t tell that to the umbrians. its classic partner is a simple passata, made from tomatoes harvested just a few weeks ago. thick enough to hang on to the sauce, these picci are the perfect pasta to go with it. oh look at that. oh gorgeous. now you see why they re called caviar. eggplant caviar. what is that tarragon? tarragon. the secret ingredient is a bit of davide s fingers. a little touch of humanity in there, yes. if you happen to have a bruschetta. oddly enough we do. more salt. more salt? no, no. stanley, would you mind helping me?