Regional Attractions: A break from food

If you're visiting Sardinia, you can't leave the island without checking out these amazing places.

Ever wanted to see giant graves? Well guess what? You can. The Giant's Graves are a popular attraction in Sardinia for many tourists. The graves were built by the Nuragic civilization, a civilization which existed in Sardinia from the 2nd millennium BCE. to the 2nd century CE. These were used as public tombs in the Bronze Age as community burial chambers. The tombs are made made of central steel and are over 100 feet tall! Unfortunately, little is known about the beliefs or rituals that motivated the construction of the Giant's Graves. These graves are also believed to have harbored the bodies of powerful giants. But there's no such thing as giants, right?

Another must-go attraction is the Grotta di Nettuno, also known as Neptune's Grotto. This is a stalactite cave found at the bottom of the cliff Capo Caccia, near the town of Alghero. This stunning cave was discovered in the 18th century by local Sardinian fishermen who later named it after the roman god of the sea, Neptune. The cave is around a meter above sea level and can only be entered when the water is calm. The cave is around 4 kilometers long, but only a few hundred meters are accessible to the public.You can truly experience the wonders of this cave by taking a boat trip from the port of Alghero. These boat trips are more frequent during the summer than any other time of the year.

The Teatro Lirico is another Sardinian attraction you will want to give a try. The Teatro Lirico is an opera house, as well as the largest theatre in Cagliari. It was actually built after a former theatre was destroyed during an attack in the second world war, and again after it was destroyed by a fire in 1942. These destructions left Cagliari without a theatre, so this one was built. Interestingly, the Teatro Lirico has won many awards, namely the Premio Franco Abbiati in 2001. The prize was again presented for the the acts: Carmen, in 2005, and Lammermoor in 2000.

So there you have it. Sardinia is a region packed with interesting attractions that come with their own fascinating histories.

Festivals to give your trip a spin!

There are many interesting festivals that take place yearly in Sardinia, but only a few rare food festivals. You will not want to miss the most colourful and gastronomical event of the year in Sardinia: The Porto Cervo food festival!

The Porto Cervo food festival is the largest and most attended food festival in Sardinia. Present in this festival are some of Sardinia's top chefs and their top ingredients, as well as local and national dishes. Both food lovers and business people come together for two whole days to take part in the tasting of Sardinia's foods, and meeting with chefs and producers of the food. Some other activities that go on are: Cooking Classes, show Cooking and gourmet dinners. As the title suggests, the food festival takes place in Porto Cervo, a seaside resort in northern Sardinia. Some of the delights that are offered at this festival include the following:

-Charcuterie
-Cheeses
-Jams
-Caviar
-Bottarga

This is one festival that you will not want to miss an opportunity to brag about.

Destinations for the Foodie

If you truly wish to experience the culture and food of Sardinia, give one of the following places a visit. They're not all fancy or grand, but they do share one thing in common: amazing food.

La Stella Marinade de Montecristo

This is a restaurant with no menu. Troublesome? Not at all. It serves three meals: the 'catch of the day', pasta, and for dessert, fruit. Forget the menu, at this place, you get a taste of traditional styles of serving. There's no better way to experience Sardinia. If you want to give this place a try, it can be found in Cagliari, the main city of Sardinia.

Agriturismo

If you're looking for something a bit different than a restaurant, try your stay at an agriturismo. The word 'agriturismo' combines agriculture and tourism. In short, agriturismo is a type of vacation area you can go to if you wish to incorporate the agriculture of Sardinia into your stay. Tourists are lodged at farm houses, where they can stay with their families, or significant others. Guests are served food directly from the farm, and some can even partake in the farming activity! The best part is, along with a very natural look to the lodging, there are also modern accommodations, such as pools.

Ingredients to spice up Sardinia!

In Sardinia, you may after a while come to notice a few recurring key ingredients in dishes.

It's no surprise, really, that seafood is often seen and eaten everywhere in Sardinia. It is an island after all, flanked by water on all sides. Main dishes often incorporate seafood; many Sardinian regions prove this. Seafood was not actually incorporated until after the many conquerors left Sardinia. As mentioned in a former post, the conquerors forced Sardinians away from the coastlines, so seafood only recently became a key ingredient. Now it can be found in many dishes, especially during main courses.


Meat is another key ingredient used in Sardinian cuisines. The early history of the Sardinians forced them to grow and maintain pastures where cows, sheep, pigs, and goats were raised. The Sardinians also have many methods of cooking meat, such as roasting it over herbs. Did you know that another popular method of cooking meat is to burry it in the ground? After digging a hole, the meat would be placed overtop of myrtle leaves, covered up again with the same leaves and then earth, and a fire would be made above the area. Clearly these neat methods of cooking show the importance meat holds for Sardinians.

Cheese is another ingredient that is important to Sardinian cuisine. Due to their traditional history with sheep, today their most renowned cheese is made using sheep milk. It is known as Pecorino cheese, and it is the most popular of the Sardinian cheeses.
Interesting fact: Pecorino actually finds its roots from the Italian word for sheep. Pecorino cheese can be either really sweet or even spicy if left out for about six months. This cheese is often used as an antipasti, but can also be grated on top of the pasta.

Finally, bread and pasta are key ingredients to most Sardinian diets. A well know and renowned bread in Sardinia is known as the Carasau, also known as "music paper" or carta da musica. Doesn't that sound divine? Another well known bread in Sardinia is the 'su civraxiu'. This bread is actually made particularly in Oristano, Iglesias and the plains of Cagliari, areas in Sardinia.

All of the ingredients mentioned above are keys to Sardinian cuisine. The bread, cheese and meat represent traditional ingredients, while fish and other sea creatures represent more recent ingredients. Combine all these ingredients, and you already know half of the Sardinian history of food!   

Popular Dishes; a Must Know!

What's a trip to beautiful Sardinia without having prior knowledge of the dishes served there? Don't worry, we have you covered. Below are some of well known regional dishes of Sardinia.


Burrida a Sa Casteddaia
This is an antipasti(an appetizer) dish which consists of fish as its main ingredient. This dish, if you ever wish to try, is commonly served in Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia. Within the dish, dogfish is dipped in a marinade of  walnuts, vinegar and spices. This can take up to 24 hours! 





Spit Roasted Suckling Pig
Also known as 'Su Porcheddu', this dish is often the main course around the centre of Sardinia. There are actually two methods of making this dish. This dish is made exactly as the title says: the meat is hung over top of lit coals and roasted. The end result will be a crunchy and aromatic taste and flavour.  



Sa Cordula Roast
This is another typical dish that can be found in Sardinia. In fact, it is a traditional specialty that is known in every part of Sardinia, so you wont want to miss out on this. The dish comes from an ancient tradition of farming. As mentioned many times, shepherds were important in the past and even today. They tended to sheep and goat, very important for many Sardinian dishes, especially this one. The recipe requires the interior of young goats or lambs wrapped around with a netting known as Sa Nappa. This dish tastes far better than it is described. It's certainly something new and exciting. It is also usually eaten on a special occasions such Easter or Christmas.

Culurgiones
You've been waiting for the pasta, and luckily, another popular Sardinian dish is the Culurgiones. In this dish, a pouch shaped pasta is stuffed with mint and potatoes. Served with tomato sauce, basil, and with a sprinkling of pecorino cheese on top, this dish is one you will not want to miss. Take a moment to savour the image of this beauty. 


Aside from the main dishes, here's something you will not want to miss:


Sebadas
If you're looking for a nice treat, you will not want to miss this rich dessert. The sebadas is essentially a fried pastry brushed with honey. With one bite, the melted pecorino cheese can be seen inside. The best part is, you can have this dessert the whole year round!


These are just some of many other delicious and popular dishes you might come across on your trip to Sardinia.

  



  

Industries of Food for the Food lover

To understand the different food industries in Sardinia, one must have a general idea of its food history. Let me sum it up: earlier conquerors often forced Sardinians inland. This forced them to use the rich pastures to make traditional foods such as bread, cheese, and meats. In recent times, fishing has also become very popular. So the past and present collapse to give this region of Italy its food industries.

Because Sardinia's tourist industry has grown tremendously in recent decades, there are many seafood restaurants on the coast. Invaders that came later in their history were the ones who actually brought the fish tradition. Nonetheless, the fishing industry is not as large as the agricultural and livestock industry.

The livestock production industry is extremely important in Sardinia, mostly because by rearing goats and sheep, the Sardinians have cheese; Pecorino cheese especially is well known both in Sardinia, and outside of Sardinia. Agriculture is also another important food industry. Modern agricultural fields can be found on the plains of Campinado, where lots of vegetables are grown. Primarily artichokes.  

The Influence of Geography on Food

So now you are aware of the general climate and geography of Sardinia. I'm sure you're wondering: what about the food? Well, depending on the area, different foods are used more often then others. But one thing is for sure, because Sardinia is an island, seafood is often incorporated into many dishes from many regions. Some examples include squid, clams, lobster, octopus, and mussels.

Being separated from the mainland Italian regions, and actually closer to the French island of Corsica towards the north, it would be evident that many other cultures played a role in establishing staple foods. In fact, history and geography can be combined to explain the emergence of many important foods. When the Sardinians were being invaded by conquerors from the coastlines (Sardinia is known to have been invaded by many before joining Italy), they had no choice but to flee to the interior of the island. There they discovered rich pastures. The great fertility inland resulted in their having many cherished foods such as meat, pasta, cheese, and bread.

The pastures also were valuable in that they made great areas to raise animals such as sheep, which are interestingly important not only in important dishes, but they are also a concern for environmental scientists. The land that is needed for the sheep to graze is slowly degrading, and it is important to help it sustain. Because issues have been raised, we can assume that pastures and sheep are important for Sardinian cuisines.   

Geography and Climate 101

If you're not sure whether Sardinia is worth traveling to, stop, and think about this: It's an island. Already you cannot go wrong with this region in Italy. Flanked by the sparkling Mediterranean and the Tyrrhenian sea, Sardinia is easily the second largest island in the area, and it governs independently from the rest of Italy.
Sardinia spans about 24 090 km², including it's offshore islands. Its largest city is Cagliari (which interestingly means "Castle" in Sardinia). Some other provinces in Sardinia include: Carbonia Iglesias, Medio Campidano, Nuoro, ogliastra, olbia Tempio, Oristano, and finally Sassari. But here's another fact that I'm sure will peak the attention of anyone: Sardinia is known to have beautiful, clear turquoise coastlines. Imagine standing on high and rocky cliffs overlooking white beaches. Sardinia's rocky coastline is due to tectonic and large volcanic activity during the Cenozoic era. But in general, the west and southwest coasts are not as rocky as the other sides. 

 Sardinia is well known for having a summer that spans six months (from May to October). Although there still exists a mild wind that blows from the northwest. Sardinia's climate is greatly affected by its location in the Mediterranean. Wind masses from the Atlantic, Arctic and Africa also have an affect on Sardinian climate. Although it is known to be very warm during the summer, it also can get very cold, usually higher above land, on the mountains. Locals can even see, when weathers go below zero, white caps on Gennargentu (the main mountain of Sardinia).  

Overall, the weather is not to hot or too cold; there's a little something to fit everyone's needs.