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!   

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.