Bruschetta – the younger sister of the much more famous pizza

Bruschetta is one of the most famous Italian appetizers. It is simple, and requires only a few ingredients for the preparation - mostly bread, tomatoes, olive oil, basil and garlic.

The colors and taste of this simple dish reminds of ancient times, when the Roman saleships sailed through the Mediterranean, carrying wine, oil and wheat. Therefore it is not surprising that the main ingredients for bruschetta are oil and bread. Way later, during the 16th century, tomato was added to bruschetta - the vegetable discovered on the American continent. It was a new addition that rounded up its classic form.

Just like pizza, bruschetta is also considered as food for the poor, and it was especially loved by peasants who thereby managed to give new life to their old bread. Thanks to the possibility of adding expensive ingredients today, like smoked salmon, truffles and caviar, bruschetta is offering space for the imagination of every chef who can combine the most diverse aromas from various parts of the world on it.

The origin of bruschetta

The real origin of bruschetta is not completely clear: there is no reliable proof, only traces. Many gastronomic experts presented various theories about its “birthplace”, so it might be from somewhere in the area between Tuscany and Lazio.

In fact, the Etruscans lived in that area and were the first to use olive oil. They used it for religious ceremonies, as medicine or as fuel for their lanterns. Despite that, the credit for its introduction into gastronomy goes to the old Romans. Therefore, it is quite possible that the first bruschetta came from the hands of some Roman peasant who wanted to try his oil that way. 

The colors are telling a story

It is not rare to hear that the bruschetta is actually telling the story about the Italian flag with its ingredients. The Italian tricolor - green, white, red comes here in the form of high-quality ingredients: red in the form of tomatoes, white in the form of bread and garlic and green in the form of basil and olive oil. Of course, this applies only to the classic bruschetta that many Italians, but also fans of the Italian kitchen all around the world, consider to be the only true one.