Pasta e ceci is a dish common in

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and

Central Italy Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency. Regions Central It ...

. It is made with pasta and

chickpea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high ...

s. It is part of the ''cucina povera'', or peasant cuisine tradition in Italian cuisine.

History

The dish has ancient origins, and was mentioned in the Roman poet

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

's ''

Satires Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

''.

Variants

The dish is popular in the region of

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

, where it is known as "''piatto del brigante''" ("the dish of the brigand"), as it is popularly believed to have been the favored dish of local brigands in the nineteenth century. In

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

the dish is popular in the

province of Salerno The Province of Salerno ( it, Provincia di Salerno) is a province in the Campania region of Italy. __TOC__ Geography The largest towns in the province are: Salerno, the capital, which has a population of 131,950; Cava de' Tirreni, Battipagli ...

and in

Cilento Cilento is an Italian geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno and an important Tourism, tourist area of southern Italy. Cilento is known as one of the centers of Mediterranean diet. Geograph ...

. In both Basilicata and Campania the dish is usually prepared with

lagane Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ...

, a shape of pasta similar to

tagliatelle Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...

, which was mentioned by Horace with the name ''Lagàne e ceci''. The

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

version of the dish makes use of

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

. In

Puglia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, the dish is known as '' ciceri e tria'', a staple dish of the cuisine of Salento. The dish has been recognised by the

Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, it, Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali, italic=no or MiPAAF, is an Italian government department. It was formed in 1946 as the Ministero dell'Agricoltura e delle F ...

as a traditional Apulian product and is mentioned in the twenty-second revision of the list of products of 2020. According to the traditional recipe a portion of the pasta is fried and then re-added to the dish alongside chickpeas.

History

Variants

References

See also