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In Liguria, it’s Farinata!

By Adam Leipzig on July 2, 2014 in Food

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La Spezia, Italy–One of the remarkable features of eating at restaurants in Italy is that there is no arrogance. Food is supposed to be made well, it is supposed to be fresh, it is supposed to be local. That’s just the way it is. Waiters don’t regale you information about the provenance of the lettuce or the cheese. They just take your order and bring your dinner.

Nor is the best food in restaurants with tablecloths. I always seek out the meals real people, working people, like to eat and can afford. So here, in the center of La Spezia, a small town along the Ligurian coast, I followed a line of people who were waiting for farinata from La Pia, a pizzeria that has been operating here since 1887.

The story of La Pia goes like this. In 1887, Signora Pia opened a small shop with a wood-burning oven to serve the working people who had been brought to La Spezia as it transformed from a tiny fishing village into an industrialized city. For a few cents, workers could have farinata, focaccia and chestnuts, all made from local ingredients that were in abundance and, therefore, cheap. After World War I, the shop added pizza to its menu, and started to bring it a more upscale clientele, so they added some tables. There are no tablecloths, and the place has been virtually unchanged for one hundred years.

La Pia, in the center of La Spezia, Italy. Wood is stacked below the ovens, and deep in the left oven, a farinata is cooking.

La Pia, in the center of La Spezia, Italy. Wood is stacked below the ovens, and deep in the left oven, a farinata is cooking.

What is farinata? Its essential ingredient is chick-pea (garbanzo bean) flour, ground fine. You add water to make a fairly liquid batter and then let it sit overnight. In the morning, there will be foam on top, and you skim all of it off. Then you add a fair amount of olive oil, some salt, a little more water if necessary to give it the consistence of buttermilk, and pour it into a large flat pan with a rim. The batter should be about a eighth of an inch thick, and it cooks in the hot, wood-burning oven for 20 minutes or so.

At La Pia, the pan is round, and nearly a meter in diameter. Using a tool, a cook tips and gently rocks the pan in the oven, during the first few minutes as the batter firms up. Then it emerges, golden-colored, crusty and brown at the edges. You go up to the counter, say how much you want. The cook cuts a triangular slice, gives it a few chops with the knife to make it easier to eat if you’re doing take-away, places the farinata on a sheet of paper and weighs it. You pay at the cash register, and grind some fresh black pepper on top before you leave.

Chick-pea flour has a surprisingly mild taste, slightly nutty, slightly sweet. The scent of olive oil rises from the warm farinata, and the amount of oil makes it crispy. (If you plan to make this at home, don’t skimp on the oil. La Pia uses far more olive oil than most recipes call for, which is the key to their farinata’s lightness and delicious crunchy brown edges.)

At La Pia, farinata comes in two varieties: plan, and with thinly cut, cooked-sweet onions (pictured above). Either way, it is real food for real people who are really hungry, and can satisfy themselves for a couple of euros.

La Pia
Via Magenta 12
La Spezia, Italy
www.lapia.it

Photos by Adam Leipzig

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TagsfarinatafoodItalian foodItalyrecipes

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Adam Leipzig

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Adam Leipzig is the founder and CEO of MediaU, online career acceleration. MediaU opens the doors of access for content creation, filmmaking and television. Adam, Cultural Weekly’s founder and publisher, has worked with more than 10,000 creatives in film, theatre, television, music, dance, poetry, literature, performance, photography, and design. He has been a producer, distributor or supervising executive on more than 30 films that have disrupted expectations, including A Plastic Ocean, March of the Penguins, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Dead Poets Society, Titus and A Plastic Ocean. His movies have won or been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, 11 BAFTA Awards, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Emmys, 2 Directors Guild Awards, 4 Sundance Awards and 4 Independent Spirit Awards. Adam teaches at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Adam began his career in theatre; he was the first professional dramaturg in the United States outside of New York City, and he was one of the founders of the Los Angeles Theatre Center, where he produced more than 300 plays, music, dance, and other events. Adam is CEO of Entertainment Media Partners, a company that navigates creative entrepreneurs through the Hollywood system and beyond, and a keynote speaker. Adam is the former president of National Geographic Films and senior Walt Disney Studios executive. He has also served in senior capacities at CreativeFuture, a non-profit organization that advocates for the creative community. Adam is is the author of ‘Inside Track for Independent Filmmakers ’ and co-author of the all-in-one resource for college students and emerging filmmakers 'Filmmaking in Action: Your Guide to the Skills and Craft' (Macmillan). (Photo by Jordan Ancel)

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