Have you ever seen a picture of an Italian lunch spread sprawled out across a table and wonder what goes into creating it? I know the food options seem endless and it looks like a lot of work, but it’s actually quite easy if you understand the main concepts and ideas behind it. In this post, I’m going to share with you those concepts, so you can attempt to put together your own Italian lunch (or dinner) spread, and have an authentic Italian eating experience. It’s more than just the type of food included in the meal; it’s the way we eat it that makes the experience complete. So get ready……to eat A LOT.

One of my favorite and most exciting foodie memories were the occasions my Dad would call home from work and ask my mom if we all wanted “pucha” and cold cuts for dinner. We would be soooo excited, as this was a once in while treat and our absolute favorite. Then there was the most exciting moment of all, when we would come to the table and give drooling stares to the plates of meats, cheeses, vegetables, and breads lying out all over the table.

“Pucha” in my family means “to dip” but overtime it also became the noun we called the olive oil dip that we would dip our food into when having a large Italian spread for dinner. I can’t say where it’s derived from. I can’t locate it in the formal Italian language, but it is a term my great grandparents and grandparents used which was passed down to my dad and us kids over the years. I’m assuming it was short for a word in their specific Italian dialect. Either way, it stuck and I’m going to use the term throughout this post.

Ok, so let’s start prepping our spread by beginning with the dipping oil!

The key to good “pucha,” or the seasoned olive oil that food is dipped into, is to use high quality olive oil. Cheaper olive oils can be used for cooking, but you’ll want to buy a higher grade for dipping. Some tips on how to determine and buy a good olive oil-

1. Higher quality oils usually start at about $12 and go up from there. They can be extremely expensive, but I usually stick to around $12-20 and have found some great options such as: Lucini (any large grocery store), De Cecco (any large grocery store), Colavita (any large grocery store), Sicilian Olive Oil (Trader Joe’s), and Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Trader Joe’s).

2. If you want a traditional Italian experience, always buy oil “imported from Italy.” Be diligent about checking the back of the bottle for this information, because it’s not uncommon to turn the bottle over and read that the olives come from various different countries even though it’s called Italian olive oil on the front of the bottle.

3. Try specialty food stores- they will have much more variety than a large chain grocery store.

4. Buy extra virgin!

Once you have your oil, it’s time to prep it:

1. Start with olive oil and pour as much in a shallow bowl as you think you’ll need for the amount of bread you have or the amount of people you are serving.
2. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar; not too much as it will be too acidic and salty. Sometimes balsamic isn’t added and you can just do olive oil and seasonings, but this is to your personal liking.
3. Once you have the oil and vinegar splash, add in seasonings. There aren’t rules on exactly what to put in your oil. The best way is to experiment and try different variations each time you make it. Again, it’s all to personal taste and liking. Here’s some suggestions though: pepper, sea salt, dried basil, dried italian seasoning, dried herbs de provence, or dried thyme.

Tip: Don’t add all of these- just a combination of a couple to a few. Growing up, we sometimes just added salt and pepper and that is delicious alone; but some dried green herbs add great flavor. I also sometimes add chopped garlic, and if you’re a garlic lover like me, this is the way to go!

 Now for the huge table spread!

    

Us Italians love our variety, which is why our spread usually takes up a whole table. You can break up the variety into four groups: vegetables, cold cuts (meats), cheeses, and bread. When planning this for a group of people, make a grocery list of what you want to buy, but you can also just do this on the whim at home for you and your significant other by using what you have. This has always been my dad’s biggest rule. You obviously have to shop in a way on a regular basis so you have some of these options lying around, but once you introduce these things into your diet and shop in this manner, you can open your fridge at any given time and throw together a spread. There are endless options for each group, but here are my family’s favorites:

Vegetables	Cold Cuts/Fish	Cheeses	Bread
Green onions	Toscano salami	Blue cheese	Sourdough baguette
Fennel (anus)	Soppressata salami	Pecorino	Focaccia
Tomatoes	Genoa salami	Mozzarella	Rustic Italian
Garlic	Prosciutto	Parmigiano	Bread sticks
Mushrooms	Coppa (hot or mild)	Brie	Sicilian parchment crackers (my new fav from TJ’s)
Broccolini	Mortadella	Swiss
Radish	Head cheese	Goat cheese
Endive	Sardines	Munster
Raddichio	Anchovies	Really any fun variety you find!
Sundried tomatoes
Marinated peppers
Raw peppers
Artichoke hearts
Marinated button mushrooms
Olives (all kinds)
Avocado

Once you decide on the options you want, pull out large serving platters. Ones with separations in them are good for the marinated veg so their juices stay contained in one place. As for the raw veg and the cold cuts, put all veg on one or two platters and the cold cuts on the other (usually we keep the fish like sardines and anchovies separate from the cold cut platter.) Fyi, all these items are served cold- there’s no cooking involved! To save room and for nice presentation, cold cuts can be folded in half or rolled up as placed on the platter. The picture below is of our Palm Sunday lunch this year……for five people. Bet you can guess we had quite a few leftovers…..

Lastly, how to eat it! Yes, I am giving you tips on how to eat because as I mentioned in the beginning, this is significant to the experience and the best part! The idea behind the variety of cold cuts, veg, bread, and dipping oil is to be able to make endless combinations as you eat.

Simply do it in this order: pick, dip, combine, and eat.

Then you repeat, switching to a new combo. A combo usually consists of a piece of bread, hunk of cheese, piece of cold cut, and maybe veg on top, which are dipped into the oil. Sometimes in between my mini open face sandwhich combos, I pick up a strand of green onion or other veg, pucha (dip), and eat. This is all done with your hands. The only silverware present are the cheese knives or the forks to pick up marinated veg. This is not to be a super neat process, have fun and get your fingers oily!

Since my blog also focuses on healthy eating and being aware of processed food, some tips: Pay attention to the quality and ingredients in Italian cold cuts you buy. Cheap brands will have unnecessary added ingredients like corn syrup….(really!?). Unfortunately, a lot of types of salami have some sort of added sugar for preservation reasons, but just try to find brands with as little as possible. As for prosciutto- there should never be any other ingredients except pork and salt. Traditional prosciutto is made through a curing process, where the ham is cured with salt, making no other preservatives necessary.

Also, you may be thinking “those cold cuts sure have a lot of fat.” I’m here to remind you that some fat and especially healthy fats, like those found in avocados and olive oil, are not your enemy- sugar is! So enjoy your fatty prosciutto, cheese, and olive oil- just do so with the meats and cheeses in moderation. This is why this kind of spread isn’t eaten every single day, and is a once in while lunch choice. There’s a reason 90 year Italians in Italy are riding bikes and zooming past out of breath tourists up steep staircases……..

I hope this has helped and that you enjoy creating your own Italian eating experience. After a few dips of this or that, don’t forget the most important part, which is to wash it all down with a big glass of vino!

Mangia.