Cicchetti are little morsels – think of them as appetisers, aperitivo or hors d’ouevres – which are undeniably and distinctly Italian, a delicious nod to Venice’s casual way of life.
In a city that is eye-wateringly expensive, going out for cicchetti is a surprisingly cheap and unpretentious way to eat and drink.
In her latest book Cinnamon and Salt: Cicchetti in Venice, author Emiko Davies dishes up a collection of recipes, stories and photographs from the Lagoon City, through its beloved cicchetti.
Growing up between Australia, Japan and China, Emiko has spent most of her life living abroad and since 2005 has called Italy home; it was in the Renaissance city that she met her husband Marco Lami.
Emiko’s passion for food, photography and history and Marco’s journey as a sommelier, led her to start her food blog in 2010, exploring regional and historical Italian food and wine, as well as travel tips and musings on family life in Italy.
Cicchetti is all about stopping in for a drink, a snack or a small plate at a hole-in-the-wall bar while walking around the city, on the way home from work, or shopping for groceries.
Over an ombra of wine and a cicchetto, great conversations ensue whether you are perched on a stool or a canal edge, standing at the bar or walking from one bàcaro to the next.
Just-fried, too hot to touch, you can often find fried calamari strung on a skewer together, or sold in yellow paper cones - it needs nothing more than a glass of cold, bubbly Prosecco next to it.
You can also find this as fritto misto - mixed fried seafood - which might include pieces of fish, or whole tiny fish known as latterini and crunchy whole prawns, to be eaten head and all.
‘We are particularly fond of calamari; it is my daughters’ favourite. The trick to this very simple dish is to have very fresh, small calamari and to fry in small batches – not crowding the pan keeps the oil hot, which means a crunchy coating,” Emiko explains.
Fried zucchini flowers stuffed with whipped cod is an absolutely delicious dish that is really just another way to eat fried cod.
Baccalà mantecato is dried cod, soaked, poached and whipped into an elegant mousse and is used to stuff the flowers for a deceptively simple, but delicious filling.
You could easily double or triple this recipe, but if there are only two or three of you, this will be enough; they are deceptively filling! These flowers are particularly good when eaten while piping hot, so fry them while your guests are eagerly waiting to eat them.
This grilled smoked herring salad is inspired by a recipe in the Veneto chapter of Ada Boni’s Italian Regional Cooking. It utilises renga, as it is known in the Veneto, or aringam - smoked whole herring - which is another preserved fish like baccalà and stoccafisso that comes from a northern European tradition.
The herrings are first salt-preserved and then cold-smoked and the time they are smoked can differ greatly.
"Sometimes smoked herring can be eaten just as it is, while others need to go through a process of desalting - usually soaking for 24 hours in milk - in order to make them palatable. That said, my mother-in-law’s grandfather used to take the salty smoked herring as is and rub it against thick slices of polenta,” Emiko says.
Accompanied by Emiko’s stunning photography, Cinnamon and Salt allows you to be swept away on a culinary tour that tells the unique story of the enchanting city of Venice, dish by dish.
