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Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Wedged in the corner between Austria and Slovenia, with a very complicated history and Trieste as its capital, this partly autonomous region is Italy with Central European twist and excellent white wines. There is superb ham from San Daniele di Friuli; further east await goulash, frico, jota, cjalzons, and wonderful desserts redolent of the Austro-Hungarian empire: gubana, strudels and more.

The name Friuli is derived from the Roman foundation, Forum Iulii (Julius' Forum), the original name of the town, Cividale del Friuli. Venezia-Giulia refers to the area's former situation in the Venetian empire and the Julian Alps in the northeastern area of Carnia.

aglio

garlic

asino

donkey or cheese

biseto

eel

bisna

soup with pork and pickled turnips

blecs

buckwheat pasta parallelograms

bondiola

mixed pork meat salame

boreto alla graisana

fisherman stew of Grado

brodo

broth

brovada

pickled turnips

brusaula

smoked dried meat

bruscandoli

shoots of the wild common hops plant

bujadnik

sweet bread baked in cabbage leaves

cacio

semi-soft cheese

calandraca

beef and potato stew

canederli

bread dumplings

canoce

squill (mantis shrimp)

Carnia

cow's milk cheese from near Belluno

castagnole

Carnival fritters

cevapcici

Serbo-Croatian kebabs

chifeleti

horseshoe shaped fritters from Trieste

chiodini

honey fungus

ciliegie

cherries

cjalzons

Friulian ravioli

colombine

dove shaped Easter pastries or mushrooms

confenon

poppy sprouts

crauti

sauerkraut

esse di Raveo

S-shaped biscuits

fagioli

beans, beans, beans and more beans

fasûj e uardi

bean and barley soup

fave dei morti

almond-paste biscuits

fico

fig

fieno

'straw' pasta

folpèti

curled octopus

Formadi Frant

a mix of cheeses blended in cream

frico

cheese wafer or cheese and potatoes

frittata

omelette, Italian style

fusi istriani

twisted pasta squares

gallina

hen

girini di pasta

pasta 'tadpoles'

gnocchi

dumplings

goulash

Hungarian-style beef and onion stew

grissini

breadsticks

gubana

rich ring cake filled with walnuts and raisins

imbriago

'intoxicated' cheese

impanadas

little pies

Jamar

Cave cheese from the Carso

jota

sauerkraut, bean and potato soup

kaiserfleisch

streaky bacon

krafen

jelly doughnuts

Kugelhopf

round aniseed flavoured cake

lasagne

long flat sheets of pasta

Latteria

Friulian cow's milk cheeses

lepre

hare

liptauer

spicy cheese spread

ljubljanska

cutlet with ham and cheese

luppolo

hops

marcundela

pork sausage wrapped in caul

Montasio

iconic mountain cheese

most

apple and pear cider

muset

pig snout sausage

oca

goose

Occhione di Carnia

cow's milk cheese

ocikana

polenta and cheese

ofelle

potato ravioli

olivello spinoso

sea buckthorn

ont

butter melted until all the water is removed

palacinke

similar to a crêpe

pan

bread or cake or something else

paparòt

spinach soup

pestadice

sausage with fried lard

pestat

lard and vegetable sausage

peta

smoked meat from Pordenone

pevarini

pepper biscuits

pinza

sweet round loaf

pistum

sweet dumplings or turnip greens soup

pitina

smoked mountain meatball

polenta

corn meal

porcino

pork with mustard

presnitz

fruit and nut filled roll

prosciutto

ham

putizza

nut roll

radic di mont

wild chicory shoots

radicchio

red chicory

rambasici

stuffed cabbage

rapa

turnip

rigojanci

chocolate sponge and cream cake

Salato

cow's milk 'salt' cheese

sambuco

elderberry or elderflowers

sasaka

pork pâté

sclopit

bladder campion or maidenstears

Scuete fumade

smoked ricotta

squazzetto

stew

slicrofi

Slovenian-style ravioli

sliwovitz

plum brandy

sope

Friulian French toast

speck

smoked prosciutto

spremuta

freshly squeezed juice

stak

bean and potato mush

strucchi

biscuits filled with nuts and raisins

strudel

strudel, usually with nuts or apples

strucolo

strudel

Tabor

cow's milk cheese from the Carso

tarassaco

dandelion

tiramisu

everyone's favourite 'pick me up'

titole

Easter bread in Trieste

toc

polenta with cheese and butter

zastoch

sautéed mixed vegetables

zlikrofi

Slovenian style dumplings

Zoncolan di Capra

goat's milk cheese from Friuli

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls