The result is the frequent use of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and, especially, the ‘sweet and sour’ preparation which, imported to Venice from the East centuries ago, has become part of the culinary customs of many European countries. If there is one symbolic dish in this sense, it is the very typical saor. More than a dish, saor is a way of cooking, given that many things are prepared in this way, from fish to vegetables and even meat. The products of local fishing, such as sardines, are prepared in saor, with onions from the lagoon gardens and raisins and pine nuts from the East. But saor is originally also, and especially, a technique for preserving food over long periods (with the ascorbic acid of the onions and vinegar), to feed the seamen during their long voyages.

Wine also obviously once came via sea from afar, given that the lagoon lands were not able to produce it in sufficient quantities or quality. It was known as ‘shipped wine’, indicating that it arrived in the holds of the ships, maturing on board. “Malvasia” mainly came from the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, and was so common in Venice that it lent its name to inns and wine shops (there are also numerous bridges, calli and campielli in Venice named ‘della Malvasia’). It was mainly with this wine that both rich and poor washed down their meals, although of course there were others, such as the sweet ‘Cyprus wine’. [fine]