Whole Food Ideas for an Italian Holiday Dinner
If you're planning a traditional Italian dinner for the holidays, you'll probably want to make it as authentic as possible. If so, this is the perfect opportunity for you to incorporate whole foods into your menu. Genuine Italian cuisine is known for its reliance on fresh ingredients. So for a meal true to the country's culinary traditions, you'll need to forego the preservative-filled jar of supermarket sauce for healthier, more wholesome ingredients.
Of course, before you get started on your Italian holiday menu, you might want to better understand what whole foods are (and aren't). Essentially, whole foods are those that are unprocessed (or minimally processed), unrefined and without added flavors or preservatives. And because some whole foods may have been treated with chemical fertilizers or pesticides during the growing process, they may not always be considered organic [sources: Scannapiego; Griffin].
Ideal whole foods are ones with short shelf lives. (This means they're in their natural state without preservatives.) So, in planning your big meal, lean toward fresh meats and produce. For additional ingredients, it's OK to buy packaged foods like olive oil, nuts and seeds, whole wheat grains, flours and pastas, natural sweeteners, dried lentils and beans, and dried herbs and spices -- but choose those that are derived from whole foods and are minimally processed with no preservatives.
So now that you have insight into what whole foods are, you can more easily find ways to incorporate them into your holiday dinners. Keep reading for inspiration on festive Italian meals that include healthy, natural ingredients.
Creating an Italian, Whole-Foods Holiday Menu
In his second cookbook, "Holiday Food," Italian American chef Mario Batali described the process of turning holidays into food fests as "a national obsession" in Italy [source: Batali]. Fortunately, such celebratory indulgences can include whole foods. In fact, most traditional Italian cooks rely on fresh, natural ingredients.
Here, we have several traditional Italian menu ideas for the holidays. Some offer you the flexibility of creating an entire whole-foods meal, while others provide you with guidelines on making time-honored dishes as natural as possible.
- Thanksgiving: While Thanksgiving isn't a traditional Italian holiday, Americans (and Canadians) can easily combine southern European flair and autumnal ingredients. Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiisrecommends dishes like butternut squash lasagna and ciabatta stuffing [source: Food Network]. The key to making recipes like these whole-foods ready is to use whole grains and load up on fresh herbs and vegetables whenever possible.
- Hanukkah: With one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, it's no wonder that Italy is responsible for a popular Hanukkah treat: precipizi. To make this pastry as whole-foods friendly as possible, use all-natural honey and whole-wheat flour.
- Christmas: A holiday meal (or, should we say, "meals") ready-made for whole foods devotees is "the feast of the seven fishes," which Italians celebrate annually on Christmas Eve. The star of this feast is fresh fish. And because it's the most critical part of the menu, everything else can be improvised. So, if you're creating your own recipes, you have more freedom to make the meal all-natural.
- New Year's: The Italian version of a lucky New Year's meal is cotechino (an Italian sausage) and lentils. Lentils, in particular, are natural and healthy. Sausage, if preserved with natural additives, can also be a good whole foods choice. If you're ever in doubt about how your food was made, be sure to read labels or ask an informed grocer. It's also a good idea to shop at stores that specialize in fresh and natural foods.
If you'd like to learn more about healthy cooking or holiday meals, we have lots more information for you on the next page.