Farinata (), socca (), torta di ceci (), or cecina () is a type of thin, unleavened

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan, often frying w ...

crêpe A crêpe or crepe ( or , , Quebec French: ) is a very thin type of pancake. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: ''sweet crêpes'' () or ''savoury galettes'' (). They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as cheese, ...

made from chickpea flour. It originated in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and later became a typical food of the

Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea ( it, Mar Ligure; french: Mer Ligurienne; lij, Mâ Ligure) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient ...

coast, from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

and

Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano Nationa ...

islands. It is also typical in Gibraltar, where it is called calentita.

History

The origin of the dish is unknown. One origin-story says ''farinata'' was invented by a group of Roman soldiers who roasted chickpea-flour on a shield.

Names

In standard Italian, the dish is called ''farinata'' ("made of flour") while in Ligurian, specifically in the

Genoese dialect Genoese, locally called or , is the main Ligurian dialect, spoken in and around the Italian city of Genoa, the capital of Liguria, in Northern Italy. A majority of remaining speakers of Genoese are elderly. Several associations are dedicated ...

, it goes by the name of fainâ . In Massa is called "calda calda" that means "hot hot". In Nice and the

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation "Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

, it is called ''socca'', in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, ''cecina'' ("made of chickpeas") or ''torta di ceci'' ("chickpea pie") and in Sardinia ''fainè''. In

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

it is massively popular and is called ''fainá''.

Cooking method

It is made by stirring chickpea flour into a mixture of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

and

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...

to form a loose batter, pouring it into a pan to make a pancake typically 4mm thick, and baking it for a few minutes, traditionally in an open oven in a tin-plated copper baking-pan. Farinata may be seasoned with fresh

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

and

sea salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sa ...

. Traditionally farinata is cut into irregularly shaped triangular slices, and eaten (with no toppings) on small plates with optional black pepper. Elsewhere in Italy - traditionally in Tuscany, where it is called ''cecina'' (from the Italian word for chickpea, ''ceci'') - it is served stuffed into small

focaccia Focaccia ( , , ; lij, fugassa ; nap, label= Barese, fecazze ) is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread, similar in style and texture to pizza; in some places, it is called ("white pizza"). Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as san ...

(mainly in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...

) or between two slices of bread, as it is traditional in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

. It is sold in pizzerias and bakeries.

Italian variations

On the

Tuscan coast it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, south of Liguria, especially in the province of

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

''cecina'', in

Massa Carrara The province of Massa-Carrara ( it, provincia di Massa-Carrara) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. It is named after the provincial capital Massa, and Carrara, the other main town in the province. History The province of ...

"calda calda" or, in

, ''torta (di ceci)'' is baked (with no rosemary used for toppings). In

Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island ...

, due to the historical ties with Genoa, la fainé genovese (''genoese fainé''), is a typical dish. In

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

province (near Genoa), a version of farinata called ' (white farinata) is used. It is made with wheat flour instead of chickpea flour. The name panissa or paniscia in Genoese indicates a solidified boiled

polenta Polenta (, ) is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. ...

-like paste, made with the same ingredients as farinata. It can be cut into strips and fried, called ''panissette''. In Genoa, variants of the farinata include sometimes onions or artichokes, but the most famous derivative recipe is the ''fainâ co i gianchetti'' ("farinata with whitebait"), at times hard to find due to fishing regulations, but traditionally seen as the quintessential fainâ.

French variations

*' is also a specialty of southeastern French cuisine, particularly in and around the city of

, and is practically the same as farinata, some say the texture is a bit different. It may be baked on a tinned copper plate more than a meter in diameter. *Around Toulon and Marseille, it is also possible to find it under the name ''cade''. *''Panisse'' is a specialty of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, and is a similar dish, but thicker, and is typically cut into rectangles and fried.

Elsewhere

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, karantita is a similar dish which is very popular. It is served hot and dressed with

cumin Cumin ( or , or Article title
) (''Cuminum cyminum'') is a

harissa. In

and

(where many thousands of Ligurian people emigrated between the 19th and the 20th centuries) farinata is known as fainá, similar to the original Genoese name ''fainâ''. It is often eaten on top of pizza (''a caballo''). In Uruguay, "el fainá" (called "la fainá" in Argentina) is considered a traditional Uruguayan dish, brought by immigrants in 1915, so much so that 27 August has been called "Fainá Day". Olive oil, which is expensive, is not necessarily used; other vegetable oils may be used, which affects the flavour to some extent. In

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

, where a significant portion of its population is of Genoese origin, it is known as

calentita Gibraltarian cuisine is the result of a long relationship between the people of Spanish Andalusia and those of Great Britain, as well as the many foreigners who have made Gibraltar their home over the past three centuries. These influences inclu ...

when it is baked or panissa when it is fried. They are typically eaten plain, without any toppings. These are considered to be Gibraltar's

national dish A national dish is a culinary dish that is strongly associated with a particular country. A dish can be considered a national dish for a variety of reasons: * It is a staple food, made from a selection of locally available foodstuffs that can be ...

es. In India, the dal (the word for

pulses In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

) "chila" (pronounced "cheela") or besan (the word for chickpea flour) "puda" (pronounced "poora"), depending on the region, is a similar dish made by cooking chickpea (or another pulse) flour and water on an oiled skillet. Vegetables such as onions, green chillies, cabbage and herbs and spices such as coriander are also added in certain versions of the preparation.

References

External links

{{Street food Pancakes Chickpea dishes Cuisine of Liguria Cuisine of Tuscany French cuisine Algerian cuisine Argentine cuisine Uruguayan cuisine Gibraltarian culture Cuisine of Sardinia Street food in Italy