Food in Umbria | Umbrian Food Blog

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Discovering Umbrian food was a massive highlight of our week in Umbria with Our Whole Village. Everybody knows Italian food is like, but food in Umbria has its own specialities and local flavours. We dined incredibly well during our week and have the expanded waistlines to show for it. So a look at the food, recipes, classic dishes and regional specialities of Umbria in central Italy.

Food in Umbria. Hand made ravioli. family travel blog
Home made ravioli, so simple, so good.

The Food of Umbria

I will never look at shop bought pasta the same way again after trying fresh, home-made tagliatelle and ravioli at our farmhouse cookery class, all arranged through Our Whole Village. Freshly made pasta is a million miles, in terms of flavour and texture, from the pasta most of us normally consume.

Umbrian food has Etruscan roots and is very rustic, relying heavily on the ingredients found in the area. Umbria has rich soil, forests, abundant farmlands and lakes, the produce is sensational and dishes rely on simplicity and seasonal availability. A dish will typically highlight a single, quality, ingredient. It’s peasant food, but peasant food done well is the best food there is, I think.

Food in Umbria. Bruschetta and fine olive oils World Travel Family Blog
Simple bruschetta showcasing the best olive oil, fresh, ripe figs and tomatoes. Peasant food at its finest.

Everything starts with the basics, grains, good olive oil and the herbs that grow so abundantly in the Umbrian hills. Add to this Umbria’s star ingredients as their seasons come around and you’ve got some outstanding local dishes.

Truffles in Umbria

Food in Umbria. Black truffles. World Travel Family Travel Blog
Truffles used in such abundance, slices fall like autumn leaves on simply prepared pasta.

Truffles, both black and white, are found wild in the area. We were luck enough to go on a truffle hunting expedition with dogs, a unique experience with rich rewards.

Black truffles from Umbria, Italy. We found these!
We found these black truffles ourselves, with a little help from a gorgeous and highly trained dog and her owner.

We sampled truffles on pasta and risotto, in cured meats and in cheeses, always used in great abundance and always delicious.

Autumn and winter in Umbria is the time to visit for truffle festivals and markets, but the kitchen diamonds are available all year round.

Umbrian Meat Dishes

Food in Umbria. Pork, locally produced kebabs and sausages. World Travel Family travel blog
Pork and boar sausages are a premium dish in Umbria. Simple restaurant dish in Assisi.

Pork and wild boar were the kings of the table during our stay, but lamb and other game are also big favourites in the region.

Umbria has a long history in the arts of butchery, cured meats are a specialty and local top-quality meats are produced with pride. Wild boar from the woods is so popular and abundant that whole shops are dedicated to boar products..

Wild boar salami with fennel or with truffles were part of our antipasti and were a hit with adults and children.

Wild boar salami . Food in Umbria, Italy. Family travel
Umbrian wild boar salami with fennel was a big hit with adults and kids.

Porchetta, although not exclusively Umbrian, is the street food of the region. Whole, boned slow-roasted pigs, stuffed Umbrian-style with offal and herbs, typically including wild fennel and garlic is sold from vans at roadsides and in markets across Umbria.

Traditional Porchetta in Umbria. Italian food.
Porchetta from a roadside van in Gubbio. Simple, rich, delicious.

We tried it in a panino on the streets of Gubbio. It comes heavily salted, it’s not what your doctor would recommend, but it tastes pretty good.

Umbrian Chocolate

Biscotti, chocolate and original. Italian food in Umbria.

The Perugina chocolate factory, founded in 1907 is international popular and famous for Baci chocolate, made with ground hazelnuts and dark chocolate. Unfortunately Nestle now owns the factory, but there is a museum featuring the original machinery used for the production of Perugina chocolate. Perugia holds the Eurochocolate chocolate fair every October.

Umbrian Wines

Food in Umbria. Wine tasting lunch. World Travel Family blog
Table set for a four-course wine tasting lunch in Spello.

Umbria has great growing conditions and wine production in the region goes back to ancient times.

I’m no wine expert, but the wines we sampled, many from traditional Umbrian grapes, were really rather nice.  You can read up on the Wines of Umbria here.

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Food in Umbria Italy Umbrian food

More Blog Posts From Umbria

If you’re planning a trip to Umbria, you must try all of the amazing Umbrian dishes in this post, but also check out these highlights of Umbria which will be near you.

In just a week we saw some fabulous Umbrian dishes, dining opportunities were very much built into our trip. The dishes were all about simplicity and showcasing a particular ingredient to fully highlight its flavour. We enjoyed rustic bean soups, creamy courgette gazpacho and fresh tasty salads as well as the specialities mentioned here. It’s hearty peasant food at its finest and you could never go hungry in Umbria. Want to read more about Umbria? See

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About the author
Alyson Long
Alyson Long is a British medical scientist who jumped ship to chase dreams. A former Chief Biomedical Scientist at London's West Middlesex Hospital she started in website creation and travel writing in 2011. Alyson is a full-time blogger and travel writer, a published author, and owns several websites. World Travel Family is the biggest. A lifetime of wanderlust and over 6 years of full-time travel, plus a separate 12 month gap year, has given Alyson and the family some travel expert smarts to share with you on this world travel site. Today Alyson still travels extensively to update this site and continue her mission to visit every country, but she's often at home on her farm in Australia.

13 thoughts on “Food in Umbria | Umbrian Food Blog”

  1. Believe me when I tell you how hard it is for me to read this post when I’m hungry!! I’m a big fan of exploring the food scene of a country I visit and I would love to try a cookery class in Italy, which is probably one of my favourite European destinations for food! And a whole chocolate fair – I think I might be visiting in October 🙂

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  2. Awesome food and great post, Thanks for this wonderful and awesome post. Loved it to the fullest. I am very happy that I found this during my search for something concerning this.

    Regards
    Jagbir Sandhu

    Reply
  3. Yum, the chocolate looks awesome and the pasta. I love Italian food, it’s definitely my favourite!

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  4. The olive oil was our favorite thing in Umbria! We stayed in Trevi and it was amazing. The pasta looks great!

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  5. Oh my goodness that all looks amazing! I really need to force myself to start liking cheese or I’ll miss out on some fab food.

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  6. Okay, here I am in Thailand, the land of yummy food, and you are making me miss that yummy Italian food! Oh, I could just dive into that first picture and eat it all up. It looks like you had a wonderful time.

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  7. It’s funny that you mentioned the porchetta. We just discovered that the nondescript little coop grocery store in the nondescript little town closest to our Italian rental villa has a whole roast pig out in the meat section on weekend afternoons. A serious looking woman in a white coat stands at a table with the head sitting on the table at one end and the tail at the other end hacking off pieces of the middle with a giant cleaver as the shoppers come by. The kids were absolutely fascinated! The food in this place is just amazing.

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    • They were everywhere, the little white vans. Side of the road in the middle of nowhere, every market place. Must admit, when I ate mine I did’nt realise it was stuffed with heart and lungs, I thought it was stuffing. Blegh!

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  8. Oh wow, it all looks so yummy! Anything Truffles or porchetta…double servings for me please. To go truffle hunting would have been such a fun experience. I’d fly back to Italy just for that. It all sounds and looks amazing. It just wish I could at least smell it. Maybe the computer gurus should be working on that 🙂

    Reply

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