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Food & Eating

Albanian cuisine.

The Albanian cuisine is a representative of thecuisine of the Mediterranean. It is also an example of the Mediterranean diet based on the importance of olive oil, fruits, vegetables and fish.The cooking traditions of the Albanian people are diverse in consequence of the environmental factors that are more importantly suitable for the cultivation of nearly all kinds of herbs, vegetables and fruits.Olive oil is the most ancient and commonly used vegetable fat in Albanian cooking produced since antiquity throughout the country particularly along the coasts.

Hospitality is a fundamental custom of Albanian society and serving food is an integral to the hosting of guests and visitors. It is not infrequent for visitors to be invited to eat and drink with locals. The medieval Albanian code of honour, called Besa, resulted to look after guests and strangers as an act of recognition and gratitude.

Albanian cuisine can be divided into three major regional cuisines.The cuisine of the northern region has a rural, coastal and mountainous origin. Meat, fish and vegetables are central to the cuisine of the northern region. The people there uses many kinds of ingredients, which usually grow in the region including potatoes, carrots, maizes, beans, cabbages but also cherries, walnuts and almonds. Onions and garlics are as well important components to the local cuisine and added to almost every dishes.

The cuisine of the central region is threefold of rural, mountainous and coastal. The central region is the flattest and rich in vegetationand biodiversity as well as culinary specialties. It has Mediterranean characteristics due to its location to the sea, which is rich in fish. Dishes here include of several meat specialties and desserts of all kinds.

In the south, the cuisine is composed of two components, namely the rural products of the field including dairy products, citrus fruits and olive oil and the other coastal, which is seafood. Those regions are particularly conducive to raising animals as pastures and feed resources are abundant.

Besides garlics, onions are arguably the country’s most widely used ingredient.In consideration to that, Albania is ranked 2nd in the world in terms of onion consumption per capita.

Source of information : https://www.wikipedia.org/