The Venetian Dish That Brings Chocolate And Tuna Together
To those living in the United States, Italian food usually means pizza and pasta. While they definitely make the majority of Italian cuisine, traditional Italian food is much different than the items you see on an Americanized menu. If you travel to Italy in search of the best pizza, Naples is the place to be. Per History, pizza was invented here, though it didn't become well known throughout the country until the 1940s. The Michelin Guides sites L'antica Pizzeria da Michele as one of the oldest pizzerias in the city, and to stick to its traditional Italian roots, it only serves marinara and margherita pizza.
The menu changes a lot when you venture to northern Italy. Venice, for instance, is better known for seafood instead of pasta (via Eataly). This is likely due to its proximity near Lake Garda and the Adriatic coastline. Furthermore, according to Baglioni Hotel Luna, chocolate became a staple of Venetian cuisine in the 18th century. If chocolate and seafood are both desirable to you, how about mixing the two together in a traditional Venetian dish?
The dish is typically served as an appetizer
Though it sounds like a culinary faux pas, Venice has found a way to combine chocolate and fish into one dish. A Venice-specific food, Cicchetto Tonno e Cacao, serves as a tapa or appetizer before consuming a main meal (per Cocoa and Lavender). The small bite can be made in many ways, including one variety made of tuna and cocoa. This type of cicchetti calls for baguettes, Italian tuna, mayonnaise, extra-virgin olive oil, and cocoa powder. If the though of eating seafood combined with chocolate grosses you out, you probably shouldn't count it out just yet.
After watching Phil Rosenthal munch down on this delicacy on "Somebody Feed Phil," a writer from The Takeout was intrigued enough to try it. Upon eating it, she claimed it resembled something out of a Michelin-star restaurant. "It's a rather devious illusion being played: You taste only the tuna and olive oil, but on the back end you catch the slightest notion of buttery chocolate," she said. If you're interested in watching the relevant episode of "Somebody Feed Phil," tune into the pilot of season two.