Lake Como Food and Drinks
A Journey through the Very Best of Italian Cuisine

So, are you interested in learning more about the delicious types of Lake Como foods and drinks?

Many visitors return from their vacations with wonderful memories of the great food that they tasted during their trip in Lake Como. There are many popular dishes native to the Lake Como area, and often you'll discover that the ingredients were grown locally, or even in their neighbor's backyard!

We'll also share with you the unique customs shared by local Italians when it comes to eating and drinking so that you don't miss out on everything it can offer you. Eating and drinking is like a form of art in Lake Como!

Lake Como Food

It's the ingredients that make Italian food so special. Imagine the smell of your average Lake Como kitchen covered with fresh basil, oregano, garlic, organic tomatoes, home-made pastas and fish just caught from the lake.

Each town has their own little recipe and secret about the best way to grill their freshwater fish. Lake Como has 5 different types of fish to choose from, the most popular being Lavarello.

Aside from the hundreds of types of pastas and pizzas, you are bound to run across polenta, which is a type of cornmeal and mataloc, a dome-shaped sponge cake - both native to this area.

Restaurants and Bars

You can find restaurants and bars in every corner of each town in Lake Como. Italians love to eat and drink whenever possible...in fact, some Italians get most of their work done this way, whether it involves making new business associates or in talking to their families.

In Lake Como food is often served together with a basket of different types of bread (the sun-dried tomato bread is really a treat!), as well as olive oil and balsamic vinegar for your salads.

Bars are good for grabbing a drink or two during midday but for the best quality of food and service, try one of the Lake Como restaurants which are sometimes attached to various hotels or one of the small, family-run restaurants in town.

Olive Oil

No kitchen in Lake Como or anywhere in Italy is ever complete without it! Olive oil is the basis of most Italian dishes and of mediterranean cuisine and is known to be much healthier and tastier than corn or vegetable oils. Lake Como has developed a reputation for producing fine olive oils, particularly in the region of Lenno where you can see plenty of olive trees growing up in the hills thanks to its ideal climate.

Wine Tasting

Although not as famous as their Tuscan neighbors in the south, Northern Italy produces some excellent wines particularly in the Valtellina valley, a vast landscape just north-east of Lake Como, bordering Switzerland.

Wine aficionados can prepare to go on spectacular wine-tasting tours in this valley in the Alps which boasts a warm and dry microclimate, ideal for harvesting grapes.


Local Fruit

A list of lake Como food would be incomplete without mentioning the delicious fruits available in virtually every grocery store. Sometimes local farmers will sell them on the streets during the morning hours of weekends. The local fruits such as grapes, peaches and nectarines are very rich in flavor as well as juicy and succulent. (We always run out of adjectives!)

If you stay during the winter, be sure to try the kaki (persimmons) for a sweet and delicious dessert. Because they need frost to develop their particular flavor, you can only get them for a short time during the winter months.

Ice Cream (Gelato)

The Italians perfected this recipe centuries ago by creating a more firmly frozen, softer, and more intensely flavored ice cream known as gelato.

Italian ice cream actually doesn't use cream and melts in your mouth much faster than traditional ice cream. The varieties of gelato in Italy are outstanding and made with the freshest ingredients such as real fruit, nuts, chocolates, milk and cream.

Note: Although it is rare to come across processed ice creams in Lake Como's Gelaterias, the best way to know if your gelato is real or artificial is to check the limone (lemon) flavor. It is normally white in color. If it is very yellow and in a plastic bin...you are most likely dealing with the artificial type.

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