The White Hat Guide to Italian food stores & ingredients in Melbourne

Italian food has become integrated with the food we cook at home in Melbourne. If in doubt, cook up a 'spag bol' (spaghetti bolognaise contains for too many syllables for we Australians See the White Hat Recipe for Spag Bol). As a result most Italian ingredients are readily available at the local supermarket or corner store.

Many of the Italians who arrived with the influx after World War 2 became market gardeners. Thus any good market will stock Italian staples like Roma tomatoes, garlic, basil, zucchini, eggplant and artichokes. Any but the smallest supermarket will stock anchovies, pesto, olives, pine nuts, Arborio rice (for risotto), and large varieties of fresh and dried pastas. Most delis will stock Parmesan cheese, Balsamic and wine vinegars, porcini mushrooms, pancetta, prosciutto and varieties of Parmesan and Reggiano cheeses. And bread stores (other than the heavily lit and heavily advertised franchises) will stock breads like ciabatta.

However you will still possibly want to supplement these ingredients with a trip to the Mediterranean Supermarket in Sydney Road Brunswick. There you will find people buying peeled tomatoes not by the can but by the slab.No records returned. 

Related pages on this site

• The White Hat Guide to Spag Bol

The White Hat Food & Wine Map of Melbourne and Regional Victoria

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