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Ribollita facts for kids

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Ribollita
Ribollita Siena.jpg
Type Soup
Place of origin Italy
Region or state Tuscany
Main ingredients Bread, cannellini beans, vegetables

Ribollita is a delicious and filling soup from Tuscany, a region in Italy. It's a special kind of bread soup that often uses leftover ingredients. The name "Ribollita" means "reboiled" in Italian. This tells you a lot about how it's traditionally made!

This soup is packed with healthy vegetables and stale bread. Common ingredients include cannellini beans, lacinato kale, cabbage, and other simple vegetables like carrots, beans, chard, celery, potatoes, and onions. People often bake it in a clay pot, which makes it even more flavorful.

What is Ribollita?

Ribollita is more than just a soup; it's a hearty meal. It's known as a "poor" dish because it was originally made by people who didn't have a lot of money. They used simple, inexpensive ingredients that were easy to find. The soup is very thick, almost like a stew, and it's perfect for a cold day.

The History of Ribollita

How Ribollita Got Its Name

The story of Ribollita goes back a long time, to the days of peasants in Tuscany. These farmers and workers often cooked large amounts of minestrone or vegetable soup. To avoid wasting food, they would save the leftovers. The next day, they would "reboil" this soup with stale bread. This made it thick and even more delicious. That's why it's called "Ribollita" – because it's boiled a second time!

Ribollita's Peasant Origins

Like many traditional Tuscan dishes, Ribollita has humble beginnings. It was a clever way for people to make a filling meal out of what they had. Some stories even say it dates back to the Middle Ages. Back then, servants might have collected bread that had soaked up food from their lords' banquets. They would then boil this bread to create their own dinners. This shows how resourceful people were in making sure no food went to waste.

When Was Ribollita First Written About?

One of the first times Ribollita was mentioned in a cookbook was in 1910. It appeared in a book called L'arte cucinaria in Italia by Alberto Cougnet. This shows that the soup has been a cherished part of Italian cooking for over a century.

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Ribollita para niños

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