FOOD NEWS
How Ligurian Focaccia Turned Into The Gold Standard For Italian Flatbread
BY RYAN CASHMAN
Liguria is a long, skinny-shaped region in northwest Italy, and it’s known for culinary creations such as Genoa salami, linguine, basil pesto, and a flatbread called focaccia.
Focaccia likely originated in the Etruscan period thousands of years ago. This early unleavened version is directly linked to cheesy, unleavened Ligurian Focaccia di Recco.
Beyond Focaccia di Recco, Liguria is home to many types of focaccia, but the best of all is widely considered to be focaccia Genovese, also called fügássa.
Fügássa is a deeply dimpled focaccia that those outside of Italy are most familiar with. Its unique crispy crust comes from a saltwater brine and dousing of extra virgin olive oil.
It’s likely that fügássa became popular throughout Italy and the world thanks to the Ligurian port of Genoa, which helped spread the region’s cuisine all over the globe.
Genoan sailors ate focaccia as a filling meal, and sailors from around the world later adopted the bread, too. Focaccia Genovese is still the crispy, fluffy gold standard today.