Foodies travelling to Sardinia? Make sure you try these traditional Sardinian dishes.
I wrote recently about Corsica vs Sardinia. I love Italian pastas from Vapiano (review) and being a huge foodie in general, I’m even more interested in visiting Sardinia for the food alone! The Sardinians must be doing something right they have an unusually high number of people living into their 100’s!
So I’ve done a little more research on the island’s traditional cuisine and dishes. And there are lots of options for ferries to Sardinia making it super easy to visit, even for day trips.
Maialetto
If I was to only have one thing in Sardinia, it would be the maialetto which is spit roasted piglet. If you’ve read the blog before, you’ll know I love meat in all it’s forms such as beef brisket and pulled pork (Bunsmiths review).
So I can only imagine how good spit roasted piglet would taste.
Pane carasau
You’ll find many types of Sardinian bread (they make a mean focaccia), pane carasau being a popular choice amongst locals. Pane carasau is a thin flat bread baked twice made from durum wheat semolina and wheat flour.
Cheese
You can’t have bread without cheese of course. Cheese is Sardinia’s most exported food so it must be good!  Casu marzu (made from sheep milk and contains live maggots…) may be the most popular, but there are many others like ricotta, fiore sardo and percorino romano too.
Bottarga
Bottarga is Sardinian caviar, made from mullet eggs. Bottarga is often served in slices, celery drizzled in olive oil or with artichokes are particular favourite ways to serve on the island.
Seafood
Having access to the sea, Sardinia of course has great seafood dishes.
Another traditional dish is sa fregula. This broth based soup marries fregula (a Sardinian pasta) with clams and hints of saffron (saffron is applied liberally to most traditional Sardinian dishes).
And another favourite seafood dish is Aragosta arrosto. Rock lobster split in half and seasoned with lemon, parsley and breadcrumbs.
Malloreddus
Another popular Sardinian pasta is the malloreddus. Malloreddus is tiny gnocchi with sausage and tomato sauce. Simple but oh so delicious.
Lamb
However, throughout history Sardinians inhabited inland to protect themselves from sea attacks. Therefore historically, Sardinia has been a ‘nation of shepherds’ as there are three times as many sheep as people. This has had a profound impact on their cuisine and there are some Spanish and Mediterranean influences.
There’s Agnello con finocchietti, baby lamb with wild fennel, onion and tomato, or a variety of stews which include lamb as the main ingredient.
Have you been to Sardinia? Which traditional Sardinian dishes would you recommend?
