Spaghetti alle Vongole

Campania. The craft of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo went onto UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2017, and the European traditional-speciality rules for pizza napoletana go further, setting out the dough, the hand-shaping and the ingredients, with San Marzano tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella named as the traditional choices.

Italy. The full sequence of antipasto, primo, secondo and contorno is a special-occasion structure; most days a household eats one course, a vegetable and coffee. Bread stays on the table throughout and is not really a course at all, and using it to wipe the plate clean is expected enough to have its own name, fare la scarpetta, making the little shoe.

Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.