Food

One of the most diverse game variety is surely that of food. Italian culinary traditions have produced a wide variety of games. Very often, food-related games are a way to provide raw materials without having to weigh in on the family budget.

It is interesting to see how some of these games are useful to improve or to verify the quality of the products.

Historical Background

Going back to the early years of our lives, we may remember our parents telling us off for playing with food.

In fact, men have always been playing with food, the most notable examples being from Ancient Rome, where children used to play with walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts.

In Ancient Greece adults, especially from the high classes, used to play Kottabos, which consisted in hitting the center of a cup with the last drop of wine left in the glass.

Another very popular variety of game involved the use of eggs. Very common for the Easter holidays, these games use the egg as a symbol of rebirth and fertility.

Those games inspired the Christian Easter tradition, and were linked to the pagan rituals of spring festivals.

Game communities

Truc, Cividale del Friuli (Udine), Friuli Venezia Giulia

Gioco delle noci, Monterosso al Mare (Savona), Liguria

Punta e cul, Urbania (Pesaro e Urbino), Marche

Cacio al fuso, Pienza (Siena), Toscana

Ciuccetta, Montefalco (Perugia), Umbria