For many gourmands, French food is the holy grail. With its multi-component sauces, all of which hard to pronounce or contains some obscure back story, it is not surprising that even the very term for high-end cooking, haute cuisine, is French. By contrast, its neighbour, Italy, is seen to be home to a generic type of rustic cooking involving tomato sauce and dried pasta, all of which can be easily mastered at home.

Needless to say, this common misconception encapsulates merely a tiny part of Italian cuisine. After all, the country was only united in 1861 and culturally, linguistically and culinarily, it remains very much a collection of mini states. Each region is home to dishes and flavours that are very much indigenous to them.

For example, while outsiders may think of pesto as Italian, Italians themselves will always think of the basil paste as coming from Liguria. Milan will always be home of the saffron risotto, kidneys with anchovies while Rome is the place to go for Jewish artichokes.

Tuscany is the region of peasant-style dishes such as ribollita or game. Tomatoes are much more abundant in the south, as is seafood, therefore sauces such as puttanesca with its tomatoes and anchovies are likely to be tastier in Campania than in landlocked Umbria.

One would think that pasta would be the common denominator, but even here the north and south divide still holds. Dried pasta made from semolina is much more common in Southern Italy, while up in the cooler north, fresh pasta made with eggs are preferred. Polenta and risotto are more likely to be found in Venice and the surrounding Veneto region while Bologna is the home of not only bolognese sauce, but also tortellini, lasagna and tagliatelle.

Given all the complexities and nuances of Italian regional cooking, it is a good thing that the Italian Chamber of Commerce here in Hong Kong and Macau is putting on their third annual "A Tavola!" promotion. From June 3 to June 30, Italian chefs from different Italian restaurants around town will be cooking special regional menus. Grissini at the Grand Hyatt will focus on Liguria; 208 on Hollywood Road will be cooking dishes from Abruzzo; DiVino on Wyndham Street will cook food from the northern region of Veneto while Goccia next door will go south with Campanian cuisine. Va Bene in Lan Kwai will be cooking a Lombardian menu while W52 around the corner will be focusing on Tuscany. All the restaurants will be serving a three-course menu based on their region for the same fixed price (HK$448).

Buon appetito!