Recipes of the Waldensians

Recipes of the Waldensians

During their centuries-long seclusion, the Waldensians developed their own traditional recipes.

Indeed, there are dozens of these, the best-known being the “Supa Barbetta”, a soup that takes its name from the “barba”, the title to the Waldensian preachers who went house to house in medieval times. Originally, this soup included dry bread that had been cooked in a hen or pork broth. This ancient “poor” dish has since been enhanced with the addition of spices, including cinnamon, while the bread has been replaced by the traditional rounded grissini, known as “rubatà”, and generous quantities of the soft cheese known as toma, have been added.

A traditional dish that bespeaks eight centuries of Waldensian history, the “Supa barbetta” takes 90 minutes to cook, and is a dish for special occasions, such as the annual commemoration of the granting of civil rights to the Waldensians, which occurred on February 17, 1848.