When traveling in the Liguria Region of Italy a few years ago, I learned that the basil capital of Italy is the Genoa area. This aromatic herb, basil, together with parmesan cheese, olive oil, pine nuts and crushed garlic, is a key ingredient for pesto, a sauce for pasta that dates back to the Romans.
Three hundred miles to the north of Genoa lies Basel, Switzerland. Since the Romans settled in that area as well, I wonder if pesto is still a popular dish served by the Basler chefs in their Italian restaurants?
A third homophone to these culinary and geographic sound-alikes is the word, basal. While Merriam-Webster defines it as “relating to, situated at, or forming the base,” you can take it one step farther and note that basal means “arising from the base of a stem,” perhaps as in the case of the basal part of a sprig of basil that may be consumed in Basel.
No responses yet. You could be the first!
Leave a Response