ince almost three centuries the maize polenta has been used as basis of the diet in the feltrino area as well as in the region Veneto. The polenta, food symbol of the Venetians, has a simple but authentic version in the feltrino and the surrounding mountain areas. Not only in ancient times but also a few years ago, polenta represented the daily dish in the feltrino area. It replaced bread, it was pure and hard, to be cut in slices on the chopping board by means of a thread. To be eaten without plates or cutlery, directly from the hand, just like bread, alone or served with little food, warm, still steaming or cold, left to stand and then roasted.

n the 18th century the "polenta di sorc" (this is the name of maize in the feltrino area, probably due to its resemblance with broomcorn) replaced the old grey polenta and again it was enough to feed everybody, holy food for the whole mountain population. At the end of the century, however, it was the only food available, even not plentiful at that time. It became damned food and the evil pellagra overshadowed the benefits of polenta.

ater on, the medical science discovered that the combination of polenta with cheese provided a complete nourishment. Therefore the corn meal, the feltrino polenta, ready to be cut in slices only by means of a thread. Slices are two fingers thick and if placed immediately on a warm plate they melt with Schiz cheese or fried cheese. It is also served with soppressa (a type of salami), seasoned with vinegar, or with smoked sheep roasted on the grill. Then with stewed chicken or rabbit or veal, with stewed beef and "musso" (dialect word for donkey), then stewed fongadina (type of meat prepared with mushrooms), snails, mixed mushrooms, with goatling at Easter time, with ground game and meat on the spit, with the forbidden birds "dal becco gentile" as well as with the forbidden fried marsoni (type of fish), with stewed trout and stockfish local style, or simply with the old and tasty cheese produced in the "malga" (sheperd's hut). .