Ah Italy, the land of pizza, pasta and plenty of tomato sauce. At least, that's the impression many visitors have when planning a trip to the Bel Paese. But if they're planning to visit popular tourist sites like Cinque Terre or Portofino, they might be in for a shock -- because the traditional food of Liguria, the northwest coastal region where both are located, is far from what outsiders might call "Italian."

Where other regions of Italy have traditional dishes that are what we'd recognize as "Italian" food, traditional Ligurian dishes are slightly different. Of course, there's pasta with pesto.