"Fragrant kitchens. Here are gigantic pies, chickpea flour, mixtures, sardines in oil, hard-boiled eggs encased in pastry crusts, spinach pies and fried foods". The poet Paul Valery, in 1925, described with these words the Genoese cuisine. Olive oil, vegetables and aromatic herbs are the basis of the local cuisine, simple and balanced, whose most famous specialties are pesto and focaccia.

In any restaurant or restaurant of Genoese cuisine you can also taste the stuffed vegetable pies, such as the torta pasqualina, and the Genoese polpettone. Among the first stand out the traditional ravioli “al tocco”, the typical pansotti with the walnut sauce and the Genoese minestrone. To taste also the Ligurian rabbit, the cima, stuffed vegetables and - very common in the local cuisine - the Farinata with chickpea flour cooked in a wood oven and the panissa.

There are numerous sea specialties: from ciuppin to the buridda, to the capponada, to the stoccafisso accomodato. Mixed fish fritters can also be tasted in the street food version, they are sold in paper rolls especially in Via Sottoripa. One of the most elaborate specialties is the cappon magro, a scenographic cold multi-layered fish salad.

Among the most famous desserts there are: the Genoese pandolce, the castagnaccio, the Lagaccio biscuits, the canestrelli, the "gobeletti", candied fruits and flowers (rose petals, violets) to be tasted with the Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà.