24 January, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I think I need to finish up my posts on Italy. I know it’s old news by now and no one probably cares, but it’s the middle of bleakest January and I for one would like to reminisce.
So today, it’s all about food (with lots of photos!). After living in Paris and visiting Italy, I’ve come to the conclusion that food in the English-speaking world tastes like garbage. I’m not even sure why we bother to eat. I’m serious. When world cuisines were handed out centuries ago, we got the shaft. And I blame the English for this culinary disaster, since America didn’t even exist.
While I think French bread and pastry is unparalleled, I much prefer the cuisine in Italy overall. It’s friendlier to my high-maintenance digestive system and isn’t so rich and heavy (plus, it’s a lot healthier). Authentic Italian food is not smothered in globs of melted cheese, unlike what often passes for Italian food outside of Italy. And there are plenty more vegetarian options. Proscuitto is a menace though – good grief, they add it to everything!
So here’s a trip down culinary lane. I desperately miss the food in Italy. Ever since I got back to France, I can’t stop eating sun-dried tomatoes. I crave them constantly.
I found a restaurant in Florence called Lo Scudo that was my favorite. It’s right behind the Duomo. I had the best spaghetti on earth there. If I had the recipe for this, I’d be the most popular gal around:
I can’t even describe how this dish delighted every taste bud in my mouth. So much of the food I ate in Italy did that. While eating you just have to pause and savor it. Eating the food there and taking the time to enjoy it is just as important as visiting a museum or a church. When I traveled in Hong Kong and Thailand, I remember also feeling this way about the eating experience.
Here is bruschetta from Lo Scudo:
No cheese in sight! The toppings included a minced tuna steak that tasted exactly like ground beef. This is something I must try to find the recipe for.
Here’s some penne pasta I ate in Florence:
Not the most photogenic, I guess, but it brings back fond memories. I think I liked the food in Florence the best.
Of course when most people think of Italian food they think of pizza. They sell it everywhere. I remember walking around Florence and passing pizza shops one right after the other, the smell of freshly baked pizza pies filling the narrow side streets. This is difficult for non-cheese eaters like me, though there are cheeseless pizzas too. [I already posted a photo of one when I was in Rome.] While American-style pizza tastes horrific without cheese, authentic Italian pizza tastes just as good, with the tastiest crust, fresh tomato sauce and vegetables roasted in olive oil.
One of the things I love about being on holiday is the tendency to just stop at a café for tea and sometimes a snack during the day. Italy and France are café cultures and the people do this all the time. But as an American, it’s just not a habit. It feels decadent to slow down and indulge, which is why I guess I do on it on holiday. Because it was cold, I found myself craving hot cups of tea. It doesn’t seem that Italy is much of a tea-drinking society. I prefer herbal tea but could only find it twice – in nine days! Many times there was only one tea option, like plain Lipton. It seems that coffee is king in Italy. I try not to drink caffeine much, but decaf espresso is fairly common. I don’t really understand the point of decaf espresso – it makes about as much sense as non-alcoholic vodka – but I was grateful for it when the pickings were slim. One day in the Campo de’ Fiori, I found a café that served decaf Earl Grey. Score!
Here’s a remnant of a croissant I ate with it. (This remnant didn’t last long.):
One day in Florence I ate a frittata panini for lunch. Oh my:
So good. And then I followed it with this blueberry mini tart:
One of my favorite sandwiches in Italy (yes, I rated them) was this one I ate at my favorite little café in Rome, Café Antille on Via Tomacelli. It’s a very simple sandwich, just hard-boiled egg slices, tomatoes and mayonnaise. But the bread! I thought it was just regular bread when I bit into it, but no, it was covered in a very thin layer of salt. Yowza! I’m not a salt fanatic, but this was divine:
And then I followed it with this funky chocolate muffin:
In the sandwich department, my favorites were the chicken cutlet sandwiches that are served in many cafés – just breaded chicken cutlet and lettuce served hot (you can ask for mayo and/or ketchup). When I was wandering around the back streets of Venice, I ate at a little “snack bar” run by Chinese immigrants. When I asked for mayo with the sandwich, they brought out the bottle and set it on the table, as if we were just kicking back at home:
I thought this was very cute. And they had glorious camomilla tea. Bliss.
Walking around Rome, Florence and Venice, I was tantalized by food in the windows (just like in Paris):
And finally, I can’t write a post on Italian food and not mention gelato. (I read recently that gelato is actually much more fattening than ice cream. I never would have guessed this.) Yours truly cannot eat gelato and given that it was the dead of winter, I wasn’t too tempted. Still, the gelato displays are just gorgeous. Florence had the best ones.
I think I’m done now.
- Comments RSS | TrackBack URI
-
oh, how happy happy happy was i to find…(drumroll, please)… soy gelato! delightful pistachio goodness, just as creamy and rich as the real stuff. mmmm.
-
Great posting! Now I’m very hungry and won’t be having dinner for a couple of hours…
My dining experiences in Italy unfortunately was limited to bread and cheese. So thank you for giving me this opportunity to experience fine dining in Italia!
-
Jen: Where did you find soy gelato? In Italy? I never even thought to ask!
William: Sorry I made you hungry. Why were you just eating bread and cheese? You missed pizza and pasta and paninis? Oh dear.
-
Unfortunately, when I was in Italy I was an impoverished backpacker trying to make my money last as long as I could… So I really didn’t get to experience the true pleasures of Europe that I might partake today. Perhaps another time, another time!
-
Yeah, I found it in Rome at *one* gelateria. Which I revisited over and over and over again! ;D
