Lessons from Italy

I just spent three weeks traveling Italy, enjoying the diverse countryside, tasting the regional cuisines, and standing amidst historical ruins. But since this is about food, there will be no lectures on The Vatican and The Sistine Chapel, as if I could remember everything from a 4 hour tour! So we will just talk food!

What a different but yet excellent food culture Italy has! Their day starts off with espresso (they had my heart right there), then for many folks the next stop is a daily trip to the “market” to buy their fresh fruit and vegetables from the local farmers, and for some select from the offerings of fresh fish in the coastal towns. Markets are open early, close up around noon, and then return again the next day with more fresh produce. I quickly became a fan of this routine, fascinated by the freshness and diversity of the market food. While I was traveling, news was delivered of a massive beef recall in the United States. There is some irony to the timing of that as meat processing in the US has been a concern on my mind lately, and now perhaps I will reevaluate some of my shopping habits when I return.

The flavors of the fresh produce were amazing. Corn that tasted like corn, fresh greens that still had the authentic flavor of lettuce, and sweet juicy melons and pears. Everything tasted as if it were right out of the garden, probably because it was!

And yes, this Paleo girl ate pasta and cheese, and enjoyed every bite! This experience perhaps confirms a story I had heard that food is processed differently there, or better stated, less processed. It’s true, I did not experience any of the side effects that might have occurred if I had eaten those foods at home in the US. Makes ya wonder...

Here’s some amazing meals from Italy.

Hungry yet? One of the highlights was attending a cooking class in Montepulciano, Tuscany. There was so much information shared I wouldn’t even know where to start if I wanted to share it here. We talked, learned, cooked, and yes I even made pasta for the first time! Thank you to Pamela Sheldon Johns at her agriturismo, Poggio Etrusco, for such an amazing time of learning, and for sharing her little piece of paradise in Tuscany.

Oh yes, and I must share a recipe this week! At the cooking class we made a seasoning salt with fresh herbs from the garden, chopped together with sea salt. I got to use a new kitchen tool, a double bladed cutting tool for herbs, I believe called a Mezzaluna (available from Amazon). Fresh parsley, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary were minced together with a tablespoon or so of sea salt. No measuring here 😉 and it came out wonderful. The herb salt was made fresh for some of the dishes that were created during the class. After cooking is done for the day, you allow the leftover herb salt to dry on a paper towel for a day or two. It is then placed in a sealed jar to be stored for future use. It was awesome! This would be great for a gift idea, packaged in a decorative jar, Christmas is just around the corner!

I don’t have the fancy cutting tool but plan to make this part of my routine, with just the use of a knife and cutting board for now. Before plating your meal, add a little seasoning salt sprinkled on and around the edges of your plate, it makes for a great presentation!

There is one little tidbit of history from Rome to share here that is entwined in the food culture. While planning a visit to the Spanish Steps, I did a little history research on that attraction and came across the fact that the Slow Food movement began at the foot of the Spanish Steps! Here’s a little tidbit from https://www.slowfoodusa.org/history -

It was 1986 and a McDonald’s franchise was coming to Rome, adjacent to the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna. Italian journalist Carlo Petrini was outraged. What would fast food do to the food culture of Rome? Would it threaten the local trattorias and osterias, the local dining establishments of the working class? Petrini rallied his friends and community to take a stand against this global industrialization of food, and the social and culinary costs of homogenized eating. Instead of picketing with signs, he armed the protestors with bowls of penne. Defiantly they declared, “We don’t want fast food… we want slow food!” And the idea of Slow Food was born.

Lessons from Italy! - Enjoy and Ciao!