Slow Food

To finish up a wonderful stay in Italy, a group of around eight decided to try one of the best things that Italy has to offer, the slow food movement. We went to a restaurant called Tratoria Isolla, where the owners cooked and served the meals. This was the first restaurant that I went to in Italy where the food was not ready two minutes after it was ordered. That was very exciting for me, since I have gotten used to eating reheated meals. I ordered spaghetti with ragout sauce (meat sauce). It was the best spaghetti that I had in Italy. It was fresh, well seasoned, had the right amount of sauce; it was amazing! That was the primo piatto. For secondo piatto I had a pork chop. It was very tasty but needed a little bit more salt. The environment was great. The owner joked around with us, chatted with us, and made us feel very welcomed. This tratoria convinced me that slow food is the way to go. A couple of hours after finishing our meal (because we went Italian all the way and stayed chatting for hours), we went to a chocolate bar. The atmosphere was phenomenal and the chocolate unthinkable. I had chocolate mousse that was magnificent. It was a very nice way to end up the adventures in Italy.

Lago di Garda

As part of our regular schedule trips we went to Lago di Garda, a huge lake half hour west of Verona. We visited an olive oil museum, a beach, a mountain and a town. The olive oil museum was not a great thing for me. It was a video with the history of olive oil that lasted twenty minutes and two rooms with replicas of machinery used to produce olive oil. At the end there was a store to buy different products made out of olives. I thought it was going to be different, not just a video. The video was good, but the rest was disappointing. The beach was really nice and it had a great market. It was full of people. But one of the food related things that I like the most was the lunch. We went up the mountains that surround Lake Garda. At the bottom of the mountain it was 90ºF; at the top it was cold. But that did not stop us from having a wonderful lunch. The view was something magnificent. The fact that I was having lunch at the top of a mountain was something that money cannot buy. On top of that the service of the restaurant was magnificent, very attentive. I ordered macaroni with four cheeses and on top of that I added Parmesan cheese. It was delicious, kind of similar to Alfredo sauce. Even though the weather was a little cold, the meal was great. This shows how a great environment can make a meal taste so much better. After that we went to Riva di Garda, at the top of the lake. Nice little town, and great artisanal ice cream. Wonderful day!

La Casara

By far, the best food experience I had as far as cheeses and salumi go, took place in Italy. La Casara is a cheese farm located outside of Verona. In this farm I learned how cheese is made. It is so amazing to see how actual people work with their own hand, with almost no machinery. The staff grabbed the cheese with their own bare hand and molded it into containers to give it shape. It was something amazing. I am so used to seeing everything mechanized that when I saw all the artisanal products I almost have a heart attack. On top of that, the owner of the farm gave us a tour of the place which was magnificent. He taught us about cheese and how the different types of cheeses differ and why. The younger the cheese the softer it is. We tried four types of cheese, from young to old (softer to hardest). The soft cheeses were the ones that I liked the most. The most amazing cheese in my opinion was the Monte Veronese, a local cheese from Verona. It was soft and very smooth, incredible! He also told us that it is better if the milk comes from cows from high mountains because the cows were healthier up there. One of the reasons was the pure air and the fact that they were fed with grass instead of livestock.

The other thing that this farm produced was salami and sausage. La Casara uses pigs that are fed with the left over cheese which makes them very healthy. In addition, they use the best parts of the pig (butt, shoulder and ribs I believe) for the salami, which is not a common practice. We had a taste of this salami. What an incredible salami that was! It melted in my mouth! So smooth, so tender, so delicate…I want more!!!! It was accompanied by a type of hard bread, which also delicious. Best salami I ever had. I would have loved to try the sausage, but we did not have enough time.

In addition to all this amazing food, the owner was a member of the slow food movement. This means that part of his believes is to pass on his knowledge of cheese to others, which is exactly what he is doing, and very good I might say. He is also helping promote locally grown products and trying to help others create their own little cheese farms. It is an amazing work the one that this man is doing. Congratulations! I look forward to keep on trying these types of aperitivi, and who knows, one day I might be able to go back to La Casara.

Ravioli

During my time in Verona I tried the best ravioli I have ever had in my life. I went to a little ravioli specialty shop, where only fresh pasta and bread were sold. I bought ten ravioli of Monte Veronese cheese filling to see what kind of ravioli Italy had to offer. How glad I am that I did! I went home and cooked them for about ten minute. I added olive oil and Parmesan cheese. What an appetizing meal! So simple and yet so fulfilling. I liked these ravioli so much that I ate this for three days in a row. I believe that the freshness did it for me. I also had fresh bread to accompany the dish. This homemade meal was one of the best meals I had in Italy and in my life. My greatest surprise is the fact that the delicious dish did not contain any meat at all. I am a meat lover; I cannot eat without meat. But these cheese filled deliciousness was better than steak. This shows that simple can be delicious and healthy at the same time. Go pasta Go!

Rome

Rome was somewhat disappointing. It was crowded, rushed and very touristy. On top of that the food service was horrible. Erica, Jenny, Nick and I went to a restaurant right across from the Vatican Museum. Before even entering the place we knew it was not going to be a good experience. The waiter dragged us into the restaurant and within less than a minute after having sat down he asked us for our orders. We had not even had a chance to look at the menu yet and this person was already rushing us. He asked us more than five times if we were ready to order. Finally, ten minutes after we ordered. This environment frustrated us, making our meals not as enjoyable as they should have been. Everything was reheated and did not taste very good. I believe that most of the lack of taste of the meal was due to the harsh environment. This is the perfect proof to show that environment plays a key role in the art of eating.

Since we had such a bad experience eating out and little money, we decided to try home made. We went to one of the little food shops down the street from the apartment we rented, which by the way was not touristy at all. It seemed like if real Italians lived there, and I loved it. We ate sausage with noodles which were really incredible. The sausage was so fresh and so tasty that it was amazing. The next day we had mashed potatoes with stake which was also delicious. Even though we were in Rome and we should have wanted to experience the city to the fullest, we had more fun cooking ourselves and enjoying the freshness of the local food than eating out. I believe that people enjoy food much better when they feel like they have all the time in the world to eat. I would like to lose the habit of eating rushing because my day is much more pleasant when there is no rush involved in my meals. I believe that that restaurant in Rome should learn it too in order to keep customers.

Florence

In Florence I did not have many meals, but that did not restrict me from having good one. As soon as I arrived I had a Panini. I did not like it that much because it was reheated. Italians tend to reheat a lot of things. I am guessing that is due to the tourists, which come in masses, and demand food in huge quantities and little time. But later on, I have one of the best gnocchi dishes I had in Italy. The sauce was just right and on top of that it had mozzarella. What also helped was the atmosphere, it was very relaxing and in a way cool because it was in the center of the city, right across from the Duomo. It was a magnificent view. The next day we had breakfast at the hotel we were staying on and to my surprise, it was delicious. But the best part was the famous Florentine Steak. It was amazing; very juicy, well seasoned and gigantic. I accompanied with potatoes which were also very tasty. I would have to say though that the stake that I had at Isolla della Scala, at the Risotto Festival was much better. I am guessing that the difference is due to the freshness of the meat. In the country everything is better because is fresh. I imagine that in a city like Florence things are not as fresh. The other thing that I liked about Florence was the meat market. Even though we walked through it quickly, it was an amazing place to buy meats of any type, from salumi to fish. Florence was a great place, its history, especially its food history is something amazing and it shows how politics and economics change the way we eat.

Dolci

Dolci, what is dolci? For many people is the essence of life. Those few minutes of sweet deliciousness in the mouth are the greatest thing that most people experience in their lives. Most people look forward to dinner times, not because they will be nourishing their bodies, but because they will be having dessert at the end of the meal. There is something about sugar that drives people crazy about it. As for me, I do not have this problem since I do not love sweets at all. I like brownies and that is about it. I am crazy about meat, and I would rather have meat for dessert than any other sweet. But Italy has taught me the ways of the gelato. I have tried ice cream before, but I never said “Mmmmm… yummy!” I always had it to accompany someone, never by choice. But since Italy is the capital of gelato, I had to try it, and how glad I am that I did. I have had five consecutive days of ice cream (chocolate of course), and they have been very good days. The artisanal ones are the best, because they are kind of “homemade.” Also, I think that there is more love to them since the owner, (who is most cases is the same person that sees the clients), is there to see that final product of the hard work… a smile and happiness in people’s faces. As for other desserts, I have not tried any because they do not seem appealing to me. I am still to try the only fruit that I like, banana, since fruits are supposed to be better in Italy due to their freshness.

Markets

Markets, what exactly are markets? Markets are a place of exchange. They began with trading, for example, meat for bread, or things of that sort. They have evolved to what we today know as supermarkets, malls, etc., essentially shops of any type. In Italy, one can still find open markets for fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, even items of clothing. There are of course, shops of everything one can think of, and superstores where all of these items are found in one store. Trading of item for item is not used anymore. What is use nowadays is the exchange of items for pieces of paper and coins called money. In Italy I have visited many open markets. In Venice there is the open market of fruits and vegetables and fish, as well as the market of souvenirs. In addition, there are multiple shops with brand name clothing, souvenirs, antiques, and everything imaginable. This is the same for almost every major city in Italy and technically the world. I have two favorite types of markets. One is the open market like the one in Verona, which takes place Saturday mornings. In this market, the Veronese buy clothing, food and home related articles such as pots and pans. This market reminds me very much of the markets in Uruguay where people do a lot of their weekly shopping. This market is also cheaper than most stores. The other type of market that I like is the little shops where one can find the daily articles of need such as bread and meat. I particularly like this because one can build a relationship with the owner or employee of this store, making this trip a worthwhile experience. In most cases, shopping for daily products is a negative experience because everyone is in such a rush. In contrast, the little shops to me, are a thing of pleasure and relax.

Coffee, tea and wine (hot chocolate)

For today’s class, we were supposed to do fieldwork on wine, coffee or tea. As people might already have guessed, I do not like any of these drinks, so I decided to do fieldwork of my own. It was my pleasure to do tasting on cioccolata calda (hot chocolate). I have been tasting this delicious drink since I was little. Since I did not like white milk, my mother decided to give chocolate a shot, and she was not mistaken. It was an acquired taste for me, since I began to love this marvelous drink by the age of 18. When I asked for hot chocolate in Verona I was surprised with a treat that I will never forget. This delicious drink was not just plain hot chocolate made with cocoa powder and water as I was used to drinking it at Dunkin’ Doughnuts. The hot chocolate in Italy is something similar to pudding, less dense, but much more tasty. I fell in love with it right away! This kind of hot chocolate is called fermente. The reason of its great taste is the lack of cocoa powder. This drink is with 100% chocolate. Since cocoa powder has almost not chocolate, the taste of hot chocolate can sometimes be disappointing or lacking overall. So far I have had cioccolata calda made of milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Both of these were a treat from haven. I know that when people are in Italy they go crazy with the coffee since it is supposed to be exquisite. Anyhow, I would say that they should be cioccolata calda a shot because they will not be disappointed with this incredible drink.

Cooking class

Today we had a wonderful food experience; we attended a professional cooking class with renowned chef Fluvio De Santa. This was a real treat of Italian cuisine. As we got there we were given aprons, chef hats and a package with the recipes for the night, as well as paper to take notes. The menu was five courses of real Italian cuisine. We began this class preparing dessert, panna cotta. This dessert is a milk-like cream with cinnamon, accompany by a strawberry sauce and berries of various types. This was very easy to make since it is just a mix of the ingredients heated up and refrigerated. Right after, we proceeded with the antipasto, pomodoro farciti con salsa al pesto (stuff tomatoes with pesto). The stuffing was made of eggplant, zucchini, peppers and other vegetables. It was really interesting to me the fact that 40 seconds of boiling water could exfoliate vegetables and fruits. We put the tomatoes in water for that time and it was so much easier to peal them. After, we scooped out the tomatoes and put them by the window as well. We fried the veggies for the stuffing and let them cool off by the window. Later on we stuff the tomatoes, and made a nice dish with the pesto on the plate, the stuffed tomato on top and a basil life for decoration. Then we moved on to the primo piatto, tagliatelle al Ragout di carni bianche (angel hair with white meat Ragout sauce). This sauce it is made of carrots, celery and onions all mixed in a food processor. When the vegetables are all mixed, they are fried in a pan with the meat. The pasta is made with flour, eggs and egg yolk, which really surprised me because I thought that it needed water. After mixing these ingredients together, we passed them through a pasta maker machine to obtain flat dough, which later we converted into angel hairs. Pasta needs extra flour all the time so that it does not stick together. Afterward, we sautéed the sauce and the pasta together and we served it. Lastly, we prepared the second piatto, scaloppini ai funghi (stake with mushroom sauce). It was basically veal stake with mushrooms sautéed in wine an olive oil. Before serving they were put in the oven for a little extra cooking.

We cooked in an amazing kitchen which made it so much easier to make since we had all the necessary tools to prepare a great meal. What surprised me the most was the fact that I actually ate some of these meals. I really like the tagliatelle and the scaloppini with mushroom sauce. The food was really delicious. I never thought that I would be eating something like this. I never had mushroom sauce before until now; all of a sudden I decided to try new things. I am really proud of myself.

Cheese and Salumi

On Wednesday, Victoria, Shawn, Megan and I had to teach the Mediterranean Food Culture Class. Our topic was Salumi and Formaggio. In order to prepare for the class we met as a group to discuss the topic. Victoria and I created questions based on the readings and Shawn and Megan organized the field work. By 3:00 p.m. we were teaching the class. We started the class with an introduction on salami, asked questions about the reading and then divided into groups to find and taste cheese and salumi. Erica, Nick and I walked by Piazza Erbe until we found a Gastronomia store were we saw different kinds of cheese and salumi. They looked very tasty and I will be going back to get some of those delicious treats.

While doing the reading, I discovered what salumi is. Salumi means fat and meat (usually pork), cured, seasoned and dried or smoked. It is basically deli meat. Apparently, Italy is very famous for its salumi. In addition, I learned some interesting facts about Parmesan cheese. I was really surprise to see how parmesan can change the taste of a meal the way it does. It is really good for athletes because it helps to spur the muscles into a dazzling form. It really surprised me to find out that it has more protein than any other meat and it has less fat than most cheeses. Only 10-15 grams of parmesan are needed to give flavor to a dish. This amount has more protein than a serving of chicken. Parmesan cheese is one of my favorite cheeses; I cannot have pasta without it. Now I understand why.

Nights of home made

On Monday night we eat in a Nick was our cook. He said that he would surprise Sara and me with some kind of pasta dish. When he arrived to our apartment he had vegetables, cheese, olive oil and some other ingredients. First, he lightly fried a small piece of meat. Then, he sautéed red and green peppers until they turned almost black. Right after, he cut the meat into strips and mixed it up with the peppers. Separately, he made a cream and cheese sauce. This sauce was mixed with fresh pasta. At the end with ended up mixing the pasta with the sauce and the meat. It was a marvelous combination. We had wonderful time hanging out and cooking dinner.


On Tuesday night, Rala invited Sara, Rachael, Erica and I to have dinner at her house. As we were getting comfortable in her house, we introduced ourselves to Erica, who arrived earlier that day. She was a little jetlagged and we were trying to keep her awake. Throughout the course of the conversations, Rala put to use her culinary skills. She prepared a three course meal of real Italian food. First, she prepared a pomodoro sauce with sautéed vegetables. In addition, she cooked gnocchi, which were obtained at that great ravioli store by Piazza Isolo. This was our primi piatti, gnocchi with pomodoro sauce and mozzarella. Another thing that Rala had on her pan was ground meat. This meat was in the form on meat ball. At the end they looked like hamburgers shaped like balls. As contorno we had string beans. As people know by now, I do not eat vegetable, so I mixed the gnocchi with pomodoro with the meat balls. It was a great combination I must say. For desert we had a kind of corn meal with almonds cookie. We had a wonderful dinner, thank you Rala.

Pasta and Bread

Today I did some walking around the town. In my travels I encounter a bakery shop that in addition to sweet baked goods had different types of pasta. I was surprised to find pasta of diverse types and colors. I know that the yellow pasta is made out of eggs and that the green ones are made with spinach, but I do not know what the orange or brown ones are. The brown ones are made out of wheat, bran or farro, but I cannot figure out the orange. My most educated guest is carrot. I am interested but at the same time afraid of trying this different types. As I mentioned before, I am a very picky person and it frightens me to try new food. The yellow pasta came in so many different shapes. There were bow ties, fettuccini, angel hair, penne and many more. So far my experience with pasta has been limited. I had some pasta with tomate sauce. There rest of the pasta that I had had has been accompanied by hot dogs and bolied eggs. Very appetizing, but not very Italian. I have not tried any other variety and sadly, I doubt that I will try any.

The breads in this bakery were diverse as well. They were all shaped differently and I guess that they tasted different as well. There were also pastries which looked very apetizing. Personally I like the frech baguettes. I like other breads, but that one is my favorite. In Italy, I have had the rolls and the baguette; is still have to try more. I have not encountered flat breads yet. These breads are supposed to be very common in the Mediterranean region, but I still have to find them or try them.

New experiences

One of the greatest challenges of this trip in my particular case is the fact that I am a really picky person when it comes to food. I do not like vegetables, fruits or fish. That makes it particularly difficult since everything in Italy is in part made with a variety of these items. From the pizza to the sauces to deserts, all these ingredients always come into play. This challenge has been good to me in a way. Now, if I want to eat out I have to try whatever the Italians have in their menu. I actually was faced with this challenge last night. I order ravioli and I thought that they will be filled with cheese. Well, it turns out that they were filled with spinach. This dish came with a creamy cheese sauce as well. It also had ham. Since I saw ham in the menu and I love meat I even thought that the filling may be ham and cheese, which would have been a treat to me. To my surprise, all the cheesy goodness overshadowed the taste of the spinach, and I did not even know that I was eating spinach. The sad part is that I still think that spinach does not taste good. Maybe in the future I will try it again and enjoy it more.

Festa del Risotto

Today I was a very interesting day. Susan, Peter, Nick and I went to this little town called Isolla della Scala. The purpose of our trip was to attend a rice festival called “Festa del Risotto.” We took the train and in 20 minutes we were at in Isolla della Scala. We walked around trying to find this festival and the town looked like a desert. I was very nice though. We asked some people about the festival and they did not know about it. After walking around for a little bit we found an English speaking person who directed us to the festival. It was a nice 20 minute walk. As soon as we got to the festival we learned about different types of rice to make risotto. There are three different types ranging from white to brown rice. After that we got some food. There were choices for meat, side and sweets. For meat there was costella (rib) and prosciutto. For contorno (side) there was risotto and patate frite. For dolce (sweets) there were all kinds of products made out of rice and even chocolate salami. Nick and I shared a costella and risotto. It was the most delicious taste I had had in Italy! The costella was so greatly cooked and seasoned that it would melt in my mouth. The risotto was amazing since this rice is cooked very slowly (for almost one hour). I think is also cook with a special broth, meat, and fat, which gives it an irresistible flavor. For dolce we had like a rice cake dessert that was also really good.



After our delicious meal we wanted to go to explore the rice fields. Instead we learned about mushrooms at a funghi farm. I believed, if I understood the Italian tour correctly, that it takes five weeks to grow funghi. It is a four step process that begins with mixing of composite and ends with a full grown mushroom. In order for a mushroom to grow, it has to be at the perfect temperature, oxygen, humidity, etc, in every step of the way. It begins in a colder room and moves its way to normal temperature. At the end we got free funghi. It was a really fun trip.

One night...

One night, maybe a week ago, I was with Sara and Nick and we did not want to cook. It was a hot summer night and we were at the Pan trying to decide what to have for dinner. And then it hit me. Why not have cold cuts? Many times this is my breakfast, dinner or snack, so I thought we would fill ourselves up with it. We bought two types of cheese, one soft and one hard, salami and prosciutto. When we got hot, we cut it all and made the plates look pretty (like afettati misti). To my surprise, the selections were better than expected. Everything was so fresh, so tasty, so delicious! I was even more surprise when I tried the hard cheese. The cheese tasted like a type of cheese that I used to love in Uruguay. In the United States, I went everywhere looking for this cheese and I never found it. In Italy, I buy a random cheese and it happens to be the one that I had been looking for for so long. The soft cheese was ok, but not something that I would go crazy for and would buy on my own. I would just eat it if I had to. As far as the meets, they were so incredible, specially the salami. Its freshness gave it the most amazing taste of all. It was juicy and soft. Again, this was a taste that I had not experienced since I left Uruguay. The prosciutto was a new taste for me, since Italians have a different way of cooking from what I am used to. It was a great flavor and something that I look forward to try again.

Food in Italy

As an Uruguayan, I feel like I am home in Italy. Uruguay is made of 50% Italian immigrants and 50% Spanish immigrants, therefore there is a great Mediterranean influence in my country. Italy has reminded me of the great tastes that I have not experience for so long. The sauces, the pasta, the meat, even the water, have been tastes that I have forgotten about. Even though I still eat these kinds of foods in the United States, the ingredients are not as fresh, therefore there is a great lost of taste. I love the fact that the meat is so fresh. The meat tastes incredible exquisite, and the only factor that changes it is the freshness of i. I am not a vegetable eater, but I can see the difference in color of the vegetables as well. Also, I was told by my classmates that the fruits and vegetables are super delicious.
One thing that really caught my attention was the use of wine. Italians drink as much wine as they do water, and they drink lots of water. I was very surprised to find wine as part of the drink selection in the cafeteria of the university. I guess that wine is very healthy for people and it seems that is wine of the many contributors to the healthy lifestyle that Italians lead.
I would have to say that my favorite dish so far has been the Kabab. Even though is not an Italian dish, it shows the great influence of spices and flavors that have reached the peninsula, specially from India.
Another thing that I have forgotten about was the portions sizes of the meals. In the United States, the portions of the meals are double the size of the meals in Italy (and Uruguay as well). Even though Italians have two dishes for their meals (primo e secondo piatti), these portions are not very big. Again, I think that this is another factor of the success of the Mediterranean diet.
These are some of the the influences and distinctions that I have encountered so far in my travels through the peninsula of Italy. As a go along, more experiences will come.