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.