La Vita Italiana
I've decided that in addition to blogging about our experience here trying to spread the Gospel here in Italy, that I am going to blog about some funny everyday stories, interesting tid-bits, and cultural differences here in Italy. I was going to do it all in one post, but after I saw how much I wrote just about the food here, I decided to split it up into topics.
The Food
I have to talk about the food here. Italians take meal time very seriously. They don't have lunch or dinner during meetings at work, and they don't do anything else really while they eat. They just eat. In a typical Italian family, the mom does all of the cooking. Of course, pasta is a staple here. There are tons of different types of pasta. However, these two dishes that we eat in America are not actually Italian, and most Italians haven't even heard of them: chicken parmesan and fettucini alfredo. Dinner is often had late in the evening - usually around 8pm or later. This is a habit that we've all picked up here at the Bible School. We eat such a large lunch late in the day (1:30) that none of us usually even start making dinner until 8pm. Not only are meal times a bit later, but meals are usually longer. There have been many times when we've been at a restaurant for over two hours for dinner, because we first have our appetizer, then our meal, then sometimes a second plate, and then a coffee. And there is just no rush at restuarants, with the customers or the workers. Actually, a typical Italian meal consists of many courses. They don't pile on all of their meal on one plate like we do in the States. They typically have an appetizer with some kind of sliced meats, cheeses, or veggies. Then we have the first plate, which is usually a pasta. The second plate has your meat and vegetables. Last is your desert plate. Finally, you finish it off with a coffee.
Of course, pizza and pasta are the first things we think of, and while we do eat lots of these here in Italy, there are lots of other things that they eat here. Each region in Italy seems to have their own specialty. Also, many restaurants and bars only make certain foods or desserts for certain times of year. For example, during carnevale there are several different deserts that you can get only then. Particularly in this region, they have several unique foods. In this region (Tuscany) in Italy, their traditional bread does not have salt. I've heard this is because there used to be a salt tax here back in ancient times. Fiorentina steak is also a staple item here. It's steak that's been cooked for one minute on each side - so it's practically rare.
Pizza is typically thin crust. When you eat out at a restaurant, you get your own pizza. They are quite large, but because they are so thin, it's actually possible to eat the whole thing. If you want a thicker crust, then you have to find a restaurant that serves neopolitan (naples style) pizza because they have thicker crusts.
The ingredients here are fresher. The fruits and veggies seem better, because they only pick and sell what's in season. They don't put preservatives in their meat, so you have to eat it or freeze it within a day of buying it. Mozzarella is so fresh and good here. Also, things like mozzarella, basil, rosemary, and all those other nice cheeses and spices are way cheaper here than they are in the states. I guess that makes sense though. I'm not much of a cheese eater, but here I'll just eat a slice of mozzarella for a meal sometimes. It's that good! They actually do fry a lot of things here. We've had fried olives, fried artichoke hearts, fried seafood, fried rice balls for desert, fried bread, and lots of other things.
Gelato is good, and is typically made fresh each day. Supposedly, if you go to a gelateria that has the gelato piled high, that means that it's not made fresh there each day and it's probably not as good since the top part isn't kept down in the cooler part of the freezer.
Coffee is also a staple item here. There are many different kinds. The main one is the espresso that they have after meals and in the morning with breakfast. It's just a very strong shot of espresso. Personally, I have to dump a ton of sugar in it in order for me to be able to drink it, but many people drink it black. Then there's cappuccino (espresso with steamed milk), cafe macchiato (espresso with a drop of milk), latte macchiato (milk with a drop of espresso), caffe lungo, caffe americano (American coffee), caffe corretto (coffee with liquor in it), and caffe latte (espresso and milk). Coffee is really cheap here. For example, I can get a cappuccino here for 1 euro, which is about $1.30. And it's always a really good cappuccino. The coffee shops here are called bars. So when we say we are going to the bar, we are usually going to go get a coffee and a pasta (pastry).
They don't like to use butter - on or in anything. And they make fun of us Americans for using butter in everything. They use olive oil in everything. In fact, we had a student who made a meal for us one night. She made this delicious soup, but after we dished it into our bowl she told us that the typical thing to do with that soup is to put some olive oil on top. There are lots of fields around here with olive trees in them.
There are tons of vineyards around here also. Tuscany really is beautiful. I always enjoy is whenever we get to go somewhere in the country to see the beautiful views around here. Of course wine is a staple item here as well. They use wine instead of grape juice for the communion here at church. Many Italians have wine with their meals. We've been told and observed that most Italians don't get drunk like many Americans do. It's also very common here to have a small shot of lemonchello or grappa, which smells like rubbing alcohol to me, after a meal for digestive purposes.
Another thing that's different here is that having fresh milk is not all that common. Shelf milk is the normal. I still don't really know what shelf milk is. Maybe I don't really want to know.
Another thing that we have in the states that we call "Italian" that is not here is Italian shaved ice. There is something that's close, but it's not the same and it's not that common.
Some of mine and Alan's personal favorites so far include: pizza (of course), scachatta (a type of bread), cappuccinos, fried olives, and just pasta in general.
The Food
I have to talk about the food here. Italians take meal time very seriously. They don't have lunch or dinner during meetings at work, and they don't do anything else really while they eat. They just eat. In a typical Italian family, the mom does all of the cooking. Of course, pasta is a staple here. There are tons of different types of pasta. However, these two dishes that we eat in America are not actually Italian, and most Italians haven't even heard of them: chicken parmesan and fettucini alfredo. Dinner is often had late in the evening - usually around 8pm or later. This is a habit that we've all picked up here at the Bible School. We eat such a large lunch late in the day (1:30) that none of us usually even start making dinner until 8pm. Not only are meal times a bit later, but meals are usually longer. There have been many times when we've been at a restaurant for over two hours for dinner, because we first have our appetizer, then our meal, then sometimes a second plate, and then a coffee. And there is just no rush at restuarants, with the customers or the workers. Actually, a typical Italian meal consists of many courses. They don't pile on all of their meal on one plate like we do in the States. They typically have an appetizer with some kind of sliced meats, cheeses, or veggies. Then we have the first plate, which is usually a pasta. The second plate has your meat and vegetables. Last is your desert plate. Finally, you finish it off with a coffee.Of course, pizza and pasta are the first things we think of, and while we do eat lots of these here in Italy, there are lots of other things that they eat here. Each region in Italy seems to have their own specialty. Also, many restaurants and bars only make certain foods or desserts for certain times of year. For example, during carnevale there are several different deserts that you can get only then. Particularly in this region, they have several unique foods. In this region (Tuscany) in Italy, their traditional bread does not have salt. I've heard this is because there used to be a salt tax here back in ancient times. Fiorentina steak is also a staple item here. It's steak that's been cooked for one minute on each side - so it's practically rare.
Pizza is typically thin crust. When you eat out at a restaurant, you get your own pizza. They are quite large, but because they are so thin, it's actually possible to eat the whole thing. If you want a thicker crust, then you have to find a restaurant that serves neopolitan (naples style) pizza because they have thicker crusts.
The ingredients here are fresher. The fruits and veggies seem better, because they only pick and sell what's in season. They don't put preservatives in their meat, so you have to eat it or freeze it within a day of buying it. Mozzarella is so fresh and good here. Also, things like mozzarella, basil, rosemary, and all those other nice cheeses and spices are way cheaper here than they are in the states. I guess that makes sense though. I'm not much of a cheese eater, but here I'll just eat a slice of mozzarella for a meal sometimes. It's that good! They actually do fry a lot of things here. We've had fried olives, fried artichoke hearts, fried seafood, fried rice balls for desert, fried bread, and lots of other things.
Coffee is also a staple item here. There are many different kinds. The main one is the espresso that they have after meals and in the morning with breakfast. It's just a very strong shot of espresso. Personally, I have to dump a ton of sugar in it in order for me to be able to drink it, but many people drink it black. Then there's cappuccino (espresso with steamed milk), cafe macchiato (espresso with a drop of milk), latte macchiato (milk with a drop of espresso), caffe lungo, caffe americano (American coffee), caffe corretto (coffee with liquor in it), and caffe latte (espresso and milk). Coffee is really cheap here. For example, I can get a cappuccino here for 1 euro, which is about $1.30. And it's always a really good cappuccino. The coffee shops here are called bars. So when we say we are going to the bar, we are usually going to go get a coffee and a pasta (pastry).
They don't like to use butter - on or in anything. And they make fun of us Americans for using butter in everything. They use olive oil in everything. In fact, we had a student who made a meal for us one night. She made this delicious soup, but after we dished it into our bowl she told us that the typical thing to do with that soup is to put some olive oil on top. There are lots of fields around here with olive trees in them.
There are tons of vineyards around here also. Tuscany really is beautiful. I always enjoy is whenever we get to go somewhere in the country to see the beautiful views around here. Of course wine is a staple item here as well. They use wine instead of grape juice for the communion here at church. Many Italians have wine with their meals. We've been told and observed that most Italians don't get drunk like many Americans do. It's also very common here to have a small shot of lemonchello or grappa, which smells like rubbing alcohol to me, after a meal for digestive purposes.
Another thing that's different here is that having fresh milk is not all that common. Shelf milk is the normal. I still don't really know what shelf milk is. Maybe I don't really want to know.
Another thing that we have in the states that we call "Italian" that is not here is Italian shaved ice. There is something that's close, but it's not the same and it's not that common.
Some of mine and Alan's personal favorites so far include: pizza (of course), scachatta (a type of bread), cappuccinos, fried olives, and just pasta in general.
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