Mmmm mmm good!

Il cibo, Food. One of my favorite topics.  This post is going to be all about the food.  I came in with expectations of Alfredo sauce, olives, oil, and pasta. I was not completely wrong. There IS a lot of pasta, but what I did not realize, at first, is that there are many other options. There is not nearly as much cheese sauce as I thought, there is mostly oil based or red sauce. There are olives and they are the best I have ever had. As for oil they use it more than I thought. At home it seems like we use butter to grease the pan or to keep the pasta from sticking or on our noodle for a little something extra , here they use oil and its wonderful. There are many fruits and vegetables available at the store and at the market, they are the best from the market. In our apartments we have to feed ourselves, so whether its going to a restaurant or cooking in out little kitchens we need to eat.

In our apartment we have a good system which I have mentioned before for cooking, but before that all four of us go to Tirge, our local grocery store, and buy the food we will need for a couple days and we go a few times a week. This is how the Italians shop. Unlike in America where we buy in bulk and go only once a week if possible. Our motto is “If Tigre doesn’t have it, we don’t need it”, and for the most part that stands true. We try to buy a good variety of food. We have yet to fully repeat a meal, the only difference might have been the noodle shape but we have never had two identical meals. Some of our favorites being, prosciutto wrapped figs and lasagna.

When we go out there are plenty of options because, what I did not know before is that there are courses.  It can be a little weird for an Italian to just order a bowl of pasta for dinner. That usually is only the first course then you get a second dish with meat cooked in some way with vegetables. Sometimes you can even start out with appetizers  on top of that. It is quite a hardy meal, I have only been able to do it once and I was stuffed! One thing that we have found the most different about eating here is that there is much less red meat in the diet. Its common to have prosciutto often but they eat a big chicken dish or steak type meal only a couple times a month. In our apartment we try to get it a least once a week. So far we have done pretty good.


It is something we deal with every day so we are going to make the most of it! If you have any questions or comments about anything food you know where to find me!! I will post again about my Florence adventure!


IWOD: Mangiare- to eat, Il cibo- food, Ho fame- I am hungry, words very important for eating.