Oh the places I go...with food.

Last nights dinner was wonderful. It really is the bonding time of the day with my family, which is what dinner is meant to be in the Italian culture. Bruno, the dad is back from Napels. His natural personality is so refreshing and funny. He smiles all the time and makes jokes just to see us laugh. I really like him even after 2 days. Dinner on this particular night was epic. My roommate taught them how to play beer pong and we got into a riveting discussion about which gelateria is the best. Since 3 Italians were discussing this I’m sure you can imagine how passionate it got. Eventually, they got so into convincing us theirs was the best, they completely forgot we were in the room. Epic. And typical.

I went to the market with my Italian community class yesterday and with my nutrition class today. Wow. What an experience. I didn’t think I could get so nauseous simply looking at meat. I can. Yesterday, I was a little grossed out, but today I actually had the Italian labels on each item translated to me by my prof. Lets just say cows intestines are furry looking. I thought it was part of a polar bear at first.
Along with the cows parts, ALL of the cows parts, I saw dead chickens from the neck up with herbs in their beaks. And I wonder why I never have the guts to ask what I am eating at dinner.

I love their concept of food though. Absolutely everything is fresh. I’m pretty sure that’s the secret to why everything tastes so much better here. We walked by people making pasta with eggs and such. Fresh markets with local, seasonal fruit is in several parts of the city, so easily assessable from most parts of the city. Even dried fruit was just made the day before, no prepackaged stuff. I feel more physically healthy and have more energy and I’m pretty sure that’s why. The olive oil is on absolutely everything. It is high in fat but that’s my main fat source, and it is the good fat so it gives me more nutrient and energy. So basically, I would like to take the nutritional part of Italy back to America and share it with all my friends…and the government. I’m not gonna lie, my nutrition class is brainwashing me to the Mediterranean way of eating. No more 5 a day for me (I am told that was our governments way of helping out the produce companies and no real evidence has been shown to support this fruit and veggie phenomenon).

So, my taste buds have finally realized, they will not be getting a soy chai tea latte anytime soon, so they have moved on to something a bite more realistic, white hot chocolate. Of course they don’t have Ghirardelli. That would be too easy, so I walked into the closest caffe near my house and asked for “cioccolato caldo”, the original would have to do. When it was ready, I eagerly blew on it to cool it, then tried to take a sip. I very quickly understood why they gave me a spoon on the saucer. It was so thick I had to eat it like soup. Not successful at all. Next time, I will try a different caffe with the hope of getting “cioccolato caldo americano”.

So, this sandwich shop I am a regular for lunch at, the one gentleman that takes my order seems very unimpressed with most things in life, including me as a potential “granddaughter” (as most men his age seem to view me). However, today, I made major leeway (spell?) with his partner who runs the cash register. He is also an older gentleman who doesn’t usually pay much attention to me. Today was Thursday though, which means I run to all my classes and am still late to everyone, and it was lunch time. My tummy was growling and the thought of sitting through a photography critique without any sustenance was not appealing, so I stopped in for a panino to go. I was a little anxious since I was already late and the typical Italian “I’ll get to you when I get to you” way of life was bearing down on me, which was very evident on my face. His partner clearly had sympathy for me and helped me. After I payed, he said “Ciao bella”. Wow! You can’t understand how excited I got! I am maybe, possibly, hopefully breaking into their world. Maybe closer to the end of the semester we will actually be on a first name basis…maybe that’s a little too hopeful, but I set my sites high. And bonus: he no longer charges me 4 euros, he now charges me 2.5 euros even though I get the exact same thing every time.

Sarah