Italy
Italy is famously associated with pasta and pizza, but actual Italian cuisines differ based on the region of the country you're in. For example, in the North, you'll find a lot of pasta stuffed with cheese fillings and topped with light sauces (like olive oil or milk-based sauces). As you move to the Center of the country, you will see more dishes dominated by meat and fish, and finally in the South you will see heavier meat and tomato sauces, or ragu, and more fish. Italian meals, even home-cooked meals, still follow the multicourse tradition. A formal Italian dinner might comprise an initial antipasto course (a relatively light selection of pickled vegetables, olives, cheeses, and deli meats or anchovies), followed by a pasta course, then a meat or fish course (what the US would call an entrée), a salad course, a cheese course, a sweet course, and finally espresso, of course. At celebratory meals, each course has a wine pairing!
At some Italian restaurants, waiters found it odd when we ordered only pasta and a salad or only a meat course. But at some places, no one batted an eyelash when we each ordered a pizza that could serve a family of four! Yes, pizza is served in Italy! I’ll never forget the first time I ordered a pizza Napoli—because I was in Naples, of course—and it consisted of a tomato and cheese pizza with one large anchovy in the middle, bones and all (luckily, I love anchovies)!, Another prominent feature in large Italian cities is that every block seems to have at least two gelato stands!
How do Italians stay healthy and manage their weight? Although no one knows for sure, I believe it’s a combination of eating much smaller portions than we do in the US, eating the largest meal at midday and very little in the evening, and walking everywhere.
My husband and I had a great vacation a couple of years ago, starting in Milan and eating our way through northern Italy, ending our trip in Rome. My husband's family came from Calabria (at the southern-most edge of the boot that is Italy) so on our next trip we plan to visit Southern Italy. I’m already gearing up for the antipasti with anchovies and sardines…and pasta dishes with seafood but no parmigia cheese! Until then, below are links to pictures from the places we saw on our last trip. Enjoy!
