Food & Dining Experiences I Took For Granted in the US

I recently returned back from a UVA study abroad program in Italy. After a couple of weeks of living in Italy there were some obvious, even sometimes minor aspects, of Italian food and dining that made me miss the land of the free and the home of the brave.

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Ice:

It is incredibly rare to get ice in any beverage besides a cocktail. Everything is refrigerated and bottled/canned. No fountain drinks. To ask for ice in your water at a restaurant, you most likely will be charged a small amount. Your drink will never truly be cold. I often drank room temperature water. It sounds snotty that I really missed the luxury of having ice in my drink, but it was definitely a notable aspect of dining that made me miss America.

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Breakfast Foods:

A Classic Italian pastry, Sfogliatelle. It?s flakey puff pastry on the outside with a custard filling.

In Italy a typical breakfast consists of a pastry and an espresso drink (typically a cappuccino, since it is referred to as a breakfast drink and you wouldn?t otherwise drink it at any other time of day). At first this seems like an amazing breakfast because it?s on the sweet side of tastes. However, day after day the mouthfuls of sugar every morning started to catch up to me. I felt slower, fatter, and overall unhealthy. I was dying for some eggs, lean protein, and an abundance of fruit. Eggs aren?t offered as a breakfast food in Italy. I only saw eggs on salads or sometimes pizzas (which by the way, are amazing because once the pizza is cooked they take it out and crack an egg over it and it cooks slowly). The only alternative that was presented to me was white bread (hardly ever wheat or any other type), prochiutto or ham, and sometimes cheese. Ever so often there was yogurt offered. European yogurt is ten times better than any yogurt I?ve ever eaten in the States. It?s richer, creamer, and authentically flavored with fruit (no ?naturally flavors? and no dyes). The best thing about this yogurt is that it?s just as many calories per container as US yogurt. Finally, I also really missed bagels. I guess I?m just used to and spoiled by Bodo?s Bagels on a regular basis in Charlottesville?but who can blame me!

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Smaller Meals:

I typically graze throughout the day, eating small portions every couple of hours. In Italy, meal time is spectacle and a cultural experience which lasts hours. Every meal contains at least a ?primi,? or a first course, and a ?secondo,? or a second course. A ?primi? is always a pasta dish. The portion of pasta that is typically given to you is a decent size?I would say almost meal-size. After scarfing down some delicious, homemade pasta I am practically full and not even thinking I have a second course! A ?secondo? is typically a meat, sometimes accompanied my more starch.

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Side Salad:

Salad is hard to come by. You don?t normally have an option of a side salad and Italians are too keen on substituting items on the menu. Side salads are also very expensive. For a normal sized bowl-portion of a salad with three basic ingredients (typically lettuce, tomatoes, and olives/cucumbers) it can cost upwards of 7 euros (almost $10). Unless you order a large salad and make it a meal, getting a side salad is expensive, lacks a variety of ingredients, and difficult to order. Moreover, I was deterred from eating many vegetables in Italy because salads lacked any dynamic/creativity and were overpriced.

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Paying for Water:

Italians don?t like tap water and instead drink bottled distilled or sparkling water. Granted a large bottle and table bread amounts to 3-4 euros, but that typically charged to the table whether you ask for it or not because it acts like a ?cover? charge. Keep in mind the reason for a cover charge is because you typically don?t tip anything over 5%, if any tip at all, for table service in Europe. At the end of my trip I was sick and tired of having to ask for water and paying for it. Growing up in the US, I just assumed water was a public good?that I have a right to receive water for free!

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Supermarkets:

Campo dei Fiori Market in Rome, Italy

I took for granted how much variety was offered to me at US supermarkets. There are some large-scale supermarkets in Italy, but it?s much more common to see small, mom-and-pop markets. At least in these small markets you get fresh, local food, but on the other hand they have a limited variety of products and don?t offer many international/American brands that I?m familiar with. The lack of large department stores and grocery markets (which all offer a huge variety) didn?t bother me too much because I do appreciate local food and non-commercialized business, I just took note of this drastic difference in my shopping experience. 20 different types of cookies? 5 brands of milk? Only in America.

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There were certain things that I didn?t miss from the US. There are some things that Italians do better?

Coffee?Espresso is head and shoulders over mild, water-down coffee served in the US. I did miss having more substance in my cup to sip on?considering espresso is served as a shot (1.5 oz)?but European espresso is of such higher quality that it isn?t so bitter and it?s mouthfeel isn?t as gritty. It takes some getting used to because it?s very dense and strong, but you learn to appreciate the coffee bean and how coffee is made.

Soda?Of course Coca Cola is an international brand, but I want to make note of Italian soda (with its flavors such as grapefruit, pomegranate, blood orange and of course lemon). If you aren?t familiar with Italian soda, think of brands like Izze and San Pellegrino soda. These sodas tastes like the real flavor of fruit and are incredibly refreshing.

Smoothies?Nothing is wrong with good ol? Smoothie King and Robek?s, but Italy offers Frulattas and they are way better! Frulattas are all made with fresh fruit (farmer?s market quality) and a little bit of yogurt (which I previously raved about). Frulattas have a thinner consistency and tastes exactly like the fruit that was put into it, unlike a typical US smoothie that is full of sugar to the point that it could be considered cousin to a milkshake.

No?Preservatives?Everything is fresher in Italy. They use a lot of local, authentically Italian products. This can possibly explain why Italian food markets have less variety than in the US. Since Italians don?t have many products with a shelf-life (due to preservatives), market owners have a lower threshold of how many products they can keep in the store, considering that they have to restock most of their products regularly.

Source: http://wuvaonline.com/food-dining-experiences-i-took-for-granted-in-the-us/

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