Food

While I have been in Italy I have noticed some similarities but I have also noticed a lot of differences as well within the cultures of dining compared to America. One thing that really sticks out to me especially being in Orvieto is that everyone only eats Italian food. When you are in America you have a ton of options ranging from Mexican, Italian, Chinese, American, etc. I did notice on my trip to the Amalfi Coast this past weekend that the bigger cities do have some variety but not near as much as we do in America. Another thing that has really stuck out to me is how late they eat. I actually really enjoy it because I tend to eat later at home as well.

Over the weekend I noticed some big differences in the types of food that is served across Italy. As I said I went to the Amalfi Coast and one restaurant we ate at basically was all seafood except some of the pizzas and a couple of the dishes, where as in Orvieto they do not serve much seafood. I also noticed in touristy locations the food is not as good and some places serve American type food. Another Restaurant we ate at in Amalfi served hamburgers, fries, monzerella sticks, and a lot of other American type dishes.

Another thing is that they love pastries for breakfast. I have been eating at cafes almost everyday having a café latte and trying a new pastry everyday. It is a lot different because in America I would have bacon and eggs or maybe a fruit smoothie or bowl of cereal. When I get back to America I will have to get used to not have pastries every morning.

I have not had much chance to try any wines besides the ones we have tried in class. I am not a huge wine drinker so when I go out to eat I never want to buy the wine because I am afraid I will not like it. While I was in Amalfi over the weekend I was able to try limoncello and it was very good. Some girls said they also tried it here in Orvieto and it was not as good as it was down on the coast. I would highly recommend a limoncello spritz it was very tasty and refreshing.

My favorite dish I have had so far while in Italy is the spaghetti carbonara. I had it at Il Dialogo first in Orvieto and really enjoyed it. I then was able to go to Meza Luna and their famous dish is their carbonara, so of course that is what I ordered. It was so good. I also ordered it while I was in Capri over the weekend. It was good but not as good as the dish I had at Meza Luna. A lot of people have said that it freaks them out that it is egg yolk, but carbonara is now one of my all time favorite dishes.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Over the past week I have not tried much wine because I am not a huge fan of wine and do not really want to spend to money on wine at dinner when I do not like it. Because of this class I did try some wine at one of my dinners over the weekend. On Saturday night I ate out at the cave restaurant in Orvieto and a couple girls and I split a bottle of wine. It was a wine that was actually from Orvieto and I believe it was a 2017, but I am not 100 percent sure on that. It was called Poggio Dell’olmo Vino Bianco Amabile. It was a white sweet wine and the grape varietal was grechetto. The wine did not have a very strong finish or much tannin and I think that is why I actually enjoyed it. We Paired it with pizza, which was not the best pairing but that is what we wanted to eat. Like I said I am not a huge fan of wine, but I am glad I tried this one.

Another wine that I really enjoyed was the wine we tried at Montanucci’s on Monday night. I really enjoyed it and I am planning on going back and purchasing a bottle to bring back home with me. On Tuesday night I enjoyed the white wine, not as much as the one at Montenucci’s but it was alright. The red wine we tried I did not like at all, but I am not a fan of red wine and have not been able to find one that I like.

The tasting we do in class and what we talk about has helped me in choosing wine when I am not in class. I now know when I am at the grocery store I like white sweeter wines and am not a big fan of red wines. It also helped me when I ordered wine at the restaurant the other day. Without what we talked about in class and the tasting I would have had no idea what to try.

For food the past week I actually ate a lot of pizza at a few different places and also had some carbonara at a couple different places. At the beginning of the week I tried a new restaurant in Orvieto and had the carbonara. The restaurant was called Trattoria Dell’Orso and I was not a huge fan. I have had a lot of carbonara while I have been here and it was definitely my least favorite of all the places I have tried. On Tuesday I tried a place called Pizzeria Antica Arte Napoletana and it was definitely the best pizza I have had. I had the margherita pizza on Tuesday and it was so delicious and then on Wednesday I actually ordered take out for the same place and I got the diavola. I usually get diavola everywhere I go when I get pizza, and this one was okay but not my favorite however the pizza itself was still pretty good. On Thursday night I went to Mezza Luna and it was amazing. I had been there once before so to try something different I got umbrichelli noodles, but I still got carbonara. It is still the best carbonara I have had since I have been here.

Over the weekend I did not very much Italian food while I was in Florence, which was a mistake on my part. I first had lunch in the market and I did have pizza there. I just had a simple margherita pizza and it was good but probably my least favorite of all the pizzas I have had here. For dinner on Friday I ate at the Hard Rock Café, I originally was just going to use that as a snack and eat again later that night but I got tired and ended up just eating what I had at Hard Rock Café. I had the chicken wings which is in no way Italian but I will say we asked for ranch and they had no idea what ranch even was. Later that night I did try the McDonald’s for a late night snack and just got some fries. I thought they tasted pretty similar to American McDonald’s fries. On Saturday while in Florence I did get one of those rice balls at the market. I got the ragu one and it was so good I would definitely get one of those again. Later on Saturday I was back in Orvieto and like I said above I ate at the cave restaurant. I had a four cheese pizza. I was glad I tried it but I would probably never get it again. It was okay but it was nothing like the four cheese pizza we have in America. Also like I said above we paired this pizza with a white sweet wine which was not the best pairing.

Overall I have been trying to try out new restaurants in Orvieto and try out some new foods. I have also been willing to try some wine by tasting others when they get it, but I still could be more outgoing when trying wines.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This week was my third full week in Italy and I would say that I tried the most wine and a lot of different kinds of food that is really central to Orvieto and Italy. I was very adventurous this week when trying wine and also when trying food. I am very happy that I reached out of my comfort zone because I found some food that I really enjoyed and I hope I can go get some more before I leave. I also found a couple of wines that I enjoyed including one red and usually I do not really enjoy red wines.

Monday

On Monday to start the week we had an olive oil tasting and that came with some food that I really enjoyed. The bread salad was definitely my favorite out of everything. It had sort of a weird texture but I still really enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed the bread that just had some olive oil on it. Their olive oil was super good and you could really taste the freshness of the oil. We were given three different oils and one you could tell was not as fresh as the other two. The fresh ones smelled like fresh cut grass. We also had a wine while at the olive oil tasting. It was a white wine that smelled like apples and pears to me. I thought it was a pretty good wine it did not have a very strong finish but I personally really enjoyed it. For dinner on Monday I mad myself dinner to start saving some money. I made shell noodles with some ragu meat sauce I got at Pam. It was actually really good it was pretty salty but I like salty.

• 

• 

• 

Picture Captions:

Picture One: This was the white wine we had at the olive oil tasting. Like I said before I really enjoyed it.

Picture Two: These were the different foods we were given at the olive oil tasting. The bread salad which was my favorite is the first one on the top of the picture. Then there were some breads with different things on them, I was not a huge fan of those but I did enjoy the bread they passed around the table. I also do not like beans so I was not a huge fan of those. Lastly there was a salad and a tomato. They were both so good. I really enjoyed how different the tomato was.

Picture Three: This was the meal I made for myself. Like I said it was just some shell noodles with ragu meat sauce from Pam. It was really good and I have now made it a couple times.

Wednesday

Today my Food and Wine class had to opportunity to go to a couple of wineries. At the first winery we were given a four course meal and wine with every course. At the second winery we got to try three kinds of wine a paired it with different appetizer like foods such as meat on bread, olive oil on bread, etc.

At the first winery where we had the four course meal we started off with a flan that had truffle on top and then it was like a bread type thing under the truffle which was the flan. It was good, the flan under the truffle had kind of a weird texture which made me not like it as much but it still tasted really good. With that we paired a Vitalonga Rose wine that smelled to me of strawberries. It was very good and I thought personally it went well with the appetizer. For the second course we had pasta. This pasta was one of my favorite pastas I have had since being in Italy. We paired the pasta with a Vitalonga Chardonnay. The wine was pretty straw looking and it smelled like pear and apples to me. I also enjoyed this wine. For the third course we had chicken. It was a little spicy but it was pretty good. It was just a little weird because it had a lot of stuff on it and was a little different than chicken we may order in America. For the fourth course we had a chocolate lava cake and it was definitely one of my top desserts since we have been in Italy. It was warm and when you cut into it the chocolate just flowed out. The two wines we had with the third and fourth course were both red wines, they were both very full, and I was not a huge fan of either of them. I did think the last wine paired well with the chocolate cake because it went really well with the chocolate.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Picture Captions

Picture One: These are the four wines we had at the first winery that I described above. They go in order from left to right going with each course that we had.

Picture Two: This is the first course of the meal which was the truffle with flan.

Picture Three: This is the second course of the meal which was the pasta. This was very good and had a lot of flavors and was one of my favorite pastas I have had.

Picture Four: This is the third course we had which was the chicken. Like a said a little spicy and a little weird but it was alright.

Picture Five: This was the Fourth course the dessert. It was a chocolate lava cake and it was so warm and delicious.

Picture Six: These were the three wines we had at the second winery. From left to right: The first was a sparkling wine and my personal favorite. The second was a white wine that was pretty tasty and went well with the different meats. The third was a red that I personally did not care for and did not think went well with the food.

Picture Seven: These are the different snack items we had with the wines at the second winery. As you can see there were many options to choose from my favorites was the bread with meat on top there were two different meats and I liked both and I also enjoyed the bread that just had olive oil on top.

Thursday

Today I tried out a new restaurant in Orvieto that I had not tried before called Anitca Cantina. Here I tried something from every section of the menu and also tried some things that I have never before tried. The first thing I tried was warm bread with lard on top and they called this “sella.” I had this once before and thought it was very good so I decided to try it again. I loved it and they gave us some extra bread to finish the meat but I preferred the lard with the warm bread. The second thing I tried was tortellacci neri and this was a black pasta stuffed with ricotta and white truffle. It was very different from anything I would normally try but it was so good. At the bottom there was a bunch of olive oil and you could use the bread they gave us to finish off the oil. This was definitely one of the best dishes I have had while being in Orvieto. The next thing I tried was wild boar which is another thing I thought I would never try but it was so good. The last thing was dessert and I tried the “quiche” which was soft cake with ricotta cheese and chocolate. It came out to us warm and it was absolutely delicious. It was very moist and had a lot of flavor. With the meal we paired a red wine. We asked our waitress what would go best with the wild boar and she suggested the house wine. The wine was 80 percent sangiovese and 20 percent merlot and was a 13.5 percent alcohol content. It was a relatively young wine and was made at a vineyard called Palpalazzoni. At first it was not great but once I paired it with the food I actually started to really enjoy it. It went really well with the boar and is the first red wine I have enjoyed. Overall this restaurant was amazing they had wonderful service and the chef even came out and talked to us. On top of all that the food I had was delicious every single course and the wine. I would definitely go back here.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Picture Captions

Picture One: This was the warm bread with lard on top, it was very delicious and the meat had a lot of flavor.

Picture Two: This is the black pasta stuffed with ricotta and white truffle. This is definitely one of the best dishes I have had.

Picture Three: This is the wild boar. I was kind of scared to try this because it is something that is out of the norm but I am so glad I tried it because it was very good and had a lot of flavor to it.

Picture Four: This is the dessert we had which was a soft cake with ricotta cheese. It was warm and very good.

Picture Five: This is the wine we had. It was not very dark and was a young house wine. It was actually pretty good paired with all our food.

Saturday

Today I again tried a new restaurant in Orvieto and again tried something from every section of the menu. The restaurant was called Trattoria De Poggi. The first thing I tried was pudding roasted tomatoes with pecorino mousse. It was a little weird. The tomato pudding thing was very odd but if you spread the pecorino mousse on the bread it was pretty tasty. Not my favorite appetizer but it was alright. The second thing I tried was fresh pasta ombrichelle with spicy tomato sauce and truffle. This was my favorite part of the meal. It was so good. The next thing I tried was the rabbit. I am glad I tried it but I absolutely hated the rabbit. It had a weird texture and just a gross flavor in general, I really did not like it at all. Lastly we tried a caramel cream for dessert. It was a cold cake jello like thing that was alright but I probably would never order again. It had a weird texture and was a little bland. For the wine I tried a white and really enjoyed it. The wine was an Orvieto Classico called Vigneto Torricella. It smelled of apples and pairs to me and tasted like that as well. It paired pretty well with the pasta we had. Overall the restaurant was okay and if I went back I would probably just get the pasta.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Picture Captions

Picture One: This was the rabbit we got. Like I said above I did not like anything about the rabbit.

Picture Two: This was the appetizer which was tomato pudding and pecorino cheese. The tomato thing was weird but the cheese on top of the bread was really good.

Picture Three: This was the caramel cream dessert. It was cold and had a weird texture and was lacking in flavor.

Picture Four: This was the wine we had as you can see it was almost clear. It smelled like pears and apples to me and was a good wine and went well with our pasta.

Not Pictured: The pasta we had is not pictured because I can not seem to find the picture I took of it. It was my favorite part of the meal.

After five short weeks my time in Italy has come to an end, but all that I have learned while being here will always stick with me. The past few weeks have affected the way I see dining in so many different ways. Before this trip I always ate fast and did not really sit down and enjoy my food or my company at all. Being in Italy made me realize that sitting down and taking your time and really enjoying the people you are with is much more enjoyable than rushing through at a restaurant like we do back home. I learned that rushing is actually not really an option here in Italy at all. Look around especially in a small town like Orvieto there is no fast food where as in America there is a fast food restaurant everywhere you look. Another one of the things I learned while in Italy about how they consume food is not really snacking at all and how late they eat. When I first came to Italy I would always get hungry around 5 or 6 in the evening but then realize that nothing was open yet, and at first to me it was really weird because in America you basically have access to food and snacks whenever you want. I did however get used to it and actually really enjoyed eating later in the evening with no snacks except maybe the occasional gelato before dinner. Wait gelato before dinner?? This is also something that was so weird to me at first. At home I would prefer to eat my ice cream after dinner, but in Italy a lot of the time they will eat gelato before dinner. Actually there were a couple times when I first got to Orvieto and the gelato shops were closing when I was finally done with my dinner. The last big thing that really stood out to me is freshness. Fresh is really better in Italy and I noticed how much it really meant to them the first day I was there. Take a walk through the market and just look at the fruits and veggies, you will not find fruits and veggies that look that good in America. Their food at restaurants especially in small places like Orvieto you can tell is way more fresh compared to the stuff we get at a restaurant in America. These are just the main things that I picked up on while I was in Italy, but there was so much more. I will definitely be taking more time to enjoy my food and really appreciate the food and the company that is with me.

Consumption of wines in Italy compared to in the United States is very very different. Before I came to Italy I had no idea what a good wine was or really anything about wine at all. In Italy though you grow up drinking wine with everyone of your meals. Some kids even get a little wine here and there (mixed with some water). Here in America we see wine as just another alcoholic beverage to get drunk on where as in Italy they see it as something that must go with every meal. They use it to make their food taste better and to cleanse their palate after eating. They use wine for the right reasons in Italy and after learning so much about it I will definitely be ordering wine when I go out to eat at a fancier dinner in the US.

I now have a completely different view on a lot of things after my time in Italy and a lot of that has to do with my Food and Wine class. I am so glad I was able to take this class because I was able to learn so much and I was also able to teach some things to my friends that did not take the class. Without the food and wine class I would not have known so many things about why Italians eat the way they do. When going to a restaurant in the first week I probably would have shown up at 5, but since I was in the food and wine class I new better. The class taught me so many different things and really helped me understand things better when I would go out to eat.

My absolute favorite things about the food and wine class was all the different experiences we had getting to go to different wineries and restaurants. I really learned a lot by going to these different things. Every place we went I was able to learn something new and also try things that I had never tried before. When we went to Christian’s I was able to try all kinds of meats that I would have never tried otherwise. I actually found out that I really like the lard on warm bread and ordered it at a restaurant I went to all because I was able to experience that in class. The olive oil tasting was like something I have never done before and it was a great experience. I also found out that I really like that bread salad they gave us while we were there. Montanucci’s was probably my favorite thing to see It thought it was so cool to see how the pastry chef cooked all those dishes and how passionate he really was about the place. The pasta and pizza making was really cool because I had never made fresh pasta or pizza before that and it was cool to be able to experience that while I was in Italy. I also really enjoyed the two wineries we went to. I thought it was really cool to be able to walk through the vineyards and learn about the different wines that they produce. I also really enjoyed the four course meal they served us. Overall I would learned so much from all the things we did in the class and I would definitely take it again if I had the chance.

Some of my favorite meals and desserts while I was in Italy

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•