How We Ate

     I should include a post on meals, as eating in Italy is very different from eating in the states.  VBT asks if there are food restrictions so they can send this information on to the guides.  I have allergies to seafood.  I also have issues with gluten - too much and I get sick.  I could avoid the seafood, but how was I going to avoid gluten in a pasta rich country?  I did tell VBT about the seafood allergies, as this could land me in a hospital if I had any seafood.  The gluten issue I kept to myself.

     My first meal in Italy was gluten free.  I was handed a menu at my first masseria.  I wondered if I would have to order all the courses, so I asked, and was told I could order  what I wanted. I found some ravioli made from spelt - a gluten free grain.  What I did not know, but would later learn, was that spelt has been used in Italy from ancient times, and I had no problems finding spelt items throughout my trip.    So there was one problem solved.

     Eggplant - I have never had eggplant stateside that appealed to me. That first ravioli, mentioned above, was made with eggplant, and it was so good!  In fact, I would have eggplant on almost a daily basis, whether I wanted it or not, and it was always excellent.  It is making me rethink eggplant in general.

    Our first masseria had an excellent restaurant.

This was the savory dessert, a cheese mousse with prosciutto.  I prefer savory over sweet.
It was evening, and this was the best lighting I could get.

Our restaurant at the first masseria

 

 Some of our meals were paid for by VBT.  Here we would gather as a group for four-course meals that started at 8 pm and lasted until 10 pm!  Not our accustomed eating routine!



An antipasto dish - the first course.

I am sitting next to Gigi, one our guides.

Dessert.  While I love chocolate, this was just too sweet for me!  I stopped after one bite.

     With the beautiful, and filling, dinners we were having, I asked Gigi, one of out guides, if four courses was typical in the average Italian family.  For big family get togethers, and holidays, it is typical.  But for every day, a two-course meal was the usual fare.

       The four course lunches and dinners were something our entire group had to get used to.  The portions are small, which helped, but none of us could completely finish a course, let alone four!  I would have been happy with just the antipasto course, which usually had small finger foods.  But then we would get a pasta course, a meat course, and finally dessert.

      While I look like I eat cupcakes all day, I actually eat very little, and have no hunger pangs due to a thyroid problem.  If I was not eating with my group or being prompted by my leaders to snack, I could have gone all day without food.

       I would eat breakfast and found that adding ricotta cheese to my menu along with my boiled eggs was something I could get used to stateside. Breakfast also included fruit.  Riding a bike for long distances requires carbs in all forms, and that includes grain.  I found these delightful chocolate filled croissants....chock full of gluten, so I had to limit those babies!  They were soooo yummy!

      The best food I had was at Armando's masseria, where his wife, Rosalba, rules her kitchen with a loving but firm hand.

At first I thought this was spinach, but later learned it was a combination of different greens from
Rosalba's garden cooked and combined with sheep's cheese.  Everything on the plate was edible.  This item
was the best thing I ate in all of Italy.  Rosalba really knows how to cook delicious food.

 

   One night, in Ostuni, we went to a restaurant owned by a woman named Christina.  The place was gorgeous, but the lighting was dim, so my photos did not turn out.  For our group, Christina would explain each dish.  The antipasto course had at least nine little dishes!  I could have stopped right there!

One of the few pictures of Christina's that actually turned out fairly okay.

     At one point we had a guitarist come and serenade us.  Being Americans, we started singing with him.   At one point I heard Christina tell him, in Italian, to play quietly and to try to tone us down!  I understand more Italian than I can speak.

      At the end of the meal, our guitarist returned with Christina, who was holding two tambourines.  She asked for a musical volunteer.  I am not sure how I got chosen.  She showed me how to beat along as we started to play one of the regional dance numbers, the tarantella!

Ms. Tarentella!

    
    Table settings, a big deal to me, were beautiful.  I like a well set table.

The table setting at our last masseria. It was dusk.

      Pizza - My first pizza was in Otranto.  What I did not realize was the size of the pizza!  I wish I had photographed it.  It was delicious!  As I contemplated how I was going to tackle this thing, I realized I had several days of two hour dinners previously, so I could handle this!  It took me over 90 minutes of careful eating.  Italians, as far as I can tell, don't have doggy bags!  You eat what is placed before you, and you take your time!
      I would have pizza, by the slice, in Rome, and it was not great. It just depends where you go.


    American fast food has come to Italy, but not as much as one would think.  I saw McDonald's, Burger King, and Subway - which has the strongest foothold in Italy.  I did eat at one McDonald's in Lecce.  I also tried a Subway in Rome, and the menu was geared to Italians. It was good!  Clearly the Italians like Subway, because there was a long line. It is always interesting to see how American chains are geared towards other countries.

The only pizza item at a McDonald's was in a Happy Meal.  I know McPizza is available elsewhere
in Europe.  It is made stateside, in Utah!



     Drinking - wine was available at all meals, but since I don't drink, I cannot comment on the quality, though my fellow travelers enjoyed it. 

      We had water bottles given to us with our names on them, and our guides would fill them each day.  I would often add Gatorade powder to mine, as this was a humid climate, and I am from a desert.  I was sweating, a lot.  We all enjoyed the sparkling water we would get at dinner, or "water with gas" as it is often called.  The sparkling water had a distinct taste that sparkling water in American does not have.

       Two things they have in Europe and not in America are Fanta Lemon (Limone), and Schwepps Lemon.  I love the taste of lemon, and these were my Italian addictions!

 

 

      Italian cooking is not what we Americans think it is.  Even Olive Garden, who sends chefs to Italy to train, "Americanizes" its food for our unsophisticated palates.  True Italian food is not laden with sauce, comes in smaller portions, and tastes far better than what we typically have in the United States.

 

     Despite the amount of food I ate, I lost three pounds while in Italy!  Yippee!