Bon Appetit!

Bon Appetit!

Italy may be home to

some of the oldest history in all of Europe, but I have to admit, what I was most excited for was the food!

Whether Elizabeth Gilbert is writing about her falling in love with the pasta and gelato, Papa John is bragging about his pizza, or Lady and the Tramp are sharing a dish of spaghetti, we have been raised as an American culture to associate Italy with authentic cuisine. Therefore, my goal of the weekend was to have the most delicious pasta, pizza, and whatever else I could find in Rome or Florence, in my opinion, the ultimate tourist attraction.

As usual, on the train to Florence I was preparing for the weekend by reading the “Let’s Go: Western Europe” travel book. The first subject I flipped to (rather than the sites, museums, or transportation) was the Food section. There I found out that Florence is known for bruschetta and gelato… and considering I find anything with tomatoes to be amazing and, well, gelato speaks for itself, I was even more excited for our arrival.

Florence has it all figured out: plant four gelaterias on every block and everyone is bound to get business- or at least that’s how it seemed. As soon as we stepped out of the train station we bee-lined to the gelateria across the street only to find it packed with the every other tourist from the train station. Clearly we are pretty obvious about our desires in Italy, because everything was written in English at each gelateria, and we never came across a non-English speaking worker. This solidified the fact that the Duomo, Academia, and Roman ruins weren’t the only tourist attractions Italy has to offer.

Then for dinner we put all of Italy’s, and especially Florence’s, traditional cuisine to the test. First (and what I still think of as the best) thing for me to eat (after the gelato,

which is in a league of its own) was Bruschetta al Pomodoro (grilled bread soaked in oil and garlic topped with tomatoes and basil). The tomatoes were bright red, and the entire combination of bread, olive oil, and tomatoes tasted fresher than I could have imagined. No wonder tourists craved Italian cuisine and the media has inflated these historical traditions- it was amazing! I savored every piece of tomato in hopes to make the appetizer last long enough until my dinner came.

Needless to say I indulged in gelato twice a day four days straight (literally) and had bruschetta with every dinner, and I don’t regret a single bite. But I will say, that the hype of the Italian dishes was kind of crazy, and really made me wonder how Italy (specifically Florence) became known for its gelaterias and bruschetta dishes. I found out that although gelato is adored and enjoyed throughout Europe, it is especially famous in Florence because the inventor of the desert, the Buontalenti family, is Florentine. Therefore, the Florentines take this history very seriously and claim the delicacy as their own- proven by the abundance of gelaterias throughout the city.

And although it may seem obvious, pasta and tomatoes are a cultural norm for Italians because of their geography and history. It used to be that the Italians only ate and produced according to the resources they had access to and also according to their funds. Pasta was an inexpensive dish that could be eaten with meat in order to appease an appetite without spending a fortune on the meal. The olives and tomatoes that are present in almost every dish are so ripe and fresh because they grow in the perfectly in the Italian climate- therefore the locals always have access to these ingredients. It is because of the spread by word of mouth, media, and photography that these traditions have spread globally and made Italy an eating capital of the world. So while I found the David to be extraordinary and the views from the Duomo breathtaking; it is the authentic Flortine cuisine that brought me to Italy. After seven weeks of travel I have definitely learned that it’s not just monuments, museums, and landscapes that will bring me to a country- but also the food and deserts!