Introvert Abroad
Pushing Myself to Experience the World
11/20/2018 26 Comments Food for ThoughtOne of the best things to take with you abroad is an open mind. Your world expands like crazy when you spend time here, both physically and mentally. New ways of thinking and doing things are constantly being presented to you, and it’s this wonderful mix of exciting and confusing. One of the new things that I’ve been the most excited about here is the food. I’m not just talking Italian food though. I’ve also had some great food experiences in several other countries! I don’t think I ever actually pictured myself eating bratwurst in Germany or fondue in Switzerland, but I definitely did those things! So, I thought it’d be really cool to just kind of talk through all of my food related thoughts while in Italy. I mean, maybe not all of them. I think about food a lot. I do want to preface this by saying that I’m not some kind of culinary connoisseur, or even really an adventurous eater. For example, poke bowls taste good to me, but I just can’t do the texture of raw fish, so I don’t eat them! I will, however, try most things at least once. (Hence, me knowing that poke bowls are good.) That being said, I haven’t made it my mission to try local or famous dishes every time that I go somewhere new. I might break some food lovers’ hearts when I say this, but sometimes it’s just cheaper and easier to buy a sandwich and fries. I do admire people who spend the time and effort to research, seek out, and spend money on interesting things to eat. Everybody’s different, and honestly, my food curiosity has mostly been settled with the tame foods that I’ve happened upon. So on to the good stuff. During my first week, I took a travel course that served as a quick cultural and historical introduction to Italy. We got to see lots of gardens, monuments, and artwork, but some of my favorite parts of the travel week was the food. We were fed incredibly well. My first moment of culture shock was arriving to Rome at 7am, ready for a heavy breakfast to give me energy to try to stay awake and fight jet leg. However, I soon found out that Italian breakfast is just a cappuccino and some kind of pastry. And that’s it. No hearty breakfast for me. This was a bummer at the time, but now that I can have coffee and fresh chocolate croissants for breakfast all the time, it’s kind of cool with me. Anyway, what really got me were the dinners they had for us. We got bruschetta to open almost every dinner that we had, and we always had dessert. It was really interesting to see how differently a full dinner is served compared to an American one. I’d never had so many different kinds of pasta in one week. And they always made sure to try to add something local based on where we were for the day. Maybe a local sauce for the pasta or a special seasonal dessert or freshly caught seafood from the beach. I personally felt like I was living like a queen, but after arriving in Florence and living life for a while, I realized that Italians just care so much more about the quality of their food. A ton of restaurants or trattorias here in Florence have some of the same caliber food, but just different kinds. It’s crazy to me that I accidentally walked past like 4 Michelin-starred restaurants in my time in Italy. I don’t think I’ve ever done that just being around the places that I live at home. I feel like Italians are so much more particular about their food. Like, our priorities are so different. Americans value convenience over everything else, but Italians really value quality so much more. And I’ll be honest, I still need a lot of help really understanding the specifics of Italian meals, but from what I’ve gathered there’s aperitivo, antipasti, primi, secondi, and other small things like salad and dessert. And I guess if you’re used to eating full course meals, then maybe this seems relatively normal to you. I think the only major differences are the fact that salad is one of the last things instead of first and the fact that they don’t really mix foods. You want steak? Ok, here is a plate of steak. No potatoes or veggies on the side. You asked for meat, here is meat. You want pasta? Here is a plate of noodles and sauce. You get the gist. That, and I feel like there’s a lot more to aperitivo than just “appetizers”. Aperitivo is like a full experience. Like, you go out to aperitivo with your friends somewhere, have a drink, eat some small things, and then you go home to dinner. This is pretty popular for younger people because they can go out and socialize with their friends for aperitivo, and still be home for dinner. I’m sure some of you have parents that always want you home for dinner at a certain time, well Italians are the next level version of that. Going out to aperitivo was actually something that I recently completed on my Short List of Things to Do Before I Leave Florence. I went to Kitsch Deux, which is known for its “apericena”. So like, aperitivo, but the dishes are much bigger/heartier, so it’s basically just eating dinner. They also have classic aperitivo drinks that apparently stimulate appetite. And! They also have drinks you have after your meal called digestivo to, you guessed it, help you digest your dinner. These fun food things that are new to non-Italians are really cool, but you can’t forget that there are also many rules. Yes, rules. I’m pretty sure food mentality is a free for all for Americans. Do we eat breakfast foods at 9am, 1pm, 7pm, and 3am? Yes? Definitely! Are you telling me you haven’t been to Waffle House with your friends at 1:30am eating those delicious hash browns? Do we eat a plate of fries for dinner? Um, you bet. Everything can be delivered and made in 10 minutes in the US. Fast food is a truly thriving industry. Italy? They have things like, cappuccinos are only for breakfast. You eat pastries for breakfast and nothing else. Anything else is advertised as “American breakfast”. You eat dinner at like 8pm and you stay for probably 3 hours, minimum. There are food classifications like IGP and DOP or DOCG to guarantee their origin. There’s just so much to it that’s common knowledge for everyone in Italy! The fact that Italians will sit down for 4 hours to have dinner somewhere and split the bill evenly and have so many rules about food is wild, but also pretty admirable. It’s cool that they care so much, and it really shows in their dishes. Italians are world known for having the best food! I’ve even talked to other Europeans who agree. Airbnb host from the Netherlands? “Oh, Italians have the best food. Easily.” Austrian supervisor at work? “Yes, Italy definitely has the best food. Very good stuff.” I will say, I think one of the most interesting things about going abroad and figuring out what to eat is the fact that we’re forced to try new things. A lot of people’s favorite brands or food items just aren’t available here, and if they are, they’re much more expensive. I’ve heard of several people shelling out $6 for a small jar of peanut butter while here. It took me like a month to find some cilantro and black beans, and I definitely bought like 4 cans of beans at once. But not having easy access to familiar things really forces you out of your shell, which is a good thing! Eating here has definitely been very different. It’s an entire experience on its own! I feel like I have a new appreciation for food after having lived in a country that values it so much. At Clemson, I mostly think of food as a chore. I’m busy, but I have to make time to eat something so I’ll survive. Almost like, “Ugh, I really have to get this work done, but I have to go take out the trash.” That’s kind of how I see meals sometimes. That, or I eat junk food for fun/socially. Now I kind of like taking the time to sit down and cook myself a proper meal, or have a dinner night with my roommates and split the grocery bill, or going out for 4 hours just to eat dinner. It’s a really nice feeling to care so much about something so prevalent in our everyday lives. That, and I’m hoping I can go back to the US and flex on all of my friends with my new pasta skills.
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