ITALY - THE TASTE OF LIFE
by Iana Roginska
What would you like to see from your window?
Fountain, which became famous thanks to Fellini or a small cosy garden on the
island? Well, Italians have a huge choice - but the fact is that they are
looking on what they build. Or I would better ask – what would you like to see on
your lunch plate? Pasta, mozzarella, tiramisu? Everyone has its own taste, but
personally me, I prefer to start from the desert!
Food in Italy is not just eating - it is a
ritual, where everything has its meaning. Where, in which order, in what
mood... My personal advice: once in Italy choose a restaurant or
trattoria where there are more locals. Why would a chef cook well for those
"barbarians", who without any reason order cappuccino for dinner (not
for breakfast) and eat pasta as a garner for meat?!
For Italians the quality of food is a kind of
national, cultural and even political question. A politician that once was
insecure to tell something unpleasant about national cuisine, lost his
electorate. Because here the cooking book is a kind of honourable literature.
The recipes here are saved as endangered animals.
If you want to understand Italy it is not
enough just to see Uficci gallery, Coliseum and La Scala - you have to eat with
an Italian!
That truth I understood after a dinner with old
Sicilian Don. Answering your question - "Don" doesn't mean Mafioso,
it is just a polite appeal to the person.
I got acquainted with Don Marcello during the
eleven hours train trip from Rome to Palermo. Our conversation
started from his two questions:
- How do you like Sicily? and
- How do you like Sicilian men? (despite the
fact, that he was the first Sicilian man I met at that time!!)
Our conversation was so exiting, that I didn't
mention how the time flew, and when the trip came to the end, there were so
many things I wanted to ask him (I think he could feel it:)))) and he invited
me to have a dinner together and to continue our conversation.
He took me to the local trattoria - cosy,
little noisy and extremely charming, taking me in my mind to a favourite
Italian black and white movie "Uonimi, che mascalzoni!", watch it if
you have time and you'll understand me!
So, the first dish was mozzarella with tomatoes
and basil. Mozzarella.....sounds like
music moza....rella...This cheese
stands in line with such worldwide known visiting cards of Italy as Coliseum,
Rome and pizza. Its skin must be smooth, shiny and soft inside. When you cut mozzarella
there must be a small amount of fluid, which indicates its freshness. The second
dish was.....and here I had problems. What to choose - pasta or risotto? Two
number one dishes and none of them want to give its garland. But, as Giuseppe
Garibaldi said: "Pasta will unite Italy", I decided to support
his thesis and to order pasta:))) Delicate creamy taste of pasta with ham,
basil and parmesan cheese....yes, there are things on a planet to live for!
And finally desert. As Don Marcello told me, Sicily is a confectionery of Italy. Canolli, ice-cream, which
you can drink through a straw, eat with a spoon or to spread it on a brioche.
And finally a flowering of marzipan culture - you take a small sheep in your
arms and it happens to be edible!
The final point on my menu is coffee. No more than
1 Euro per cup of coffee, drunk at the bar, is a rule that unites Italy no worse
than pasta!
Sitting there on a terrace after ten days of
travelling around Italy and
watching people I understood that wherever you go in Italy - you will feel the taste of
life. And even the bravest desires in this country can be realized. Ah, even
Rafaella Carra sings on the radio - "if your love left you - find another
one, what’s the problem?!"
