Gastronomy

While in Spain I mostly ate with my host families and only went out to have an expensive meal a few times. And really, I was fine with this because I’m far from being a foodie. Hand me a chorizo bocadillo and a caña and I’m a happy camper. But my how things have changed in Italy mostly because I’ve always had a weakness for Italian food and partly because I ended up spending less in Spain than I thought I would. I haven’t bothered calculating it yet but I’m almost positive that I am spending more on food per day then for the room. And oh wow, the food. After a rather inauspicious beginning in Rome with a rather meh but pricey 30 euro lunch, we have had some vastly improved meals in Tuscany. A couple of dishes bear note as I have never had them before. There was the fantastic lunch in Siena with a plate of pici, which is a thick almost udon-like spaghetti noodle, with this amazing..um, brownish meaty sauce (yes I’m sorry, the description sucks. No idea what was in it). And there was a bowl of ribollita in a cafeteria which is some sort of hearty winter stew made with bread and vegetables. I’m haven’t figured out how the locals can chow down both the primi and secondi plates so easily because I’m usually near the bursting point after finishing up.

Oh, and the gelato! I thought the pistachio at the place down the street from my apartment in the States was good but this stuff is exactly 26.43 times better. And finally, since I like to wrap things up on a negative note, my only complaint is the pizza. I’d take a slice of Round Table over the stuff I’ve had here any day (see? Not a foodie).