The Italia Blogs: Feeding the Spirit

"Food like this feeds your spirit." - Roberto, Rome, Fall 2007

I haven't felt comfortable in Cub Foods since I returned from Italy. It's oversized, over-bright and overwhelming. There are too many choices. I don't see food I'm meant to savor and enjoy. I see processed, flavorless junk.

In Italy, we walked to the store at least every other day to buy mostly fresh, unaltered, whole food (except for the nummy little breakfast cookies: great with cappuccino!). There were about 5 shopping carts - most shoppers only needed a basket. Packaging was simple. Rather than aisle upon aisle of cookies, crackers, and snacks, the meat, produce, and dairy departments take center stage. If you need a plastic bag to bring your purchases home in, you pay .05 Eurocents – because why wouldn’t you bring your own bag? You'll only need one, after all.

Away from my exercise routine and having fully indulged in this culture of culinary pleasures (ask me about Le Caseline, if you think you can stand it), I came home no heavier than when I left. Likely because you walk everywhere: "Rome has history to GIVE away." But secondly, when every item on the table is so beautiful, so simple and fresh, a few bites satisfy completely: marinated olives, roasted pork, crispy-soft ciabatta, fresh cheeses. (We won't even talk about Nadia's homemade melanzana parmigiana - heaven!) Dinner is to be lingered over for an hour or two, or at least until the wine is gone. Dessert is often fresh fruit; or if not, a short after-dinner stroll leads you to at least ten gelaterie, where your 2 oz. coppetta di gelato and your 2 oz shot of impossibly strong espresso seems plenty. Our American salad plate seemed to be the largest plate to be found in Italy – the spoons, the cups, even the refrigerators are smaller. Why is everything American so LARGE?

I felt full and beautiful in Italy. The word luscious comes to mind; whether I refer to myself or the food, I can't say. I was expected to indulge and enjoy, and if I didn't weigh a perfect 125# for it, then I had all the more beauty to carry: evidence of my ability to enjoy all that life has to offer. How I wish I could have carried that feeling home with me, to the land of the 90#, shapeless American ideal.

I find myself migrating towards the smaller, organically-geared stores these days: Fresh & Natural Foods, Whole Foods, Mississippi Market. I'm tired of eating high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, antibiotics and hormones. The clean flavors and the bit of extra money I spend only help me enjoy it more. And when I find a special treat, like the green pistachio nougat we found in a little Assisian pasticceria or the dark chocolate covered ginger and lobster ravioli I found at Trader Joe's today, I buy it no matter what my scale said that morning as I remember another piece of Roberto's Italian wisdom:

"You should enjoy this; you do not know when you will be here again."