The word Italy strikes two bells to our mind, Mafia and Food. And one can’t just go to Italy and not taste the delicious and taste rich food cuisines offered by the Italians. Asian’s especially finding the food a bit of different nature and cooking style, but once in the country they just storm on the menu. And wine.. ahhahaha…
Here I am not describing the Italian food, but way of consuming Italian food.!!
The primary difference between Indian and Italian food is that “We eat to live, and they live to eat.”
We eat for nutrition and health, whereas they eat for taste, enjoyment and experience. They are not bothered about how much time they savour for eating and it is common that the eating may get extended up to 4 to 5 hours at stretch.
(P.N Italian government has authorised a compulsory break of 2 hours between 11 am to 4pm for employees dedicated for eating.)
A single course meal is not their thing, not even for breakfast. Hence you may have to go through a ritual of antipasti, soups, breads and pizzas followed by pasta and meat. The next round contains rice dishes and vegetables and fruits. And finally ice cream. Throughout the meal, you are served with Red wine (On special occasions white wine or champagnes.) The ceremony ends with Tea.
This is general outline of Italian meal relished by majority Italians, Spaniards and Romans.
Culture of Italy doesn’t end with food, but is extended to Wine. Everyone drinks wine. But the heritage lies in wine tasting. And the wine tasting parties are much in common in the country side. It is assumed that dinner without wine is a waste. (Other alcohol is beer which is also associated with football.)
What are we waiting for, the food tastes as delicious as it sounds. So ‘permet de manger’ as they say…. Let’s eat.
-Vibhav Galadagekar
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