— Comments —

A reader writes:

The short video on Italy is very well done and quite accurate except for the olive oil and prosciutto. Most oil we buy in supermarkets is imported inferior quality oil from Greece and Spain. The good oil, of course, is available, but costs quite a bit more. I’m lucky as I get mine directly from a friend in Puglia who has his own production and charges me cost price. As for the prosciutto, same problem – lots is imported from Belgium, Holland and Germany and, which is, I guess ok, but it’s often sold as “made in Italy.”

Bert Perry writes:

I am personally blessed to have a decent restaurant nearby that makes a nice pizza napolitano–that’s the one that’s baked at 850°F, low on the toppings, etc. Definitely not “fix-a-flat.”

That said, another thing to love about Italy is the breads and the treatment of beef.  Look up Bistecca alla Fiorentina (massive T bone cooked over oak with salt, pepper, rosemary, drizzled with olive oil) for a wonderful treat if you’re of the carnivorous bent.  You can even duplicate some of the dry aging they do in your fridge if you commandeer the place for the eggs or butter.

And from a public policy perspective (boring I know), a walk along the Via Appia Antica near the catacombs of San Sebastian in Rome–watch as the bus drives over cobblestones laid 2300 years ago and wonder why roads can’t last five years here.  Then, more exciting, a tour and a look at the work of Bernini up close!

Don Vincenzo writes:

Allow me to recount just two events, and there are more, that I personally witnessed, both similar in nature, and both confirming a point about the importance of not just food, but the right food prepared the right way, to the traditional Italian.

My wife and I were sitting in a restaurant in Florence in the late 90s when  a group of tourists entered. One (or more) of them ordered bistecca alla fiorentina, not unusual in this Tuscan city where the beef is aged on rolling green hills and is a carnivore’s delight. There is a custom – nay, a tradition – that to enjoy the steak to its utmost, it must be eaten rare. When the steak was brought to the customer, she looked at it, and told the waiter that it was too rare, and wanted it cooked a lot more. The waiter obliged, took the plate with the meat and entered the kitchen. A minute later, the chef (he may also have been the proprietor) came out with the still rare steak in his hand, pulled up a chair, and proceeded to elaborate why this meat had to be eaten rare – no ands, ifs, or buts. What made me smile is that I doubt the customer understood two words the chef was saying…but he refused to cook it any more.

Years later in a restaurant near Palermo, my wife and I saw a group of about a half dozen visiting students from Sweden enter the restaurant and choose a table close to us. They then ordered some form of pasta, the cheapest item on the menu. When the pasta dishes arrived, some picked at the plate, but one boy didn’t touch his dish, which must have alarmed the waiter. Moments after he entered the kitchen, out came the chef (owner?) and pulled up a chair next to his wayward boy and begin to lecture him not only the merits of what was on the plate, but the proper way to eat it!

Perhaps some will think the conduct of these two chefs was rude, and in a way it was, but what must also always be understood is that there are people who wish others to enjoy their culinary creation, whether you like it or not. Italians very much believe that food is only important if the right ingredients and atmosphere accompany it, along with a healthy respect for what has been offered. It is not for nothing that the “Slow Food Movement” has been very popular amongst Italians.

One word of advice to readers: if ever you have an opportunity to purchase the prosciutto di San Daniele – not Parma – do so. You will very much thank me for my suggestion, I assure you.

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