Gelato for Every Meal
Meals in Italy, or at least in Mantova, tend to be significantly smaller portions than those in America, and slightly more expensive. I know I could get a burger meal in America for around $9 most places and be reasonably filled by it, but meals here are around $11 or $12 and not quite as filling. The smaller portions isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, as meals in America tend to come in portions that are a bit oversized.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner happen at around the same time in Italy as they do in America, with the exception being that dinner is often an hour or two later, possibly even as late as 9 or 10 o clock. There is also an additional time for eating in between lunch and dinner called aperativo, in which one usually eats finger foods along with an alcoholic beverage or two. Alcohol, usually wine, is commonplace in each meal of the day, except breakfast which almost always is served with coffee.
Italian meals usually all come in the same form: either pasta or pizza served with wine or coffee. It’s hard to argue with that format, because it’s always delicious. Obviously panini and piadine also exist and people have them for lunch pretty regularly, but more often than not, eating in Italy means either pasta or pizza. I have eaten every single meal since I got here in restaurants, and not many have strayed far from that formula. The best meal of which is the one I had today at La Mama’s Pizzeria: Angoli Alla Panna, or pasta shells stuffed with meat and cheese in Alfredo sauce. It was phenomenal. After dinner we almost always go to the gelateria for a one-fifty euro cone of gelato, often times we go after lunch too, since it’s so cheap and the nearest gelateria is right down the street from the dorms.
While eating pasta and pizza all day is starting to make me miss cheeseburgers and new england clam chowder, it’s not exactly something I’m ready to complain about. While most places will serve pasta and pizza without fail, there are so many different ways to prepare both of them that no two restaurants will offer the same experience, so there is always something new to try considering the number of restaurants in the city.
