Italian Cuisine

Food.  Food in Italy is definitely different. The main difference about meals I feel is the variety. In Verona, most of the meals are pasta and pizza dishes. Also, pizza are full personal pies, and much lighter and fresher than in the USA. In Italy, I can eat a personal pie of pizza and not feel excessively full.  In Italy there is no tipping for anything, but sometimes a service charge of a dollar or two per person is charged, which makes splitting bills very easy. The one thing I miss the most about the USA is the free tap water. In Italy you often get a 1 liter bottle of water that costs 3 dollars. And often you need two bottles for every 3 people. Overall prices seem to be cheaper for pasta and pizza dinner, yet more expensive for things like salad or steak.  Pizza will only run 4-7 dollars, and pasta from 6-9 dollars. Also, in Verona it was extremely hard to find meats or chicken as entrees, which is tough because it’s one of my favorite meals.

The best meal I have had in Italy is lasagna. It is perfect and I haven’t had a bad plate of it at all here. Gelato is extremely cheap here, just about 2-3 euros. My go to desserts have been tiramisu and gelato. Also really cool is the gelato in the shape of a rose from Amorino. They have one in Boston on Newbury Street, but it only costs 3 euros here, and about 6 euros in Boston. Still a great experience if you get the chance!

All food is Italian and I haven’t seen any other type of cultural cuisines like Pad Thai or Quesadillas like they have in Boston.  Because of this, most of the group has gotten very tired of eating pizza and pasta all the time, because some restaurants don’t have much else. However, we are in Sicily for the last 2 weeks of the dialogue, and being here for only a day and a half, the food has much more variety.  I have been able to find grilled chicken dishes here so something tells me Sicilian food will be even better!