Couple of Crumbs (Summer Lovin': Italians taught me how to eat well.)

LatteLove is a lady who loves to cook, travel, blog, style, and read - and daydreams about someday writing full-time. This summer she spent a month near Milan Italy this summer while her husband was completing a summer internship there and she loved learning about Italian food ethic.

After gorging on some serious eats while in Milan this summer, I fell in love all over again with Italian food. After coming home, I realized that I wanted to really capture what I loved about the ritual of meal times - not just the actual food (although it was incredible), but the ethic of it. Mealtimes in Italy were an experience I won’t soon forget.

Eating Seasonal

The Italians we ate with only served things that were fresh and in season. Zucchini, tomatoes, and cantaloupe were ripe and available in the local markets, so we ate them nearly every day. Grapes, nectarines and plums were served after almost every meal. Cool foods were eaten for dinner as most Italians don’t have the luxury of central air and it gets HOT. We also ate a lot of seafood, which is more commonly served in the summer.

I loved the natural emphasis on seasonal and local, but it was interesting that many families wouldn’t even consider making a non-seasonal dish on a whim. I had told our host wife early on that I really loved risotto, which is traditionally a winter dish. She made it for my last meal there, but everyone made a comment about how strange it was to eat risotto in the summer and how they would have never served it if I wasn’t there.

Keeping it Fresh

I never once saw a boxed or packaged food in any of the homes we visited. No freezer meals, boxed mixes, packaged snacks. All the meals consisted of simple dishes made with simple ingredients, that were easily identified and usually purchased within a couple days of consumption. It must have been because of this that we didn’t come home from Italy with any extra weight! Despite how much they filled us, we never felt sick or overloaded.

Being Present

One reason Italians do hospitality well is they prepare as much as possible ahead of time. The matrons of the house always had beautiful spreads…but they were also always present at the table while we enjoyed them. There was a ton of advance preparation – from arranging antipasti trays with meats and cheeses, cutting food ahead of time, and even pre-cooking the meat dishes and just reheating, or serving them at room temperature. I don’t know where they learned to manage their time like that – when I have company for dinner I rarely sit down for more than two minutes the entire meal!

No Rush

Another of my favorite mealtime traditions Italy was the length of meals. Typically a meal would involve 5-6 courses. Antipasti - usually bruschetta or tampenade, cheeses, salami, olives. Then the pasta course(primi), followed by a meat course (secondi). A green salad was generally served after the meat, then cheese. Finally a sweet dessert and fruit.

We always finished dinner of with espresso or alcohol, (or both)! Even though Italians don’t eat slowly, they make their mealtimes last and spend a lot of time chatting and connecting. We loved our times of fellowship over meals maybe more than any other experience we had in Italy.

Wasting Not

I picked up a great Italian food custom, when on my first day eating with a family I did the scarpetta - which is an expression used to describe the act of wiping your plate clean with a piece of bread. (The word literally means ‘little shoe’) Everyone was so proud that I was eating like the Italians!

It was pretty common for everyone to eat their fill and the hostess to serve the remainders to whoever she thought needed some more there. There were a few night where we ate far more than we ever thought possible. The Italians don’t believe in leftovers. If it’s on the table, someone must still need it. Despite how much we felt we ate, neither of us gained weight in Italy — which may just prove the freshness and health of the basic ingredients used for every recipe.

I’m excited to host a few dinner parties this year with friends and employ some of the lessons learned from our Italian friends. Buying fresh, local and simple ingredients, prepping ahead of time, paying attention to aesthetics, and then letting the food simply play a part in a night in the company of friends.