Italian food is no joke!

   All Italians I have met can all agree on one thing: Pasta needs to cook for about 12 minutes with exactly a handful of salt, that is put in AFTER the water is boiling…otherwise it is just shit!

 

   You will quickly experience that the Italian attitude, when it comes to food, is nothing less than religious. They can spend hours telling stories of amazing food they have experienced. It is stories that becomes legends, and soon you will find your self intrigued by the tale of a taste of a specific dish, that you simply must try one day. You have to.

   Every city of Italy has one store that has the best of something, if you ask the locals. So it matters where you buy stuff, because only the best is good enough. You can't just go by all of your stuff in the supermarket! And this is why butchers can still survive here – because Italians don’t mind going three or four places to get their groceries. One guy has the best fruit, another guy has the best cheese, a third guy has the best meat.

  The food therefore, becomes not only a matter of getting full, it becomes an experience. And almost everyone has a grandmother who’s lasagna or gnocchi can make their eyes go all dreamy, when they tell about it. Just try asking a guy from Pescara what “arrosticini” is, and he will tell you about the most amazing lamb in the world. And he will know exactly where to get to get the best ones.

   I once witnessed a guy telling an Italian that he doesn't really like pasta. The Italian guy looked at him like he was a ghost. According to Italians, if you haven't tried good pasta, you must have lived in a cage or in prison all of your live. They simply cannot imagine.

   This blog is not long enough to cover all of the different types of Italian specialties but there is, in my opinion a few general reasons why the Italian cuisine is among the best in the world. (If Italians read this blog – yes, I mean THE best in the world) One of them is the fact that they take their time. The concept of “Sunday’s pasta” is a great example of this. Italians can spend an entire Sunday preparing for that one delicious meal in the evening, by making pasta from scratch and shape it into Bucatini, Capellini, Fusili, Pelizzoni or the classic Spaghetti (which, I admit, I though was the only kind of pasta there was) If you ever get the chance to see Italians make pasta, you will be amazed of the technique in which they roll and shape and design the pasta – every. Single. Little. Piece of Pasta that is! Every bite is made by hand. With love. I almost felt too intimidated to have seconds, the first time I tried this homemade pasta delight. I mean, the pasta I normally have (Italians skip the next part) is sloppy spaghetti with ketchup, or meat sauce made from a powder product if things get wild. But luckily the Italian women live to get you full, and rarely take "no, Grazie" for an answer when it comes to eating.

   Another reason why the Italian cuisine is so great is the fact that it is usually cooked with the concept of: “Less is more”. Although this does not apply the use of olive oil! But in general the Italians somehow manage to turn a few ingredients into something amazing. Just try the tomato-sauce. But what is amazing is that each area of Italy has its own specialties. From the pizzas (or pizze) in Naples to the different kind of fish near the coasts to where I am now, in the central Italy where the specialty is the Pecorino Cheese ( which I admit, I could live off!). There is only one way to explore the Italian food – travel in Italy! The more I experience Italy and try the different types of food - and don't even get me started on the deserts - the more I start to recognize why stories should be told about the amazing cuisine of Italy.


Next off: How to make friends in Italy
 

  

No need for happy pills when living in Rome

   One thing comes to mind when you are standing in the footsteps of the great Romans: Those guys must have been huge!

© Lorenzo Biagi

 
   On the ground is big shiny stones. Around you is great monuments and before you lay the amazing ruins of the magnificent Colosseo, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. You can almost feel the nerves that once surrounded this building, where thousands of men fought for their lives. And today, what is left of this time still stands here in Rome as a great reminder of how powerful the roman empire once was.

   It is hard to believe though, when you are in Rome today, that these super friendly and smiling people are the direct lifeline from the men and woman that once powered over a good third of the world. From Syria in the far east, to Britain in the north and all of Spain and Portugal, including the coastline of the Mediterranean sea, the Romans had set their marks. Today I am met with smiling faces, loving gestures and curious souls as I am walking through the streets of Rome. Thus, concluding the one and probably most significant cultural difference between the Scandinavians and the Italians: You guys smile at strangers!

    Being from a country with the highest number of people with a depression – (seriously in Denmark we are eating those happy pills like they were tic-tacs) - this is a great deal to me. Usually I am not met with people who has the extra energy to smile at other people. And if they do, they are usually either crazy, or stealing from you. Or both.
   Once we were a great nation of bloodthirsty Vikings, that traveled in the cold north to rape and kill and steal on the way (back then we were not so depressed) Today we are a nation of people with the highest level of personal depth in the world – that is four times as much as the Italians by the way. A depth that is almost impossible to get rid of as we also have the highest level of taxes in the world, and the lowest productivity level in the world. (And people ask me why I run away.) Hence: we don't smile for nothing.

  So being a worn out Viking, I am questioning the differences between us Scandinavians and Italians. And here is a few reasons why I thing you guys seem happier than us: Obviously the weather. Have you even seen rain and stormy weather? Second, you have the high level of delicacy food – I am like a child in a candy-store walking though the green section of the supermarket. Those peppers, those big apples, those juicy oranges, it’s incredible! But I think most of all, the reason why you guys are a smiling nation, is because of how highly valued family is here. For whatever reason, you guys value your family, help each other out, and have a hard time moving out from home. Denmark is the country in Europe (we win again) where fewest children under 18 still live at home. In Italy 32 % of men still live at home when they turn 25. In Denmark that’s 2 %.

But enough of statistics. It’s time to continue on the journey in Italy. Next: The secrets of Italian food   
   

A gesture to the land of gestures

   This is bound to be either a love story, or a story of unattainable love.

   These days I am packing my bags in order to travel to the land that is, on the one side the very essence of paradise, but on the other side a melting disaster of economics and politics. Italy is the naughty little brother of Europe. The one, that is full of scandals and corruptions but also the one that probably has the most fun. Where do you begin to explore a country like this?

   My journey has actually begun two years ago, when I made acquaintance, and immediate cultural clash with an Italian. Such naive approach to life. Such romantic ideals. Listening to his experiences, was like taking the journey of life, education and personal growth and dip it all in honey. I all of a sudden understood why a country in such bad shape, can still manage to have a population of people, with such great appetite for life. It is truly admirable. And a fascinating paradox.
   In order to compare - here is my normality as a Dane: Life is serious, and full of routines and tight schedules. You show up at the agreed time, or you show no respect. You work hard, in order to work harder. We are a land of unhappy and lonely people, that are all trying to live up to the ideal of "The happiest country in the world". Except that our definition of happiness, is usually propagated in expensive interior, polished appearance, two kids, two cars and financial freedom, that will allow us to, once a year travel to a different warmer country and agree that they are doing it all wrong.

   So it is with my baggage of danish skepticism and two agendas in mind, that I am going to explore this country:
One - I want to find out how the Italians are looking at the future prospects of the country. As far as I understand, there is a general romantic idea that the country will once again bloom. Despite the fact that there is more than 40 percent unemployment among young people and substantial infrastructural crisis.
Two - I want to explore the things that, despite of these problems, manage to make Italy the richest cultural country in the world. Based on architecture, monuments, music and of course food..ooh the food, there is nothing like Italy. "Italian food is the only thing worth getting fat for", I was once told, and I can only agree. Italy has the most elegant approach to cooking, and in my opinion even better than the french. Less is more in the classical Italian kitchen, but some how this still results in an explosion of taste. So it is by these great cultural manifestations that I will let my heart get lost and I can only hope that Italy will love me back.

Stay tuned for the first stop: The great Roman empire! No need for happy pills when living in Rome