Life in Italy really is all about the food. I have found out that some people come to Italy just to taste the food here, others take class here so that they can recreate the same gustatory experience on their own, and those studying abroad here are willing to gain weight as a result of their fondness for it.
My life in Italy is all about the food, too. . . just not necessarily in the ways I just listed. Let me share with you what my pallet experiences in Italy that makes my stay in Florence equally as food-based, even if different. Granted, I have already shared with you my grumbles about the expense of food, the wonderfulness of the Italian gelato, and the crime of overly-priced peanut butter. But, following with the nature of the expression (life in Italy is all about the food), I have still MORE to tell!
During the first week that I was in Florence, one of my friends came up with the brilliant idea that we ought to host “potluck nights” every Tuesday evening. Tuesday potlucks have come and gone since the birth of that idea, and with the passing of each week, the level of success increases. In fact, we have taken it upon ourselves to perfect the art of the potluck by establishing thematic ideas and even organizing a facebook group to coordinate the weekly event. In fact, every Tuesday is such a huge success that I can’t walk into a classroom on Tuesdays without at least three different people asking me if I am going to be at “Potluck” that night. People RAVE about the selection of food and always look forward to talking with new people.
Let’s just say that if you’re not at “Potluck”. . . you’re square. One week we stuffed twenty-nine girls into the hosting apartment! We extend the invitation to anyone, and even have been so fortunate as to get natives at the dinner, and students from other American schools in Florence. This past week, we arranged an Asian Fusion night. . . people liked the food so much that leftovers were non-existent!
I can now add Wednesday nights to my weekly of food experiences; a church that is reputed to be the hub for “Americans in Florence,” hosts dinners on Wednesday nights that are open to the study abroad community. For students who just want to come and eat, the cost for fun and admission is 5 euros. My friends and I, being the resourceful college students that we are, found out that if we volunteer to cook the meal, we can eat for free! Last week’s menu featured chili, and this week was a straight-up American barbeque.
So, not your typical Italian food experience; I make my own gnocchi that I can get at the grocery store for a euro, I eat Asian fusion food with my colleagues, and I make grill hamburgers with my friends in a church’s basement kitchen on Wednesday nights.
Yet, even if it is not typical, there is an aspect beyond food that is common between my experiences and those of the more traditional variety: my meals are truly enriched by the people with whom I share my meal. Tonight, for instance, I had the pleasure of talking to a young man, Keith, about the nature of religion and how people do or do not incorporate it into their daily lives. Last night, I had the opportunity to talk to some girl friends, over post-dinner glasses of wine, about the importance of not being anxious about the paths our lives our taking.
Perhaps this aspect of food-consumption is one of the main reasons for the importance of food cross-culturally. Granted, food in necessary for life. . . and, yet, would food have as much importance if we never had anyone with whom we could share its gustatory goodness?
Moral of the story: make your life about food, and therefore people, and you might just save 5 euros. With those five euros, you can allow yourself to splurge on purchasing expensive peanut butter so that you can make another amazing meal (something as simple as peanut butter and celery, or as amazing as a stir fry with peanut sauce) so that you start the process all over again. . . and enjoy people even more, and get even MORE out of life.
Make life all about food, my friends!
Love you all,
Brandi
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