Glimpses of the food from Italy

Food can give us a glimpse about the lives of the people in a country. Feast our eyes to some of the food from Italy.

I have developed a liking for risotto. Somehow, I like the way the rice is being cooked for the risotto dish. Rice is cooked in broth to a creamy consistency. Interestingly, I like the al dente texture of the rice in risotto. Some of my peers did not like the al dente texture however.

This pizza that was served in one of the restaurants was huge!

In a restaurant nearby Pompeii, I caught a glimpse of the making of pizzas by two pizza chefs.

Black squid ink pasta.

The black squid ink pasta from Cinque Terre has left an impression in me as it was my very first time eating black squid ink pasta. The seafood from Cinque Terre is fresh and delicious.

The decor of restaurants in Italy tends to be pleasing and elegant. Somehow the decor complements the food and makes the dining experience more pleasurable.

Salads, bread and lemonade.

Salads and bread are the most common appetizers in most of the meals that I had in Italy. When I was at Capri, I decided to order a glass of lemonade. Please be mindful, the lemonade is very fresh yet can be considered too sour for most people. One of my tour-mates had added more than three packets of sugar to the lemonade drink, only to still find the lemonade too sour for his liking.

Ravioli.

Some of the best food that I had while I was in Italy came at an affordable price. Before we reached our hotel in Rome, our driver led us to a canteen in a student hostel and this place serves delicious food. At the canteen, my accompanying friend introduced me to ravioli, a traditional type of Italian filled pasta. A filling is sealed between two layers of thin egg pasta dough for this dish. It was a good treat.

One of my favourite Italian desserts is the tiramisu, which literally means "pick me up" in Italian. I was impressed to find delicious tiramisu at the canteen of a humble student hostel.

The chocolate drinks in Italy are worth trying. Rich and concentrated, the hot chocolate drink from Italy felt like as if we were drinking melted chocolate.

Till today, I can still remember the cup of gelato from a humble gelato shop in Assisi. It tasted fresh and delicious. My friend and I were singing high praises for the abundant fresh berries that we can find in the gelato.

I cannot help but conclude that food is also a form of art, with a very practical purpose of nourishing the body and delighting the taste-buds as well as the senses.