World Tour: Cuisine/Travel Wishlist. Next Stop. Italy.

[ 4 ] November 12, 2010 | Archele

Picture via Wikipedia

Whenever anyone asks what my favorite food is, nine times out of ten, I respond, “I really love Italian food.” Truth be told, I won’t truly be able to know and enjoy Italian food until I hop on a flight and go to Italy and visit the various regions, each of which specializes in assorted dishes, techniques and use of different ingredients.

An authentic Italian restaurant in the States would serve to display the dishes and recipes that originate from the soil and waters of Italy; however, no one can mimic the freshest ingredients, hands and minds that have passed recipes from generation to generation. I will not truly experience polenta or risotto until I have visited Veneto, nor will I know a piece of Tiramisu. Pizza, which I have probably had hundreds of times, will take on a completely different meaning once I have traveled to Naples, or Napoli (in my bad Italian accent), and tasted the recipes that are the origin of the world famous dish. Of course classic pasta dishes such as spaghetti, lasagna and tagliatelle and the robustly flavored sauces that accompany them would be all the more memorable in their respective places of origin.

Italian cuisine has become so popular and has had a widespread influence on not only what we eat, but also on what we drink. I have a cousin who loves Lambrusco and who’d probably kill for a glass from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; while a friend of mine whose drink of choice is Moscato would revel in the Barbera grape from the Piedmont area. I hope to one day be able to experience the authenticity of Italy and bring back souvenirs, such as bottles of wine, that I and my friends and family can enjoy in the comforts of our own homes in the States. In the meantime, however, I guess I’ll have to stick with online recipes and American Italian-style restaurants until I’ve accumulated enough United Airlines points to score a cheap flight to Italy. Until then, I’ll focus on narrowing down the regions that I’m most interested in visiting.

Ciao!