good food is not restricted to france
Pescia, Italy
According to the French, the Italians have nothing after the noodle.
But that just ain’t true.
This morning, having been woken early by cheerily tolling bells merely metres from our motorhomes, we were quietly minding our business, intentionally not going anywhere after a few days of hard driving. Children were either playing at the park or finishing off journal illustrations (so great an impression had the bells made, that almost everyone wanted a pictorial reminder of them!), adults were reading….when Maria poked her nose in jabbering away in Italian, holding her skirt bunched in front of her. So began a delightful conversation; I was surprised how many words I had picked up in just a few days, and with the most Italian habit of using hands as much as mouths, we managed to discuss our origin (no, not America), the number of children (Mama Mia!), their ages, the name of the youngest and the fact that she is *bella*, our new friend’s name, and something to do with hard brown seeds. Once she had managed to convey that she wanted a bag (all I could give was a bowl), Maria emptied the contents of her skirt into it. She selected one, dropped it to the ground and bombarded it with a stone until the shell broke. Thinking she was urging us to eat the bianco part, I checked the word for EAT with the help of the phrasebook. “Si si si.” So we ate our first ever pinenuts straight from the pinecone. So crunchy, so full of flavour, so fresh. Not that we knew that’s where they were from at that stage. Hazarding a guess that this was our menu, I showed her the biggest pinecone we had ever collected, asking if that’s where they were from. “Si si si.”
Maria continued our Mediterranean food education with a walk around the park pointing out which trees provide good pinecones for eating. And she gave us a very long talk that was either “put them in the oven and the seeds will come out” OR “after the seeds have come out, roast them in the oven” As you can see, I missed some most of the detail, but my suggestion of “Caldo?” was met with yet another boisterous “Si si si” and so we know it is something to do with *hot*.
Once the children were busy collecting and cracking, Maria disappeared as quickly as she had arrived.
Ciao!
Grazie, grazie, grazie mille!
Prego!
Ciao!
Ciao!
But that’s not all the food for the day. Check out this Twice Cooked In A Wood-fired Oven pizza made right before our eyes. Check out the size of it! How I wish you could taste it….from the amazing thin-but-not-at-all-dry crust to the the richness of the sauce, the three different types of cheese, the spicy salami, the intensely scented herbs that filled your mouth with zing…..ooooh it was so good.
By now we had decided the French were downright wrong! There are noodles AND pinenuts AND pizza AND ciabatta (we bought some ciabatta at the pizza shop too – these very ones in the oven, and they were unlike any Italian bread in NZ!)
Then, as the sun went down, we witnessed more foodie behaviour. Out came some long trestle tables into the public park. Out came tablecloths and chairs. Out came the food. And eventually out came the people. For hours they sat around eating and talking and gesticulating and eating and laughing and pointing and eating and throwing their hands up in the air.
And there wasn’t a noodle in sight.
Time on the road: none
Distance covered: 0km
Tags: 2008/09, food, postcard: Italy
rayres
Hi Rachel and clan, I am glad you are starting to discover the real Italy….nearly. ……
When I read your travel report via the mountains, I thought: Hasn’t anybody told them ( personally or by guidebook) not to travel in the peak season to the Med, when half of Europe goes there? When the temperatures are unbearable ??? still I admire your persistance……thanks for conveying the lovely variety and aspects of life on the road, super photos, I enjoyed ” A year in Provance ” a while ago, keep mentioning the books you read….love and blessings Renate
Oh I am loving the food experiences!! Europe is all about food – each country with it’s own unique ways. I love it – keep enjoying it, and writing about it – if I can’t be there at least I can read and remember!
Leighx
Renate, Yes, we WERE told!!!!! We knew to avoid the Med in July/August…..but after a month of rain in England, including three days non-stop and only ten degrees, and knowing it was thirty degrees in France, we decided to ignore the advice and head south. We don’t regret it for a moment!!!!!!! Actually, we are pleased to have experienced the madness and are excited that doing it this way means we have time to get to Greece as well – at least we will be there in September!!
Leigh…tonight will be spaghetti with pesto 😉
ohhhh yes!! my cousin married into an italian family who have been in the pizza business for decades, and truly, nobody does pizza half as well as the italians do! it’s depressing how divorced pizza hut etc have become from the simple, beautiful flavours of a proper pizza!
and the weather sounds perfect to me! 😉
Hi Nova! I was thinking about you just today – what have you been up to? That must be the longest blog silence since we left.
When we get back….and when we get our farm….and when Jboy13 has built the pizza oven, you’ll have to come round to have an authentic one! See if you can get a family recipe for us!!
Ahhh Italy! Spaghetti with only a little sauce but still sooooo yummy. The best pizza ever and only with a few toppings so unlike any where else. Then there is the gelato so full of flavour. I spent 3 months there. My husband has never been and he can’t understand why I’m sooooo obsessed with going back again!!! Very glad you are enjoying it too.