It appears you have not registered with our community. To register please click here ...

!!

Welcome to Russian Women Discussion - the most informative site for all things related to serious long-term relationships and marriage to a partner from the Former Soviet Union countries!

Please register (it's free!) to gain full access to the many features and benefits of the site. Welcome!

+-

Author Topic: Would I starve in Italy?  (Read 6731 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Son of Clyde

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2440
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouse's Country: Ukraine
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: No Selection
Would I starve in Italy?
« on: November 24, 2006, 07:13:55 AM »
I don't like these three ingredients that are used in Italian cooking.  I would still like to visit Italy someday. But would I starve there?

1) garlic
2) tomato
3) cheese

Are there many asian or indian restaurants in Italy?

I do like noodles, rice, chicken, fish, turkey, carrots, bell pepper, spinach, beans, squash and quite a few other vegetables.

picky SoC

Offline jb

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5324
  • Country: us
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: Married > 10 years
  • Trips: > 10
Re: Would I starve in Italy?
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2006, 08:04:06 AM »
SOC,

A lot would depend on where in Italy you decide to visit.  Northern Italian food is very different from the Southern stuff.  One can live on veal and buttered noodles up north in a pinch, but in the olive oil, garlic, and tomato lovin' south, you'd prolly lose some weight.

Offline SANDRO43

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10687
  • Country: it
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: No Selection
  • Trips: None (yet)
Re: Would I starve in Italy?
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2006, 11:28:58 AM »
Soc of Arabia, you're a headache, first music and now diet ;D.

As JB implies, it depends on what parts of Italy you'll visit, although North-South differences have rather abated in these past 20 years, at least in large-city restaurants (small-city or village trattorias tend to be more parochial in their menus). Until the 1950s, butter was mostly used in condiments and for frying in the North, olive oil being more expensive as it had to come mostly from the South.

In this connection, let me relate a little story. In the mid 1980s, a fellow IBM instructor had started an intelligent initiative. Since our courses ran from Monday mornings to Friday noons max (to allow participants from outside to get back home during their office hours) and our Friday afternoons were devoted mostly to adminisrative chores,  he suggested we'd stage internal lectures on topics strictly unrelated to our jobs.

So an amateur soccer referee expounded on the intricacies of soccer rules, I tried to explain the world of music, and an amateur cook/gourmet addressed Italian cuisine.

He began by quoting Gaius Julius Caesar's famous incipit in De bello gallico : Omnia tota Gallia est divisa in partes tres (the whole of Gallia is subdivided into 3 parts) and went on to explain how Italy followed this by using butter in the North, oil from Tuscany southwards, and pork lard in a limited Northern area (Emilia Romagna, capital Bologna), and how this influenced our various regional menus. In summary, Northern Italy relied heavily on animal-derived products, since the Po valley lends itself better to cattle-raising and pig farms, while the more mountainous Center-South had to content itself with sheep, goats and vegetables. As a matter of fact, the use of pasta became popular in Northern Italy after WWI, previously the staple product for first courses here was rice, and polenta in the poorer Alpine areas.

BTW, the use of lard has decreased considerably in Emilia Romagna, and the region is no longer the Italian leader in fatal heart diseases ;).

In conclusion, any major Italian city has eating places offering a wide selection of choices, from pan-Italian to local to regional menus. As for eastern restaurants, you'll also find many alternatives : Chinese mostly (for years they had a policy of talking over Italian restaurants, offering cheap food and getting into trouble with local sanitary authorities, now many have wisened up and may also offer a mixed Chino-Italian menu, since their popularity has worn off), and some Indian, Brazilian, Javanese, etc.

More recently, Arabic and Turkish restaurants have made their appearance, as a consequence of immigration inflow. No special parking place for camels, though ;D.

Buon appetito !
Milan's "Duomo"

 

+-RWD Stats

Members
Total Members: 8883
Latest: Leroy14
New This Month: 1
New This Week: 0
New Today: 0
Stats
Total Posts: 541017
Total Topics: 20849
Most Online Today: 2385
Most Online Ever: 12701
(January 14, 2020, 07:04:55 AM)
Users Online
Members: 11
Guests: 2263
Total: 2274

+-Recent Posts

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by Infoman
Yesterday at 09:57:04 PM

Re: Plumber earnings by Trenchcoat
Yesterday at 09:37:55 PM

Plumber earnings by ML
Yesterday at 07:49:26 PM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by krimster2
Yesterday at 07:23:34 PM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by Infoman
Yesterday at 06:28:48 PM

American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by 2tallbill
Yesterday at 04:48:07 PM

Re: What to do by krimster2
Yesterday at 04:37:18 PM

If you don't know what you are talking about, post away anyway by 2tallbill
Yesterday at 04:17:08 PM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by krimster2
Yesterday at 02:48:08 PM

Re: What to do by krimster2
Yesterday at 01:09:03 PM

Powered by EzPortal