I don’t usually like _______, but it’s really good here!

Now in the last days of my fourth trip to Italy with students (and there have been many more visits with family, as well as a semester in Rome during college), I’m struck by how many times I’ve heard students declare with surprise that a food they normally don’t like is really good here! And even when they don’t like something, they are still willing to try!

Of course you have to work really hard to get a bad meal in Italy, but that’s only one factor. (Although things are changing a bit on that score as more and more businesses are focused on the tourist market.)

I think there’s something magical here that draws people to try new foods. On  my first trip to Italy with my family when I was 12, my sister and I arrived as fairly picky eaters. At first, at restaurant after restaurant, we would order the simplest preparations, like spaghetti con pomodoro e burro. Then inevitably we’d taste whatever our parents had ordered and ask to switch plates. They rarely complied, so soon we started branching out, and we were cured of our picky eater habits. 

Italian cuisine focuses on the ingredients themselves and the quality comes through. I’ve had students swear they won’t eat fish, but then, at Dar Filettaro a Santa Barbara, where there are only a few items on the menu besides fried bacalà (salt cod), they devour piece after piece. Over the years, I’ve had students discover a new appreciation for mushrooms, artichokes (alla Giudia, of course), fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and even pasta itself! (Yes, I had a student declare during preparations for the trip that she did like pasta!)

So the moral of the story is if you have a picky eater, head to Italy!

Photos, top to bottom:

Spaghetti Carbonara

Carciofi alla Giudia

Antipasti

Pizza Fiori di Zucca e Alici

Supplì

Pasta All’Amatriciana