Submitted by Johanna Chajes on the 2016 winter session program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Philosophy…
As our program comes to a close, I thought I’d take the time to talk a little bit about something that is a big part of Italian culture and yet might get overlooked in people’s blogs—the food! After spending a month in Italy, I feel like our whole group has a much better sense of what “real” Italian food is, rather than just American-Italian food. We’ve all enjoyed our fair share of pizza and learned that Italians usually eat theirs using a knife and fork. We’ve also discovered the deliciousness that is fresh pasta and found out that even though we think of spaghetti and meatballs as a very Italian dish, meatballs are actually an American thing. Finally, my favorite part of the Italian food experience has been the gelato. Caramel gelato from Florence to be exact. However, like all of the study abroad groups around this time, we’re all trying to come to terms with the fact that we’re heading home soon, and while we’ll definitely miss our authentic Italian food, it’ll be nice to come back home to the food we know and love.
