Having been brought up in the US in the 50s and 60s, bland food, convenience foods, frozen foods were the thing to do. I recall lots of "roast beast" and endless mashed potatoes, mushy vegetables.
I started cooking in my teens, trying things that seemed difficult like puff pastry, 5 layer tortes, baked beans from scratch. Overall, my favorite "cuisine" turned out to be Italian.
So, here we are in Italy!! And people seem to think that we live on spaghetti and pizza now. They envision the menu of an Italian restaurant and think that is regular life here, but real Italians have a much more varied diet.
Yes, the pasta, even from the supermarket, is terrific. Better still is to buy fresh pasta from the homemade pasta shops. "Passata" is tomato sauce, sold in jars. Unlike the US, passata comes in smooth variations to chunky (rustica) but not in flavors such as marinara, basil and peppers or arrabbiata. Therefore, once we landed in Italy I started making my own sauce with my preferred rustica passata. But even in Italy, people do not live on pasta and sauce alone!
Since this is a small, somewhat remote hill town (and also thanks to the pandemic) our choices for eating out are limited mostly to pizza, pizza and more pizza. Not healthy in the long run and ultimately boring. Still, an occasional pizza night is fun and a break from cooking all the time. Our other choice here is a restaurant fashioned after an American diner that offers burgers, wings and fries.
We live in an area surrounded by farms, green houses, olive groves and vineyards. As a result there is a plethora of fresh local vegetables year round. Sure, you can buy frozen spinach, broccoli, peas, green beans. But the fresh produce is at least half the price of US produce and so much better. (I do buy frozen spinach in cubes, it is easy and neat, unlike loose frozen spinach in the US).
There were some surprises along the way. Carrots are very popular here along with hot peppers (pepperoncini). Spinach is a big favorite and also asparagus and artichokes. You can make it yourself, but "spinacini" are available in the deli section of the supermarket or frozen. They are lightly breaded patties of ground chicken and spinach, sauteed on the stove top. Also popular are plain chicken patties and spiedini, which are kebobs, of chicken (or other meat) onions, peppers.
Fish sticks, just like in the states, but better (Italy does not allow Monsanto, artificial colors, preservatives, etc) along with fish cakes are readily available in the frozen section, too.
Soups (minestrone and pasta e fagioli) are popular in the winter months and bags of frozen vegetable or bean mixes are stocked in the market when the weather gets cold. Making the soup is up to you!! It isn't hard with broth in large cartons, passata, spices and the vegetable mixes. I add extra chick peas because I love them.
What do we eat when it isn't pizza or spaghetti with tomato sauce?
Turning things into "Mexican" dishes is easy. There is a plethora of hot peppers and Tabasco sauce is sold. Rice and rice mixes are also abundant. Beans are everywhere. A piadina is not exactly a tortilla, but it is similar although slightly heavier and not as flexible. Making a quesadilla is a cinch. Burritos or fajitas are simple, too. When in season, the avocadoes are large and make great guacamole. Tortilla chips are around and taco sauce is sold in the stores. Red beans and rice? Yep!
After a lifetime of thinking Chinese food was complicated, I started making my own fried rice and lo mein. My next conquest will be eggs foo young.
In the warmer months (should I say hot?) we stick to salads - a bed of lettuce with tuna salad or egg salad on top. Macaroni salad with eggs and peas. Potato salad. I even found Hellmann's mayonnaise here. Turkey burgers in a piadina with cheese and lettuce, or spinacini or chicken patties, also stuffed in a piadina (lighter than a bun). Also sliced roasted turkey from the deli counter in a wrap is a hot weather dinner.
Spaghetti piccante is a popular dish for the summers here. That is spaghetti without sauce, just olive oil and a mixture of hot spices which can be found in premade packets. It can be addictive.
"Il hot dog" is another surprise. I am not a fan of them, but we have them now and then, turkey dogs. At least in this hill town, hot dogs are everywhere, including sliced on top of pizza or served in a small round of pizza dough in lieu of a hot dog bun.
In the winter we have quiches, a chicken tarragon "stew" that cooks in the oven with potatoes, carrots and onion, tuna or chicken casserole with a choice of peas, broccoli or asparagus, stuffed peppers, shepherd's pie (Yes, there are wonderful instant mashed potatoes!) roasted onions and carrots with a chicken or spinacini patty.
An easy skillet dinner is fusilli pasta with chicken chunks, a cream soup mix (asparagus or artichoke) topped with parmesan and walnuts.
And then, of course, spaghetti...or any type of pasta and sauce, or baked in a casserole with melted mozzarella and/or ricotta and lasagna, chicken parmigiana, gnocchi, tortellini in brodo or with sauce.
Potable water, clean air, abundant vegetables, ingredients that you recognize and can pronounce in prepared foods - there are healthy choices and plenty of variety. Yes, it takes more time to make things yourself, but people do eat very well here.
I only wish that there were a bit more choice in restaurants, but I won't complain too much. Overall, things are better here than where we were.
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