Un Pasto Giusto

In italian the word ''pasto'' means meal. The way we eat italian food is generally not the ''italian'' way. A traditional italian meal is eaten in courses. It takes forever between all the food and all the talking italians do, but it is the most enjoyable eating experience. We mess it all up-- salad first, meatballs on top of pasta-- italians would never do this! I thought it was crazy at first, but they strategically design their eating pattern around digestion. It took a lot of adjusting to get used to the order of things at first, but then when I came home I swear every time I started a meal with salad I got sick. Fortunately this has worn off. And the main meal of the day is lunch, not dinner. You may recognize the names of the courses if you have ever eaten in a ''real'' italian restaurant.

Antipasto
Primo
Secondo
I Dolci

Antipasto: This is one of my favorite things and I could make a meal out of this course alone! It generally consists of meats, cheeses, vegetables...my favorite is ''sott'olio'' or under oil, which are preserved vegetables that are oh-so-good! I was often served gingerale as part of this course, it apparently aids digestion.

Primo: This is your real first course, generally pasta or rice, depending where you are and also what season it is. Complicated pastas like lasagna (I'm working on a post with an authentic recipe for that) are often served alone without a secondo.

Secondo: This course is basically what we would consider ''dinner''--meat, potatoes, salad. There are endless possibilities to this course! This is where we mess it up-- we eat our meatballs WITH our pasta, italians eat them AFTER their pasta. On a completely different plate. So AFTER eating a whole plate of pasta, THEN you have a whole OTHER plate with an entire meal on it. It's crazy, but good.

I dolci: I have to say that italians aren't the best at desserts in my opinion, but some of them are really good. There is a picture of panettone here on my blog, which is traditionally eaten in italy at Christmas. I also love a good coffee-free chocolate version of tiramisu'-- recipe for that coming as well--and of course gelato, the most amazing thing on earth. And Cannoli. Ok so maybe they are good at sweets...

FRUIT--every italian mamma says this about a million times to her kids, "You can't get up from the table until you finish your fruit!" Only in italian, obviously. Italians end every meal with a piece of fruit-- again, aiding digestion. For a long time after I came home I craved fruit after dinner. Also italians peel everything.

So if you want to eat a TON, try a traditional italian meal. Mangia!