Italian food habits. It remains something special for me.

Something that is often one of the biggest enemies of the Dutch people is here the most popular.

Of course, everybody likes food and tries to eat in a healthy way, but in Italy it is just a little bit different.

"Food is the highlight of the day"

This is something Italian. If the average European thinks of Italy, the images of delicious pastas and pizzas will appear in their mind. The great thing is that there is much more than just pizza and pasta and the Italians are not shy to show how proud they are on their products.

During my first evening I was in a restaurant together with my internship advisor. This was my “welcome dinner”. He started to talk about food and he tried to explain me some habits from here. A sentence that I will never forget: “In the morning you start with a cornetto and you dip it in your cappuccino”.
I couldn't believe my ears! What kind of crazy person eats an ice cream in the morning and dips it in his coffee? Luckily it become clear to me that they mean a croissant and not the well known ice cream. But to be short. The normal breakfast is not very expanded here in Italy.

The lunch however is quite different. A sandwich with peanut butter? They don’t eat it here especially not for their lunch. They looked very confused at me when I was sitting quietly enjoying my sandwiches with peanut butter and jam. Their first reaction was: "What are you doing?! Things like that you don’t eat for lunch! During the lunch they eat a healthy salad or a hot meal. Pasta, meat, potatoes, pizza, risotto literally everything is passing by. Do they have enough time? Then they make it complete with more courses and a glass of wine!

The first few weeks I have really tried to adjust me, but I had a choice: Or a half hour more sleep or cooking in the early morning. That was an easy choice for me. I will not give up my extra half hour of sleep only for food. I will just eat the sandwich with peanut butter.

Around 21:00 o’clock it is time for dinner. The restaurants are getting filled up and they start with a glass of wine and some bread. The appetizer "primitivo" is usually pasta or risotto, and then comes the main course "secondo" This is a dish with meat or fish. When you still have space in your stomach (what is almost impossible) there will be also a dessert and espresso.

The average Italian will not do this every of course because at home they eat less expanded but it is clear that they love to eat! Fresh products are very important and everything is prepared with great care and attention.

Cappuccino during the evening? Why not? It taste good and it is a good solution if you don’t like espresso. That is quite different here. A cappuccino is for your breakfast and if you really do it in an official way you don’t order it after 11:00 am. So especially not after your diner. They are honest and will just say: “A cappuccino? serious?” A caffè macchiato is a good solution but it is still strong.

There are more habits that I really had to get used to as a foreigner. After a couple of weeks some habits became normal for me but there are still a few habits that are only meant for the real Italians.