Amo il cibo Italiano! For those of you who don’t speak Italian, I just said “I love Italian food!” I had an incredible opportunity last year to study abroad in Siena, Italy and learned all about their food culture. I love the Italian food culture because it is all about using quality ingredients and taking pride in the food you make.
I decided to share my love of real Italian food with you this week for a few reasons. First, I miss Italy and love to talk about it whenever I can. Second, I was too lazy to attempt to cook a new dish (sorry). Third, I have been eating horribly lately and wanted to remind myself of a time when I actually cared about what I was putting in my body. In Italy, I learned that people take pride in the Mediterranean Diet, which consists of lots of vegetables and olive oil.
Going to a grocery store in Siena for the first time was a truly foreign experience. Over time I noticed that all of their produce was organic and grown locally. I asked a local why their produce is local and organic. They told me that the people believe this is healthier and they don’t like highly processed foods.
If you read my post from a few weeks ago, you already know that I am a huge snack fiend. Most American snacks are highly processed and not good for your body. As I became more acclimated with the culture of Siena, I started to eat more like a local and take better care of my body by eliminating highly processed foods and replacing them with more wholesome foods. I definitely felt a difference in my body and my energy level was much better. Take a look at some of my quality food photos!
Since I have returned to the U.S.A. I have been pretty bad at maintaining that quality Italian diet. It’s extremely difficult as a college student who has little time to sleep let alone cook to pick food options that are made with quality ingredients. Sometimes I’m lucky if I even have three meals in a day.
That being said, I have a challenge for myself and all of you. Let’s skip the soda and snacks for one week. Instead of the highly processed snacks, let’s have fruits and vegetables. Stuff that we all know we don’t eat enough of but walk past in the grocery store anyway. It will be difficult but I think it will make us feel better inside and out. No I don’t have the time to make my organic tomato sauce like I did when I was in Siena, but I think small improvements will make a huge difference in how I feel. I hope it makes a difference in how you feel as well.
Keep me updated if you decide to try the challenge with me! We can complain over carrots! Leave a comment or contact me on twitter @KristinaAzevedo
College Cooking for Dummies 
Wow, those photos of your meals from abroad made me super hungry! I thought your use of the gallery was effective, and I like how you connected this post back to your experiences abroad. Still I wish you inserted a few more pictures (and some links) from your abroad travels to illustrate what Siena, Italy looks like. Additionally, I think you could take this blog post to another level by making a snack that you would have eaten abroad, or by taking pictures of a snack you ate in Italy vs the snacks you find yourself eating in America. You talk about how the “Mediterranean diet” includes lots of veggies and olive oil, but I wish I could get a better sense—visually—of what that might be. Finally, I liked the fact that you engage readers by challenging them to eat better. You might want to set some parameters to this, though, so people know what they’re getting themselves into.
LikeLike
Yup, I’m hungry now. Liked the challenge at the end. You could potentially get other people involved and increase spreadability and virality of your posts, as well as get user-generated content for your site. Similar strategy is used by a lot of organizations and companies, especially. I’m always a fan of lots of pictures and a bit of insight into the cultural aspect of the meals. Keep them coming!
LikeLike
I can totally relate to missing how you ate when you were abroad, and bringing up your study abroad time every chance that you have. As Sophie said, I would have loved a snack comparison between what you ate abroad and what you eat here. Foreign snacks are always fascinating and could even give people some ideas of what to snack on if they join in on your challenge!
LikeLike
Yes! I love this blog post! After studying abroad in Perugia myself, I totally feel you. I completely fell in love with Italian food and the culture and history surrounding food in Italy. I agree with you. While Italian food can be decadent and is highly renowned for its food, Italians have very healthy eating habits.
LikeLike
Correction to the last sentence: While Italians are known for their insanely delicious food (which includes lots of carbs!), Italians have very healthy eating habits.
LikeLike