Shocker! Food is different in Europe!
A few years, my family and I went on a European cruise. We went to Spain, Portugal and Morocco last month. I will talk about that in another post.
what I really want to mention is the difference in food compared to the USA.
Harry and I elected to fly into Bologna Italy and stay the night then stay in Ravenna Italy the two nights before the cruise.
My much younger family, equipped with the “ponder speed”, went to Rome and Florence. A much better selection for the younger, more able bodies souls.
We had a great time in Bologna, but I wished we stayed an extra day. Ravenna was nice, but it rained and there wasn’t much to do or see. You cannot just drive to town, especially if there is something to see. We would have had to take a tour to see anything – in the rain. We were on the beach so there wasn’t much to do but drive around in the countryside.
We all met up at the cruise in Ravenna and enjoyed the port stops in Croatia, (Dubrovnik and Cavtat), Ephesus Turkey, Rhodes Greece, Santorini Greece and then a two day stay in Athens.
Staying on a whole food, plant based on a European vacation is paramount to lunacy!
I have never been accused of being a lunatic. A little crazy maybe but not a lunatic!
No GMO’s, everything local!
We did not worry about a thing we ate! It was refreshing to not worry about chemicals in my food, GMO’s, pesticides, and hidden additives we know better than to eat. Now I won’t say there was no processed food, but everything we had seemed to be locally sourced and fresh.
As a matter of fact, the only processed food I got (and could tell a difference) was on the cruise. It was an American ship after all.
One thing we tried in Bologna was the cold cuts.
In the states, I would NEVER eat salami, ham, Mortadella, Prosciutto, or any other processed meats. I seldom, if ever eat pork and nitrates are just bad news.
In Italy, and from what I gather – all of Europe, take care of their animals quite well. Animals are not fed with GMO’s or given special hormones and antibiotics to compensate for good health.
In Italy, the meats did not have that “plastic” texture that American cold cuts have.
Stanley Tucci was right!!! Italian cold cuts are OMG amazing!
This was an experience I would not have ever had if I had not gone to Europe.
European imports
Some of the merchants and waiters I spoke with in Italy had lived in the states. They said you could rarely find Italian cold cuts in the states, and if you did, they were expensive.
Well, I have certainly never had anything like these cold cuts.
My son has a cat named Nostradamas. When I was at a grocery store in Ravenna, a can of Nostromo tuna caught my eye. It was €3.15 a can. Not wanting to carry tuna fish in my carry on, I thought I would find some when I returned home. I found it, but the shipping is more than the tuna.
I shop online for foods I can’t find. One of my favorite magazines is called Olive, and I sometimes look for brands they write about.
Another item I wanted to purchase in Italy was olive oil. Now I REALLY didn’t want a glass bottle of oil in my carry on. I elected to purchase once I got home.
I found online sources for olive oil, vinegar, tuna and cold cuts at Supermarket Italy.
For the most part, I can find some of the brands here like Mutti, Tutto, Colvita. If you have a store and can open a whole sale account, there is Bella Italia,
Villa Aretusi. Country villa in the city.
Villa Aretusi once belonged to Cesare Aretusi. He was an Italian artist of the renaissance period. It is over 400 years old and surrounded by trees that shield it from the city. This hotel – or Inn, had two impressive restaurants. The more expensive one was very meat forward, so we opted to eat al fresco at the Trattoria Aretusi.
We tried a cheeese called squacuerone (pronounced squack a roni), which is a soft, mild cheese with a Greek yogurt consistency.
They served it with two kinds of crescentine or Tigelle, which are Italian flatbreads.
Of course, we had to have their appetizer of Bolognese sauce. I never put meat in mine, so it was nice to experience authentic Bolognese in the city where it was created.
True Bolognese is made with pork and sometimes beef and pork. It’s never made with chicken.
In fact, it is rather difficult to find ANYTHING with chicken in Italy.
Next, we had a salad of radicchio with polenta croutons. It had a little caciotta cheese as well. caciotta is similar to parmesan but not as sharp.
This salad started a love affair with me amd radicchio. I’ve used it but never made it the main part of the salad.
I think the lettuce was a type of butter lettuce.
We enjoyed sliced steak, some ragu with a soft cheese and bread, a delicious beet salad and creamy raspberry dessert.
In Ravenna, we dined at the Bamboo Vistamar in Lido De Savio. It was literally in the hotel next to us and a 4 star dining experience. We started with some shrimp wrapped in crispy vermicelli and served with a raspberry sauce. We had Sablefish cooked in a salt shell and served table side. We had to try Cacio E Pepe which was loaded with shrimp and calamari. It was to die for. We then had sorbets for dessert. I had lemon and Harry had coffee. Both were delightful.
In Dubrovnik, we enjoyed freshly caught seafood at Bote Sêre Oyster and Sushi bar.
We were in Santorini during our 20th anniversary. Although I wasn’t as enthralled with Santorini as I anticipated, the food was great. I enjoyed the best ceviche I’ve ever had. We also had Chicken Souvlaki and an exceptional Greek salad.
We had special dinners on the cruise but I noticed the freshness and flavor just wasn’t there for the most part. Not once did I have problems with the local fare ar the ports, but I did when I are something rich on the cruise.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and I wasn’t feeling well by the time we got the Athens. I managed to eat a slice of Margarita pizza but it was obvious I was not doing well.
The next three days was a blur, and we really weren’t in Paris long enough to comment. Once we got home, my daughter brought over a Covid test and sure enough, we both tested positive. Now long Covid derailed me once before and basically got me off my WFPB diet.
I noticed something in Europe. The food is just better there because it is locally grown, it’s not GMO, and not designed to make you sick. In the United States, food WILL make you sick! They know it and use deceptive practices when citizens “wise up” and stop buying. For example, high fructose corn syrup. It has so many labels to hide behind and I think they can now hide it in “natural lavors”,
The day after we got back, my husband sent me an article from Fortune. Here it is. It’s all about how lobbyists control our food – like we don’t know.
The second thing I’ve learned since we caught long covid, a WFPB is almost impossible to do unless you make (and likely grow), your own food. Everyone knows about food deserts all over the world where frosh food is simply not available. I have noticed the organic section shrinking down in my own grocery stores. A new HEB opened in our neighborhood this week and had a mere 3 foot section of organic produce.
Covid caused a lot of problems for me. I had to have an emergency cholecystectomy, then seven months later an explant surgery. My nerves were shot, and frankly, I could not fix meals like I did before. My husband and I had no choice but to order food and WFPB options are slim to none.
SO with my new found knowledge from my trip to Europe, I realize I need to eat as fresh and clean as possible in the USA. While I now think eating animal products in moderation is probably acceptable, the products in the US are questionable at best. The beef and chicken we get are nothing like what was available 50 years ago. Almost all seafood is farmed in deplorable conditions and fed GMO foods. Try to get wild caught and you are met with a scam or possibly tainted food. It’s really sad. Let’s not even talk about milk and the acceptable levels of pus!
After tasting cheese in Europe, I was blown away with how fresh tasting it was. Even the texture was different.
So now that I am back and nearly over Covid….I intend to get back on my WFPB lifestyle but not as stringent. If I cannot enjoy my family and friends because of my diet, I can’t let it stand in the way of my family. I am 70 the first week of August, and my parents both checked out before 84.
I am not going to go crazy and eat animal products all the time, but I am also not going to worry if someone cooked my eggplant burger on a grill where they cooked beef.
99% of my meals I prepare will be plant based as I can control that. If I can’t prepare my own food, then I am not going to question what I have delivered.
A friend of mine passed away a few years ago. She was coming up on 80 and had been having serious health problems the last 10 years I knew her. Well when she broke her hip and her hisband was out of remission for Leukemia, they sold their house and moved into a rehab facility. Well as expensive as these places are, they serve some of the worst food imaginable! The only thing I could find on their menu was lettuce and lemon. Seriously!
While I have some amazing recipes on Snap Pea Sheep, I am going to start having recipes that are quick and easy to prepare.
