If there's one thing I learned while living in Florence, it's that I will never truly be satisfied anymore when eating Italian soul food. Although I have a long lineage of great Italian cooks in my family, nothing compares to the real thing. Only a true, born and raised Italian can cook like an Italian; everything else is purely imitation.
I lived in Florence as a part of a study abroad program. I didn't need this experience to graduate nor any of the school credits I was receiving. Therefore, I opted to take a course that would be fun and I'd get something else out of. I thought: "What better place to learn to cook than the Mecca of food and wine?" The instructor of the course, Giancarlo Russo, was a whiz in the kitchen. He's traveled so much in his youth that he's learn to cook all types of dishes.
Although he was well versed in several types of cuisine, we focused on Italian (specifically Tuscan) cooking. We made all types of dishes, spaghetti alle vongole or spaghetti with clam sauce, spaghetti alla carbonara, pappa al pomodoro or potato tomato soup and much more. One of the lessons he stressed most to the class was that Italian olive oil is good for you. As nave Americans, we assumed it's oil, so it must be inherently unhealthy. However, Giancarlo made it very clear that it is one of the few oils that can be consumed daily and actually benefit your health.
Still having doubts, I decided to investigate further in case he was just a crazy, old, Italian man pouring poison down our throats. According to an article on the Global Healing Center website, titled, "The Benefits of Olive Oil" he wasn't crazy at all. He may have been old and Italian, but he was most definitely not crazy! (At least not in the strictest terms.) Dr. Group addresses many of the benefits of consuming and using Italian olive oil. I found more information still on the Unaprol website, which is an Italian producer of olive oil. Their product contains an abundance of antioxidants and Vitamin E.
My face spoke all the things I was thinking when Giancarlo drowned my pappa al pomodoro (that I had worked so hard on) in olive oil. "Trust Tio Giancarlo, trust" he would say numerous times throughout the summer. Eventually I did learn to trust that crazy yet adorable, old man.
I lived in Florence as a part of a study abroad program. I didn't need this experience to graduate nor any of the school credits I was receiving. Therefore, I opted to take a course that would be fun and I'd get something else out of. I thought: "What better place to learn to cook than the Mecca of food and wine?" The instructor of the course, Giancarlo Russo, was a whiz in the kitchen. He's traveled so much in his youth that he's learn to cook all types of dishes.
Although he was well versed in several types of cuisine, we focused on Italian (specifically Tuscan) cooking. We made all types of dishes, spaghetti alle vongole or spaghetti with clam sauce, spaghetti alla carbonara, pappa al pomodoro or potato tomato soup and much more. One of the lessons he stressed most to the class was that Italian olive oil is good for you. As nave Americans, we assumed it's oil, so it must be inherently unhealthy. However, Giancarlo made it very clear that it is one of the few oils that can be consumed daily and actually benefit your health.
Still having doubts, I decided to investigate further in case he was just a crazy, old, Italian man pouring poison down our throats. According to an article on the Global Healing Center website, titled, "The Benefits of Olive Oil" he wasn't crazy at all. He may have been old and Italian, but he was most definitely not crazy! (At least not in the strictest terms.) Dr. Group addresses many of the benefits of consuming and using Italian olive oil. I found more information still on the Unaprol website, which is an Italian producer of olive oil. Their product contains an abundance of antioxidants and Vitamin E.
My face spoke all the things I was thinking when Giancarlo drowned my pappa al pomodoro (that I had worked so hard on) in olive oil. "Trust Tio Giancarlo, trust" he would say numerous times throughout the summer. Eventually I did learn to trust that crazy yet adorable, old man.
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For more details about olive oil, for Italian cooking or otherwise, please consult Unaprol.. This article, Cooking In The Italian Countryside is available for free reprint.
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