Of course I have to write about food! Italien food is delicious, versatile and healthy; Italy is surrounded by the Mediterranean – and the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest diet in the world! 7000 different vegetables are grown here, which makes Italy number one for diversity – far more than number two: Brasil, where you can find (only) 3000 different veggies!

I love to cook! Going to the markets is one of my favorite things to do. What are the local farmers growing here? The smell of fresh food, the look, the size and shape of everything – incredible!

I wrote about porcini mushrooms in a separate post, and man, do I love those! Another local delicacy is radicchio, Treviso radicchio, which is an early variety, harvested in September vs it’s more leafy friends that are harvested in November.

Radicchio is used for appetizers, with pasta, soups, salads, as side dishes, bread spreads, and gelato [kidding, I haven’t seen radicchio gelato – yet] 😝

Cucina Italiana is a great source for recipes and the following one I found is from there:

Focaccia with radicchio and scamorza cheese

Quick to prepare, this focaccia can be served as a first course or as the appetizer of a rustic menu. To prepare it, roll out the bread dough in a low edged baking pan and well-greased with oil. Spread two or three tablespoons of oil on top and bake for 15 minutes at 200°.

In the meantime, cut three tomatoes into thin slices or if you prefer, use a puree. In a pot, sauté 1 lb of radicchio leaves cut into strips with a tablespoon of oil, two splashes of balsamic vinegar and half a chili pepper. When the focaccia is ready take it out of the oven, spread the tomato, the slices of radicchio and fennel seeds on top. Sprinkle with a drizzle of olive oil and put it back under the oven grill for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, add the scamorza cheese cut into pieces and some slices of bacon. Put under the grill for another 5 minutes, remove, cut into slices, and serve.

And of course there is pizza, big, thin crust of course, with only a few ingredients on it. But those ingredients are just plain taste explosions: porcini mushrooms, or speck, or Gorgonzola, or radicchio of course, and so on. Wherever you go, the pizza options are endless: at least 5 pages of pizzas are offered on the menu! They are big, tasty, and cheap! Between €8 and €15 or 16! But be prepared, when you order a pizza, they are not sliced and you better eat the whole thing with a fork and a knife. Not the American way!!! And your spaghetti, you eat with a fork only, no spoon!!! Spaghetti are always served on a plate with a wide rim: that rim is used to twist your spaghetti onto the fork. Very easy!

Best meal I had so far: at Naturall Garda Bistrot in Salò