Student Bloggers

By Amanda C., Umbra Institute Summer, Italy

Arriving in Perugia has been a whirlwind of activities and sensations. Exploring this small, quaint, medieval town has been enriching and exciting. After being here for a week and a half, I feel as though I have gotten a lot out of this trip already. I have been forcing myself to attempt to learn some Italian, use new phrases, learn about manners, and get used to the way Italians live. It sounds like it would be stressful, but I feel very calm and free. I am here alone, I am doing things alone, I am interacting with people I never would have otherwise met, and I am at peace. Although making friends here is a challenge in such a short amount of time, I have learned to exist on my own and that is a glorious feeling.

My favorite part of my trip has been the food. I have eaten gelato every day except for one. But I think one day I got gelato twice so that makes up for it. I have eaten countless pastries, pounds of pasta with pesto, and have learned how to navigate the town’s best bakery to get fresh loaves of bread. I’ve been setting small food related goals for myself- order this loaf of bread, order the gelato in Italian, use the Italian menu to pick your food even if offered the English version (and even if that means picking something at random!). My next goal is ordering meat at the deli- a daunting task when confronted with unfamiliar numbers, the metric system, and the fact that the shop owners in this town don’t speak English.

I’ve been taking The History and Culture of Food in Italy while I’ve been here and I’ve had 3 classes so far. I absolutely love the class. It allows me to try new food, and learn about how the food of Italy has evolved over time. There so much more history than I could have imagined before- to be honest I thought this class would be a breeze and very straightforward. In fact, there is a lot to learn in the area of food!

Italian food does not exist. I know what you’re thinking… I eat Italian food all the time. Amanda, you were just talking about eating Italian food! I know, I know. But when I say Italian food does not exist, I mean as a whole. The food varies from region to region, city to city. In my region, the bread is not salted. In Sicily, they have an abundance of spices. You cannot find some stereotypical Italian foods in my region that are abundant elsewhere. Zeppole? Not in my region. Truffles? Really common here but not used elsewhere. This large variation is hard to wrap your head around, and that’s okay. Wherever you go in Italy you are bound to find something uniquely delicious and proudly tied to that region. Each part of Italy is known for its own specialties.

The food we eat in the US that is labeled Italian usually isn’t even real. Alfredo sauce does not exist in Italy. They do not put meat into their pasta. Meat is a second course. Bread is the center of every meal- dishes are described as bread with ___ instead of ___ with bread. Chicken parmesan does not exist (but eggplant does!). Learning about all of this has been really eye opening and I hope to leave here as an expert of the foods of Italy.

Ciao for now!

Amanda Campbell is a student at Arcadia University and is blogging from her summer abroad at the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy.