DAY 3: FIRENZE - COOKING CLASS

While on our way to Firenze, our tour guide, Nancy, informed us of a thing or two about authentic Italian cuisine. She had seen a few of our students taking the initiative to find some olive oil and balsamic so that they could dip their bread in it. She let us know that regular Italians don’t do that at restaurants. Olive oil is so prolific in their daily lives (for cooking, skin and hair care, etc.) that they would never go to out to eat and dip their bread in it. She likened it to someone from the US going to a restaurant and ordering a peanut butter sandwich.

She also chided us for thinking that chicken parmesan, alfredo sauce, and lasagna made with ricotta were Italian dishes. They think of those dishes as US inventions. Additionally, Nancy claimed that we know the term bologna for the wrong reason. Italians are super proud of their bologna (named after the region) and told us that our version is disgusting. Another thing that she explained to us was that tortellini was created to replicate Venus’s bellybutton.

All that said, this evening in Florence we took a cooking class! We divided into two groups and each group prepared fresh pasta, marinara sauce, salad, and an cream & berries dessert. It was all really delicious! The students are coming home with the full slate of recipes, so they should be able to recreate it!