Food – Page 2

Beer or wine, who’s the winner in Italy?

September 11, 2018

Wine and olive oil soap made in Sicily

In Italy beer (birra) is less popular than wine. You must be 18 years old to buy or drink alcoholic beverages, even though some say that at 16 you can legally drink beer as long as you buy it and drink it on the premises (like when you are at a restaurant or a club). Hhhmmm, confusion. What’s clear though is that binge drinking is not very popular in Italy, because the main focus of the typical Italian get-together for social activities is not to drink beer (or wine) in order to get drunk, but just to spend some nice time together sipping a glass of wine and having dinner or nibbling on some snacks.

{This is an excerpt from chapter 14 “Italian Lifestyle” of the eBook “Italy from the Inside. A native Italian reveals the secrets of traveling in Italy”. Buy our eBook on Amazon and leave us a review! If it’s good, you’ll make us happy, if it’s bad, you’ll make us improve. Thank you either way!}

Ordering food at Italian restaurants

September 4, 2018

A restaurant on the streets of Lucca in Tuscany

In Italian restaurants, usually the order is made in two phases: the first one includes the choice of the antipasto, primo, and secondo (with a side dish). Then, once you are done eating, the waiter will come back and ask if you wish to have a dessert, coffee or liquor.

{This is an excerpt from chapter 3 “Italian cuisine and food establishments” of the eBook “Italy from the Inside. A native Italian reveals the secrets of traveling in Italy”. Buy our eBook on Amazon and leave us a review! If it’s good, you’ll make us happy, if it’s bad, you’ll make us improve. Thank you either way!}

Why Italians don’t like to put ice cubes in their drinks

July 31, 2018

Chilled cokes (and water) with no ice

If you order a soda or water (acqua) don’t expect the drink to be served with ice (ghiaccio), unless you are in highly touristic areas such as downtown Florence. Although drinks (bibite) are served cold (fredde), ice is not common at all, you’ll need to specify it at the time of the order. Italians think that ice corrupts the original taste of the drink. So, if you order a coke, for example, you’ll get in one of the two versions above.