Taste

Fact:

A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

I love Italians.

And I love their food.

But more than that, I love that they are proud of their food.

Today, Lindsey and I went to an event called the Pitti Immagine Taste Festival. It's a festival hosting 240 exhibitors "from the country’s finest in food-related ideas, design, and professional technique." It was a "chance to experience genuine Italian cuisine, with a range of unusual flavors and products to nibble on." And as soon as I got the email about it this week, I knew I was going to go.

I don't really want to go into details about our trip to the festival. Just know that Lindsey and I made what should have been a 10 minute walk from the train station to Taste, an hour long walk in a giant circle from the train station BACK to the train station (in the rain and wind). Then, we gave up and paid to take the tram which got us there in about 30 seconds. Note to self: stop trying to use Google maps to find places in Florence; it usually doesn't help.

Anyway, we got to Taste. We went inside. It was very crowded.

We paid for tickets. Then we paid extra for wine glasses (so we could try different wines) and some handy dandy wine glass pouches to wear around our necks.

Glasses on, we dove right into the Taste experience. Here's what it's like. There are several very, very long rows of exhibitors on each side. You walk down the aisles, sampling each product. There are people everywhere; it's hard to get through to the samples because people stand in front of the food, chatting in Italian with the person selling the product. Everyone wants to try everything, and it's a little chaotic.

I only took like 3 pictures the whole time I was there;
this is the one that sums it up best

Here are some of the things we tried:

• Olive oil (on pieces of bread; LOTS of it; different flavors; my favorite was a basil olive oil)
• Balsamic vinegar
• Jams (holy cow; I didn't know there were that many funky jam flavors; in particular I remember trying a spicy mustardy one with apples in it. . . not my favorite)
• Cheese (I'm not a fan of the super strong stinky cheeses, so I had a few mis-tastes)
• Salami (so many different kinds)
• Wine (I had some more of my FAVORITE wine ever, Moscato d'Asti; a sparkling white dessert wine we tried in my wine class; it tastes like peaches.)
• Cookies (so many biscotti and other delicious cookies)
• Sweet breads (most of those were really big samples; this is where I started to get really full)
• Chocolates
• Olives
• Chocolate Salami (Google this. It's a real thing. It tastes like cookie dough. Ohmygosh.)
• Pesto, mushroom paste, olive paste, other spreads
• Fish (and fish-related things, like spread, sampled on crackers)
• Tomato/bread soup (like we made in class the other day)
• Canned tomatoes
• Fresh fruit juices
• Roasted Nuts

I'm sure there were some things we missed because of the crowd. I definitely got my money's worth, though. I was stuffed by the time we finished sampling things.

Before leaving, Lindsey and I each bought some things. I bought a jar of olives. I don't even like olives very much, but these were delicious. I bought some yummy flavored peanuts (though I don't think they're particularly Italian). I bought a couple of jars of pesto, and a jar of some out-of-this-world peach jam.

My treasures

First, there was a chocolate festival. Now, there's a gormet food festival. I think I am living in the right place.

On a much sadder (more sad? sadder?) note, mid-terms are this week. Which means I probably shouldn't have spent the first half of the semester not studying. It's crunch time. Thank goodness Spring Break starts Friday whether I do well on my mid-terms or not. :)