{"id":2558,"date":"2010-06-03T13:54:25","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T12:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/?p=2558"},"modified":"2011-04-28T14:42:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T12:42:21","slug":"how-italy-has-changed-my-diet-in-7-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/03\/how-italy-has-changed-my-diet-in-7-years\/","title":{"rendered":"How Italy has changed my diet in 7 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Beautiful red and green tomatoes by MsAdventuresinItaly, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/msadventuresinitaly\/437985409\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/174\/437985409_b30a91437e_m.jpg?resize=240%2C160\" alt=\"Beautiful red and green tomatoes\" width=\"240\" height=\"160\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a> After living in Italy for 7 years, I have been reflecting on my diet and what I eat daily. I don&#8217;t eat quite like an Italian, but I don&#8217;t eat quite like an American, either.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s some reflections I&#8217;ve had on how it&#8217;s changed since I moved here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Portion size<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the US I was used to ordering and expecting to take whatever I didn&#8217;t eat home and perhaps eating it again. Sometimes we would pick a particular restaurant knowing that it served too-large portions and we&#8217;d eat twice&#8230;for the price of one! In Italy, I find that I eat less, in terms of portion size, especially when eating out. Restaurants don&#8217;t compete with each other and you won&#8217;t find people recommending a place because they give you so much to eat. That doesn&#8217;t mean that you should eat every morsel that gets placed in front of you in a restaurant in Italy, but there&#8217;s a better chance it&#8217;s just right.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Keep on reading!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Glass size<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How I loved getting a big plastic tumbler in the summer, filling it to the brim with ice, and then with my favorite beverage &#8211; water, soda, or juice back in California. I missed these huge glasses (and ice) when I first moved to Italy, where most glass sizes are 4-6 ounces. But I now appreciate them because it helps me regulate myself much easier in terms of how much juice or soda I drink (and I drink very little already) &#8211; often I pour in a few swallows at a time into the glass, and I never yearn for those 20 oz. cups.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ice<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A follow-up from the above point, I couldn&#8217;t tell you the last time I cared if I had ice in my drink, though most bars will give you ice in cocktails. Keep the water and drinks cold, pour just the amount that you need to drink in that moment and return that bottle to the fridge, and everything stays perfectly cool. But again, I&#8217;m not a big soda drinker.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pork products: much more of the other white meat<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For those of you who love your pork products (and I mean well beyond bacon), Italy is the place for you. For those of you who prefer the original white meat (chicken) to the &#8220;other&#8221; white meat, it&#8217;s not so great. Lunchmeats are limited to mainly pork and beef products, with the rare, plain slice-able turkey breast lunchmeat available in a rare bar, or in most supermarkets. Oven-roasted peppered turkey? Honey-roasted chicken breast? Not going to happen. This change has been rather against my will, but I&#8217;m getting used to it. One thing I do like is <em><strong>praga<\/strong><\/em> &#8211; smoked prosciutto \/ ham that is slightly different than the salami \/ prosciutto cotto &#8211; crudo \/ bresaola \/ mortadella continuum.<\/p>\n<p>On a related note, you won&#8217;t find mountains of skinless, boneless chicken breast on menus in Italy. You won&#8217;t find much chicken at all and definitely, definitely no chicken in a pasta dish or on a pizza. You&#8217;ll more likely find roasted chicken (skin on, on the bone) with a side of oven-roasted potatoes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Raw cheese vs. melted cheese <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While cheese has always been a big part of my diet, and continues to be, I have definitely been eating less melted cheese (<em>read: less Mexican food &amp; American food<\/em>) and instead I eat much more raw cheese while living in Italy. The few Italian dishes I really enjoy with melted cheese are <strong><em>cacio e pepe<\/em><\/strong> pasta (pasta with <em>pecorino romano<\/em> cheese and pepper), and of course <strong><em>lasagna <\/em><\/strong>and <strong><em>parmigiana di melanzane <\/em><\/strong>(eggplant parmesan) but I eat these dishes mainly in winter months, and not even once a week.<\/p>\n<p>And before you say, ah ah, what about pizza? Yes, of course there is melted cheese&#8230;on most pizzas. I&#8217;ll let you in on a little secret about my favorite pizza: <strong><em>rossa <\/em><\/strong>(tomato sauce) with <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">no mozzarella<\/span>, <strong><em>salame piccante<\/em><\/strong> (hot salami\/pepperoni), <strong><em>gorgonzola <\/em><\/strong>cheese (very little) and fresh <strong><em>rucola <\/em><\/strong>(rocket \/ arugula) on top. So very little melted cheese there, too :)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>Beer <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wait, what? I know you were expecting a line about wine here. But living in Italy, and perhaps together with getting older, has made me realize and have the courage to say that <strong>I prefer beer over wine<\/strong>. Yep. Besides the fact that American beer here is considered foreign (ack!) and preferred by a few people, I have also gotten to experiment with some great European and local Italian beers. My secret is out. I don&#8217;t drink alcohol with every meal, and I still drink a glass of wine now and then, but I&#8217;m more likely to order a cocktail or a beer over a glass of red wine, or instead get a glass of white wine or <strong><em>prosecco<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Packaged snacks<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don&#8217;t think Italians snack as much as Americans do. Sometimes I  miss the salty, nasty packs of low-fat BBQ chips, nut mixes, and  crackers that I regularly would purchase in the States. Nuts are  relatively plain (I often bring back honey-roasted, chili and  dry-roasted nuts from the US) and snacks are often more sweet (the  mid-afternoon break, the <strong><em>merenda <\/em><\/strong>is mostly sweet) than  savory. This is probably a good thing, though. Snacking is not our  friend!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Working out<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the States I was working out 3-4 times a week, and eating whatever  I wanted. Here, for various reasons I&#8217;ve had an on-again, off-again  relationship with the gym and so even though I&#8217;m generally eating better  quality and fresher food, I&#8217;ve had to watch what I eat a bit more than  in the States since I&#8217;m not burning off calories as fast.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">I am sure there are many more, and I&#8217;ll do a part 2 in the future.<\/span> I&#8217;m going to add a few more here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Coffee<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t drink coffee, at all, before I moved to Italy. I started drinking espresso here socially, with students, friends, and colleagues, and then 3 years ago I started drinking it every morning. I love and prefer Italian espresso and I seek it out wherever I go, even back in the States.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Breakfast<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Where I once used to eat a balanced breakfast &#8211; a bagel, some fruit, a granola bar, or occasionally an American breakfast, I now eat nothing in the morning. Just a coffee.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Meal times : Lunch and Dinner<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Instead of lunch from 11.30\/12 &#8211; 1pm like in the States, my lunch hour is now 1-2pm, which means that I also get home later from work, and I eat later. Most evenings I don&#8217;t ever eat earlier than 8pm, and when I&#8217;m staying in Puglia dinner can be as late as 9.30\/10pm. (<em>thx to Tina for the reminder in the comments<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Have your eating habits changed in the last seven years, even if you haven&#8217;t changed countries?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eyeonitaly.com\/podcast\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"2592\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/09\/10-tourist-mistakes-when-visiting-italy-tipping-tickets-and-more\/tinyeoi\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/tinyEOI.jpg?fit=73%2C73&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"73,73\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"tinyEOI\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/tinyEOI.jpg?fit=73%2C73&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/tinyEOI.jpg?fit=73%2C73&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2592 alignright\" title=\"tinyEOI\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/tinyEOI.jpg?resize=73%2C73&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"73\" height=\"73\" \/><\/a>Still hungry for more Italy news? Listen to the <strong>All-Italy podcast<\/strong> I co-host called <strong>Eye on Italy<\/strong> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eyeonitaly.com\/podcast\">www.eyeonitaly.com\/podcast<\/a>. <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After living in Italy for 7 years, I have been reflecting on my diet and what I eat daily. I don&#8217;t eat quite like an Italian, but I don&#8217;t eat quite like an American, either. Here&#8217;s some reflections I&#8217;ve had on how it&#8217;s changed since I moved here: Portion size In the US I was&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/03\/how-italy-has-changed-my-diet-in-7-years\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,103,3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-discovering-food","7":"category-discovering-italy","8":"category-food","9":"category-italy","10":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uB1-Fg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2598,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/24\/strawberry-festival-sagra-delle-fragole-in-italy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":0},"title":"Strawberry Festival, Sagra delle Fragole in Italy","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"June 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"If it's summertime, that means loads of wonderful sagre, festivals, in Italy. Many sagre are food-related celebrations and festivals, but not all. But when it is food-related, you know that you're going to eat well! Even the tiniest cities can have excellent sagre. Case in point is the Sagra delle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discovering Food&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Food","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fresh strawberries - Sagra della Fragola, Strawberry Festival in Italy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1081\/4729380157_50f0c2af01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":640,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/28\/how-to-love-granita-siciliana-with-a-briochefor-breakfast\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":1},"title":"How to Love Granita Siciliana with a Brioche&#8230;for Breakfast","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"August 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome ivillage.com readers! I'm an American living in Italy and I love to cook, eat and travel! 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Other than the beautiful beach, the water was great and though I sometimes miss the waves of a raging ocean, it's nice to float and swim for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mattinatella Beach","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1241\/1254600517_df2cd717f1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5909,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/27\/italy-food-bucket-list-part-2-13-more-delicious-things-to-eat-in-italy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":3},"title":"Italy Food Bucket List, Part 2: 13 More Delicious Things to Eat in Italy","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm going to continue my list of delicious things to eat in Italy with another installment. Together this series will make up an Italy Food Bucket List\u00a0you need to seek out and try while in Italy!\u00a0Read Part 1 of the Italy Food Bucket List here. Something missing from the list?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discovering Food&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Food","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Burrata, Ms. Adventures in Italy by Sara Rosso","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_9084_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_9084_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_9084_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_9084_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/IMG_9084_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5310,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/13\/13-delicious-things-to-eat-in-italy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":4},"title":"Italy Food Bucket List, Part 1: 13 Delicious Things to Eat in Italy Right Now","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"August 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last newsletter, I highlighted one of my favorite things I've done on this site,\u00a0101 American Foods to Try in the USA, which is a series I also made available (free!) in ebook & PDF formats so you can take it on your next trip there. It started me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discovering Food&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Food","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/PanePomodoro_Imageby_SaraRosso.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/PanePomodoro_Imageby_SaraRosso.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/PanePomodoro_Imageby_SaraRosso.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2322,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/09\/10-tourist-mistakes-when-visiting-italy-tipping-tickets-and-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":5},"title":"10 Tourist Mistakes when Visiting Italy: Tipping, Tickets, and More","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"June 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Love Italy?\u00a0You should check out my book about\u00a0How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy!\u00a0\u00a0It's available on Amazon! Get your copy or tell a friend! Here are some common mistakes and misconceptions tourists have about traveling in Italy. After posting about how my diet changed after\u00a0moving to Italy 7 years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/italian-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy by Sara Rosso","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/HowtoOrderanItalianCoffeeinItaly_SaraRosso-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2558"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3245,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558\/revisions\/3245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}