I revel in a good meal. In fact, I love nothing more than a long leisurely meal with excellent food and good company. You see, to me, eating is an experience.
I guess you could say that my love for food is innate. I have always been an adventurous eater with what they call a “mature palate.” At the age of 5, I would open a menu and say, “Dad, pick me something I’ve never had before.” Mac-n-cheese simply would not do.
Each year growing up, I got to choose a restaurant for my annual birthday dinner. For five or six straight years I chose Chili’s. Why? Simple answer: I was crazy about their baby back ribs.
“Full slab of ribs please, side of steak fries,” I’d tell the waiter. “And I’ll start with a small Caesar salad. Oh, and we’ll take an Awesome Blossom for our appetizer.”
Keep in mind this is my seventh birthday.
“Are you sure? We have a kid’s portion,” he’d say, looking to my parents with a skeptical expression.
“No, she can handle it,” my Dad would respond, giving me an affectionate pat on the back.
Forty-five minutes later the waiter would clear away the empty plates, shaking his head in wonder. Then we’d drive home and eat dessert. Chocolate cake with mom’s homemade icing. And ice cream, obviously. I always had room for dessert.
It is truly a miracle I was not overweight as a child.
Nowadays I just can’t eat that way. Wish I could, but eating “swanky frankies” (hot dog wrapped in bacon with melted cheese) on a regular basis like I did as a kid is not exactly healthy. My fondness for food remains, however, and so my family and friends were not surprised when I chose to study abroad in Italy, a country known for its culinary genius.
Like I said before, eating can be an experience if we allow it to be so. Meals allow us to have conversations, build relationships, celebrate milestones, or gather with friends and family. And through meals, we can learn about a culture.
With this idea in mind, I begin my blog. I have dreamed of going to Italy since I was a little girl. Over the next four months, I will be studying in Florence and on some weekends I’ll be traveling around Italy and parts of Europe. In one week, I am flying to London to spend a few days with some dear family friends who live there. After that, I'm off to Florence. I could not be more excited! I plan to use this blog as a sort of journal to record my adventures in Europe, both culinary and non. I’m sure that this semester – through meals, museums, monuments, and memories – I will gain a new appreciation for cultures beyond my own and maybe even learn a little about myself. Here’s to what will undoubtedly be an unforgettable couple of months! Stay tuned.
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