When I decided to spend the Spring 2019 semester of my Junior year in Florence, Italy all I could think about was the food. Pizza, pasta, panini, parmesan, prosciutto, gelato, fresh tomatoes … I could go on forever. Seriously, Florence is a food lovers dream and I could not wait to have the best Italian food of my life. Although as excited as I was about all the food, I was slightly apprehensive about my decision due to the fact that the only way I could go to Florence through the Syracuse University program was to live in a homestay with an Italian family.
To many, the homestay is one of the most enticing opportunities about the Florence program, but at first, for me, this fact was pretty terrifying. Living in a strangers house for four months was more than a bit outside of my comfort zone. I spoke to some friends who lived with host families before and I was convinced that it was time to throw myself into this unique experience. After all, wasn’t going abroad was supposed to be a time of exciting opportunities and trying new things (especially new foods)? So I went to meet my new Italian family with an open heart and an empty stomach.
Now on the other side, I can definitely say that living with a host family was one of the best experiences I have ever had. They could not have been more welcoming, friendly, and willing to make me and my roommate a part of their family. One of the best parts of living with a host family was that included with the overall program, was dinner five nights a week. Yes, you read that correctly. Five nights a week I was lucky enough to have a home-cooked Italian meal. And these meals were better than anything I ate at any restaurant in Florence.
An Italian meal is not nearly the same as an American one. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom’s cooking, but is she making homemade sauce, meatballs, pasta, souffle and desserts every night? Most definitely not.
An average meal with my host family consisted of at least two courses, usually three. On any given night, we would sit down to a starter course of pasta. My favorites included broccoli, cheese, and cream sauce or homemade ragu with rigatoni or homemade lasagna (I am drooling right now). Some of her other dishes included ravioli with homemade pesto and zucchini, a roasted pepper sauce with crunchy bread and a version of baked ziti that I am dreaming of.
If it wasn’t pasta to start with, we would usually have some kind of toasts or cheese course. This could vary from a bruschetta toast to a baked sausage and cheese toast or a mix of cheeses or meats. There was always bread on the table too, which was then dipped in copious amounts of amazing olive oil and salted, as the Florentines do not make their bread with salt.
After the first course, the pasta bowls would be taken away and new dishes would appear almost out of thin air. From meatballs to pizza, to pork cutlets with sauteed peppers and onions, to fresh vegetable souffles of artichoke, squash, spinach and ricotta, to lemon chicken, to my personal all-time favorite, onion balsamic pie. Every single thing was truly delicious. And my host mom would never let me go hungry – it was a rare night that I would have just one serving of anything.
Now I know what you’re thinking…this has to be it right? How could there be more? But there is. Almost every night, without fail, there would be a homemade dessert IN ADDITION to all the other food we had eaten. Some of the highlights included chocolate cake, cheesecake with berries or chocolate, apple crumb, apple strudel, and various pound cakes. And if it wasn’t a homemade dessert there were always assorted chocolates, cookies, fruit, and nuts. Sometimes some dessert wine as well.
Every night, I would be marveled by how this was just a normal night of dinner! My host mom truly was an astounding chef and a superwoman. She worked full time as a kindergarten teacher, took care of three kids, a puppy, two foreigners (me and my roommate) and managed to whip together an irresistible dinner every single night. Even with being so busy, the family rarely goes out to dinner. It just isn’t normal for them to do so. Why would they go to a restaurant for the same food that my host mom could make at home even better?
In addition to the food, the culture of eating in Italy is one I have come to admire. Eating isn’t just for fuel, it is truly an experience. Every meal is shared with family and the meal is not just a 10 to 15-minute quick thing. No dinner we ate together lasted less than 30 minutes and most were about an hour. We sat and talked (in broken Italian on my side and pretty good English on theirs) about our days, current events, and each other’s lives. Sharing a meal was truly a special experience and I looked forward to it every night.
I miss my nightly host family dinners so much now and wish I could travel back in time to enjoy both the best food I have ever eaten and the company of the people I call family. If you ever have the opportunity to live in another country and fully immerse yourself in the culture, I can’t recommend it enough. Living with a host family, eating dinner with them and experiencing the way they live showed me so much more about Italian culture and experience than I ever would have known if I lived on my own.
P.S.: Here are some more drool-worthy pictures of food I was lucky enough to eat every night…
