I went to cooking school in Calabria, Italy, so you don’t have to! Here are the best things I learned about Italian cooking and food at the Italian Culinary Institute.
ONE: Italians Shop And Cook Based On The Season
In North America, we have access to any produce we want – any time. I never used to think about this; I remember my mom buying more of a certain fruit or vegetable during certain times of the year and mentioning that it was because “they’re in season right now”, but after my Calabrian culinary excursion, I realized that being able to buy berries from the store in the winter time while it was snowing outside was more of a problem than a gift. In Italy, you can’t buy any food you want any time, you have to be patient and wait for certain items to be seasonally ready for harvest and consumption.
TWO: Garlic Makes You Bloat, Unless You Do This One Thing
Before going to Calabria, I always cooked with garlic and didn’t really think much of it except that it added flavor with the side effect of bloating. When I went to Italy, I thought it was weird how the food had so much flavor but I never really saw the chefs who were teaching my program use any garlic in their demonstrations. The head chef went on to explain that instead of using straight cloves of garlic, they use a garlic-infused olive oil in their cooking to add flavor without leaving a pungent aftertaste and making you bloat. Genius.
The reason that garlic-infused olive oil won’t make you bloat like regular garlic will is because during the infusion process, all of the fructans in the garlic are released. Fructans are a type of natural carbohydrate found in garlic and onions that can cause gas and bloating because they can be difficult for the body to digest. When infusing olive oil with garlic, you combine the two in a food processor to break the garlic down and then let the mixture sit uncovered for two days the permeate the oil while releasing any naturally occurring gasses. After two days, you can strain the garlic from your liquid and you’ll be left with a flavor-packed oil – minus the side effects.
THREE: Hangovers Are Harder To Get
As a wine drinker in her late twenties, I know that a couple glasses one night means a headache the next morning without fail. I also wake up with allergies the morning after having wine and never really understood why until I went to Europe.
In North America, sulfites are normally found in wine to help preserve it and avoid any oxidation from occurring in the beverage. In Europe, they don’t add sulfites to their wine (I guess they’re not worried about shelf-life, which makes sense since in countries like Spain and Italy it’s common to have a glass of wine with most meals), so it’s easier on the body. I’m not saying you won’t get a hangover – I lived in Spain for 6 months in my early twenties and can tell you firsthand that just because wine doesn’t contain sulfites doesn’t mean you can completely swerve a Sunday morning headache, but you can definitely enjoy a glass or two of vino without having to worry too much!
FOUR: Eat What You Want, Feel Great About It
You may have heard this before – so, if you have, I am here to tell you that it’s true: eating cheese, bread, and pasta in Europe likely won’t have the same effect on you as cheese, pasta, and bread in the states. In North America, and the United States in specific, preservatives and fillers go into a lot of our foods that are meant to be natural. While additives lengthen shelf-life, food quality takes a hit and these different things that are not meant to be in our carbs and cheeses can have adverse effects on the body.
I have heard people talk about having gluten or dairy allergies in the United States but being completely fine to enjoy these things in Europe. I personally have intolerances to high-gluten foods and dairy products, but when I was in Calabria I ate whatever I wanted and felt completely fine. I didn’t even bloat and I was basically on a 7-day pasta, cheese, bread, and wine diet…
This is not to say that if you are gluten-free or dairy-free in the U.S. that you will be completely fine in Europe, but you may actually be able to try certain things that you normally wouldn’t without the same North American effects.
FIVE: Italians Don’t Bullshit In The Kitchen
Italy is one of the best countries in the world. There, I said it – maybe I’m just partial, maybe it’s true, but I really do believe that good food is part of what makes life beautiful, and in Italy they have excellent food (and they know it!). Italy also happens to be extraordinarily beautiful, which helps me plead my case here.
Measurements: There were a few things that took some getting used to for me during my time in Calabria. First of all, they measure by weight instead of measuring by volume. Everything in my notebook from the Italian Culinary Institute was in grams, milliliters, and liters. Now listen, I have never measured anything by weight in my life – growing up, everything was measured in spoons and cups, but I soon realized that when you measure by volume it is actually almost impossible to get a recipe wrong because using this method is so exact. To do this, you do indeed need a kitchen scale – so when I arrived back home from my culinary excursion the first thing I did was order a little kitchen scale on Amazon!
Flour and W-Value: The flour in Italy is also something that took some getting used to for me because they give their flour the respect it deserves by classifying its strength using w-values. W-values usually range from 100 to 400. Flours with higher w-values have more gluten, while flours with lower w-values have less gluten. Because of this, flours with higher w-values need more time to proof (ferment) while flours with lower w-values don’t require much fermentation/proofing time.
It’s important to know the strength of your flour when cooking and baking certain things – for example, pasta generally has a lower w-value because it really doesn’t need to proof before cooking it. If you’re baking croissants, however, which usually have a more substantial proofing time, you’ll want to use a flour with a higher w-value.
Sugar, A Trilogy: The last thing I noticed especially during the baking section of my culinary course in Italy was that they don’t just use sugar – they define whether they need to use glucose, sucrose, or fructose. All three of these things are sweetening agents that fall into the sugar category, but they have different levels of sweetness and are meant for different things in Italian cooking and baking.
Sucrose is common in North American baking – it is what we call granulated sugar and it’s made by combining glucose and fructose. Glucose is single-molecule sugar that is not as sweet as fructose and sucrose, and considered a carbohydrate building block. Fructose is a sweet single-molecule sugar that can be found naturally in fruits, vegetables, honey, etc.
The Sum It All Up
Italy, and Europe in general, approaches food much differently that we do in North America. Food is a huge part of Italian culture, and it’s made with intention which I find really beautiful and important especially when it comes to eating for your health. Why would you not want to use high-quality ingredients?
And why is it sometimes difficult to find high-quality ingredients in North America?
That question can’t be answered in a single blog post – that’s really a whole other can of worms, but I do dare crack it open and challenge you to think about your ingredients carefully and try cooking like an Italian. I’d say that you might even like it, but I already know you will.
If you’re interested in the program I attended in Calabria, Italy, check out the Italian Culinary Institute’s website! I attended the Foundation of Italian Cuisine course and I highly recommend it.
Resources:
Weiss, C. (2023, September 12). Mayo Clinic Q and A: Food to reduce bloating. Mayo Clinic News Network. https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-q-and-a-food-to-reduce-bloating/