Change Of Diet

One thing which has certainly changed for me since I arrived in Sardinia is the variety of food I've been eating. Maria Rita tells me that very little food here needs to be imported and it's certainly noticeable, when we visit the supermarkets, how much of the food is locally produced. There is an abundance of fresh fish and fresh meat, the range of which puts to shame the boasts of "more choice" from the huge supermarket chains in the UK. Furthermore, there is no need to fly in runner beans from Kenya, oranges from Spain and apples from South Africa - nearly all the fruit and vegetables come from the island too. Seeing as agriculture is one of the main industries here along with tourism, I suppose this is hardly surprising. But for an Englishman like me it's very refreshing to find myself in a culture where the ruthlessly competitive commercial approach, of a handful of huge supermarket firms, would never be allowed to flourish in the same way as in the UK.

Of course, there is another reason why I'm eating a greater variety of food. I'm not a great lover of shopping so, for me, the supermarket in England was a place for me to get in and out of as quickly as possible once a week. Although I would usually eat my five portions of fruit and vegetables every day, it was usually limited to a choice between potatoes, carrots, beans and peas and bananas, apples, clementines and grapes. And my range of main meals amounted to a total of little more than five or six.

The Italians know how to enjoy their food. It is not something to be gobbled down as quickly as possible (as is so often the case in England), a kind of interruption to the more important things that need to be done (which usually have little or no importance in comparison with the importance of eating food a little more consciously and sensibly). It's an experience for the whole family to share and savour. I remember, on a previous visit, when we were at Lotzorai sharing a meal with Maria Rita's sister Patrizia and her brother-in-law Gianfranco. "Piano, piano" they said, "mangiamo un po, parliamo un po. Non abbiamo fretta." (Gently does it. We eat a little, we talk a little. We're in no rush.)

It's well known that the staple diet here is pasta, and I've been eating plenty of that, but served up in lots of different and imaginative ways. In addition, for the first time ever, I've tried lamb's intestines (still not sure about that, but it certainly didn't make me feel ill!) and also other dishes which I may have eaten long ago, but so long ago I can't really be sure. Anyway, Gilt-head bream ('orata' in Italian) and tripe (trippa), amongst a few others, certainly got the thumbs up from me.

In Italy the Slow Food movement has really taken off, especially in Sardinia and it was very interesting for me to learn that even what might be termed fast food here is not like most of the fast food we experience in the UK or the USA. A few days ago Maria Rita, on her way home bought some still hot roast chicken and roast potatoes from a local 'Rosticceria' (the one in the picture below). It tasted so good that I remarked that it tasted every bit as good as if it had been cooked at home, perhaps even better. "That's because it's cooked properly," she said. "you can see the chicken roasting on a spit while you're waiting to be served." And the same goes for the pizzas. None of this being taken out of the freezer and heated up for a couple of minutes in the microwave!