I love Italian food

After dinner pose

Those who dislike Italian food, shouldn’t visit Italy. Food occupies an extremely important and special place in daily Italian life. The same goes for wine. “The ones that cannot appreciate the beautiful bouquet of flavours that Italian wines give you, do not appreciate the very essence, the very taste of life”. I don’t remember who said this, but whoever did, definitely knew what he was talking about. As for my travelling: I prefer to travel to those places in the world to which all of my senses are attracted: my seeing and hearing, but especially my nose and palate have to be pleasantly satisfied. 

Never ‘just food’

Just food or good food, that is the question. I like good food. Everyone does, I suppose, but still, to me there’s a big difference between ‘just food’ or good food. ‘Just food’ means ‘something that you put into your mouth in order to stop the feeling of hunger’. It only has a practical sense. There’s no beauty, no pleasure, no enjoyment involved. ‘Good food’ is the kind of food that you smell, savour, suck, twist around your tongue, swallow gently, slurp softly in order not to harm the delicacy of intertwined flavours. 

Good food has to be composed as a piece of art. It has to do with the combination of colours, smells and shapes, with structure and secret schemes. A plate of good food is like a beautiful painting: just by looking at it you absorb the wonder of its very existence.

During my stay in Rome I savoured a few excellent recipes. The origins of the recipes I don’t know: whether they are north or south or east or west is not important: I named them after their makers, because in a way they were the creators of these little palatal heavens. I was not only the consumer of their food, but of their LOVE for food. It beamed upon me as a giant HEART and took me straight to the stars. 

An excellent dish: Rigatoni alla Giorgiana

Giorgia the cook

Cook: Giorgia

Her heart and cooking energy: Sicilian (Catania)

Place: Rome

Time: 22h

Type of pasta: rigatoni

Ingrediënts for the pasta sauce (all together mixed in a blender): fresh basil leaves, sundried tomatoes (the ones in olive oil), blanched almonds, some extra olive oil, one klove of garlic (without the heart).

Ingrediënts for the topping: 3 slices of toasted bread. Grate the bread, and fry it for 2 minutes in a few drops of olive oil. 

Enjoy!

Rigatoni alla Giorgiana