A Barbarian Diet for Me -Post #8

"You are what you eat," it's a common saying that's used when we are children to make us eat healthier. In a broader sense though what we eat does tell us who we are, or at least it tells about our culture. When the Roman Empire fell and the "barbarians" gained more power, eating habits changed in some ways and yet also retained a 'roman-ness' in others. Instead of the Mediterranean triad of grains, grapes, and olives, there was somewhat of a switch to meat, milk, and butter. However, as we talked about in class, you can't have church without grain, grapes, and olives so the Mediterranean triad didn't fall out of favor completely. Now I love Mediterranean food, but I'm Irish and Polish so I'm definitely a meat and potatoes kind of girl, so the barbarian diet doesn't sound too bad to me. Something that fascinated me about the reading was how important the 'barbarian' ways of foraging and hunting became popular as these were things the Romans once abhorred. Although there were some changes in diet in what exactly they ate, these changes added more diversity and thus more stability and nutrition to the peasant's diet. Not only was the food more nutritious but with a wider variety to pick from and with more ingredients to use the food probably started to be a little better (in a very, very small, baby step kind of way).

Montanari states that 'production and consumption of food were closely linked' in the middle ages and I find this particularly interesting especially considering the recent return to this way of life. In recent times there has been a push for eating as 'local' as you can, especially from your own garden. Self-sufficiency is slowly on the rise again, people are looking for a more artisanal product. I see this a lot in the US but even more so in Italy I see people eating fresh, local products and these products also featured in restaurants you go to. Using what you have fresh and available to us is a common theme that rings true even today in Italy. In Umbria, they are known for mushrooms and truffles. You know what was all over menus there? Truffle and mushrooms. 

Mushroom and Truffle bruschetta

Mushroom and Truffle pasta.

In Cinque Terre they are known for pesto and lemons, and you know what you find a lot of all over Cinque Terre? Pesto in all kinds of dishes and lemon everything (from candy to soap to some amazing limoncello).

Pizza we got from a small local place. He called it 'tricolor pizza' and it had fresh, local pesto on it.

Eating local tends to mean everything is fresh and delicious and if it's a local specialty, you know they're doing it right!

Ciao for now!
Veni. Vidi. Mangia.