Part of learning to slow down in my life here in Italy is in how I eat. In the U.S., we're used to being able to buy any produce at any time. But in Italy, we eat with the seasons.
An Abundance of Produce
The summer started with cherries. Cherries, cherries, everywhere. We happen to have cherry trees in the mountain, and trust me: they taste best freshly picked!
After that came the mullberries, peaches, apricots, and plums. Tomatoes, pumpkin flowers, and zucchini. Every meal was an embarrassment of vegetable riches.
I'm learning not to buy produce because Fra's family either grows it or gets loads of it as a gift. They laughed at me for buying oranges last winter, not knowing the months and months of citrus we'd have, all for free.
What to Do with All That Food
Growing up in the South, I well knew that when you get too many zucchini from well-meaning neighbors who wish to offload them, you make zucchini bread and other dishes.
There's always that risk of overdosing. Of eating so much of a thing that you come to dread the next meal. But that doesn't really happen here. At the point when I start to wish I'd never see another cherry/zucchini/fava bean again, the season ends. And then I'm a little wistful, wishing for just one more.
I've also learned to gift whatever produce I don't want. I have friends with a restaurant, so they can always use whatever I send their way!
An Appreciation of Nature
This is how eating is supposed to be. How it was long before hydroponic gardens and hybridization. Before convenience became a top priority and we wanted to eat what we felt like eating, when we wanted it.
Eating with the seasons in Italy has given me the gift of presence. I enjoy what the Earth gives me now, and don't spend time wishing for what's not in season. Then, when something new arrives, it's a wonderful gift!
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