Ames@VivaLaAmes11
As an American who lives in Italy now, I feel I can speak on this topic. Is the food quality different in Italy versus the US? Yes, wildly different.
I’ve noticed it in pretty much everything. The fruit and vegetables taste stronger and sweeter. Yes, zucchini, broccoli, potatoes and cauliflower have a sweetness that I never knew about. Meat tastes “meatier,” and carbs never ever bog me down. In the U.S. I’d eat a serving of pasta, or bread and feel like I was bloated or needed a nap. Here, I eat pasta, or pizza or bread and I feel nothing out of the ordinary. The eggs have a totally different consistency. They’re very “creamy.” Even the American Cheese here is so wildly different. It’s so creamy that it sticks to the wrapper, it’s a mess trying to get it out. Clearly, they don’t use the stabilizers we do in the U.S. Another difference is the salt and sugar levels in processed foods. Nothing, not even the cookies and cakes are too sweet. It took me a while to get used to the Heinz ketchup here, because it’s nowhere near as sweet as the U.S. product. And crunchy snacks are not overly salted. The wine here is on another level. Even the “cheap stuff” is really good. You rarely, if ever will wake up with a headache, even if you’ve over indulged. The olive oil here has this peppery almost slightly spicy finish to it. It’s so good, unlike anything in the U.S. and another thing I noticed, I haven’t eaten “greasy” food since I’ve been here. And yes, I order fried and batter-dipped foods, but nothing ever feels heavy or greasy and I can’t figure out why. Aside from the taste of food, my overall feeling is healthier. I know part of that is because I’m much more active, walking so much. But I honestly can’t recall the last time I felt “bloated” - that feeling hasn’t happened here, but in the U.S. I had that “bloat” feeling all the time. Also, I had a lot of stomach issues in the U.S. I remember always having heartburn or a churning stomach and chewing on TUMS. So much so, that I actually brought a huge container of them with me when I moved here. Oddly enough, I haven’t had one single tablet in almost 2 years.
Don’t get me wrong, I think so much of the food in the US is amazing. I love recreating US-style food here for my international friends. Im proud of my American food culture. I just think we’ve been screwed over by weird seed splicing, creepy fillers and stabilizers, artificial junk, and dyes, among many other unhealthy things.
