{"id":562,"date":"2011-03-16T18:09:16","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T22:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/?p=562"},"modified":"2012-10-05T11:32:21","modified_gmt":"2012-10-05T15:32:21","slug":"italy-by-knife-fork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/italy-by-knife-fork","title":{"rendered":"Italy by Knife & Fork"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AUTHENTIC<\/a>Rome, Florence, Venice\u2026 Whichever Italian city you\u2019re in, one thing stays the same. Food is calling on every corner, \u201cMangia, mangia!\u201d<\/em> Here\u2019s a few ways to answer the call when not eating a scheduled tour meal.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t go wrong with authentic Italian pizza. But try to think beyond pepperoni because you can\u2019t order that from a real pizzeria. (It\u2019s called salame piccante<\/em>, actually.) Try a classic Neopolitan style made with simple fresh ingredients like tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil and olive oil (which you can see pressed at an olive oil making tour<\/a>.) Just know this pie is a far cry from what you usually eat out of a cardboard delivery box. Even watch a master pizzaiolo knead, toss and bake the crust in a coal- or wood-fired oven. It\u2019ll give you new respect for the word handmade.<\/p>\n

For a sit down meal, gather your group at an authentic trattoria, usually casual family places that sometimes don\u2019t even have menus\u2014kind of like eating blindfolded. That\u2019s because it\u2019s about bringing in neighbors rather than gourmands. So you can trust that whatever\u2019s on your plate will be traditional, hearty and plentiful as trattorias tend to serve family-style from large shared dishes.<\/p>\n

Want to eat on the run to save more time for the art museums? Grab some arrancini from a street vendor. These are crispy fried rice balls filled with rag\u00f9, tomato sauce, frommagio and sometimes peas. They fit in the palm of your hand and can be tucked into your backpack if you want to save one for after that Coliseum tour.<\/p>\n

As if carb-overload isn\u2019t already the order of the day (every day), let\u2019s not forget the best kind\u2014sweets! Try to avert your eyes from gelaterias because one look and you\u2019ll be hooked by the wavy crests of fresh fruit and nut flavors like fig, cherry, hazelnut and pistachio. Just want plain ole chocolate chip? Practice saying, \u201cstracciatella, per favore.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

If it\u2019s near the Christmas season, spring for some torrone. Made from egg whites, sugar honey and some kind of nut, this treat is like nougat but not like the candy bar kind. Sliced from a pan, the consistency varies from chewy to hard, so careful with your bite. You don\u2019t want anything to get in the way of the food fests still ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Florence, Venice\u2026 Whichever Italian city you\u2019re in, one thing stays the same. Food is calling on every corner, \u201cMangia, mangia!\u201d Here\u2019s a few ways to answer the call when not eating a scheduled tour meal. You can\u2019t go wrong with authentic Italian pizza. But try to think beyond pepperoni because you can\u2019t order that Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,63,172],"tags":[71,72,58,70,17,73],"class_list":["post-562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-parents","category-students","category-teachers","tag-culture","tag-destination","tag-educational-travel","tag-food","tag-italy","tag-olive-oil-making-tour","post_format-post-format-aside"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1680,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions\/1680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}