The Food Maven Diary
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06/26/2001 Archived Entry: "Fred Plotkin on Eating in Rome, Florence, Venice and Trieste"

I know that many of you will be enjoying Italy this summer, and while you’re there you will want to experience food traditions that haven’t changed in centuries. Last Friday and this Monday I had my very good friend, Fred Plotkin, on Food Talk and we chatted about the dishes, customs, and restaurants found throughout Italy.

Fred used to be a road-production manager for Metropolitan Opera of New York and traveled extensively in Italy in that capacity. It was a good start for the research he did to write Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, which is the most complete book on the subject in English.

This Maven’s Diary entry will cover all the background information we discussed. Tomorrow’s entry will give the details -- the names and addresses of specific restaurants, wine bars, and caffès that Fred suggests visiting.

Fred and I began by talking about how Romans eat. Fred warned that service in Rome might be considered unrefined. I thought he was too polite. I often find Roman waiters downright rude. He explained that a typical Roman meal is about eating with friends and loved ones. All over Rome, you can find groups of people digging into heavily-peppered bowls of spaghetti alla carbonara and spaghetti al’Amatriciana . Fred confirmed that Romans, like most Italians, prefer to eat a very large meal for lunch, favoring lighter fare for their evening meal, including pizza.

Moving on from Rome to Florence, Fred warned against falling into the trap of believing the “Tuscan beauty myth” – not everything in Tuscany is perfect. Tuscan olive oil isn’t delicate. Its flavor is big and peppery. He said beware of waiters offering wine suggestions. They are often not being gracious but trying to sell you overpriced bottles. Tuscan food has jokingly been described as “burned meat and baby food” because the hallmarks of the cuisine are charred steaks, mushy beans and vegetables, and minestra, first courses, based on bread. These include pappa al pomodoro, stale bread softened in tomato sauce, and ribolita, a big greens and beans vegetable soup reheated with stale bread. Not to say that these aren’t delicious.

Unfortunately, at the moment, you can’t even get the great charred steak, La Fiorentina, a sort of T-bone, for which Tuscany is known. Mad cow disease -- mucca pazza -- prevents the sale of meat on the bone. A great alternative, Fred and I suggest, is arista, which might be listed on a menu as arista di maiale, or arista of pork. It’s pork loin roasted with a whopping dose of rosemary, garlic, salt and black pepper.

Overall, the heart of Florence isn’t Fred’s favorite place to dine, so he usually stays in hotels near the bus or train stations from where he can easily escape to the beautiful Tuscan countryside for wonderfully rustic meals. Fred also recommended taking the bus from Florence (more convenient than the train in this case) to Sienna. While in town, he suggests trying Siena’s beautiful cheeses, great lamb or pork and some picci, a thick, hand-rolled strand of pasta that is usually shorter than spaghetti.

Next Fred and I moved on to the third big tourist city in Italy, Venice. Until recently when Florence gained the honor, Venice was known as the worst restaurant town in Italy. Fred advised to try the fresh fish and beautiful vegetables this summer served alongside great polenta or risotto. We also talked about the concept of osterie or wine bars which are also called bacari in Venice. These are great places to sample a good glass of wine for $1 to $1.50 and get cichetti or small snacks, like Spanish tapas. Another favorite thing to do in Venice is to sit at a caffè (maybe in Piazza San Marco) and order an aperativo or a caffè. I personally think no one should leave Venice without sitting down for drink at Caffè Florian in San Marco – but more about specific places in my next diary entry.

Finally, Fred and I talked about some of the not so well visited Italian towns that deserve attention. For instance, Trieste, in the very northeast of Italy (where my great-grandmother was from). Fred calls Trieste the New York City of Italy because he feels it is the most cosmopolitan Italian city, a crossroads of cultures because it was the port of Vienna, was once Austrian, has Slavic influences, and, of course, Italian. It offers the country’s best coffee, its best pastries, and a wonderful array of savory foods often sweetened with fruit. Of course, as the author of La Terra Fortunata, a book on the subject of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, the region of Trieste, Fred is prejudiced.

In Trieste, Fred suggests trying gnocchi filled with apricots, cherries, or plums. Generally, chefs in Trieste use more spices than herbs because it was the port of entry fro many spices from the East. Oftentimes meat is seasoned with nutmeg and vegetables are flavored with saffron. Fred also talked about the city’s “buffets,” which are really places to eat dishes made from pigs. From snout to tail, the entire pig is used to make house specialties like sausages and grilled pork ribs that are served with boiled eggs and mustard. Trieste isn’t just a stop on the culinary map, there is lots to do including visiting the largest synagogue in Europe or exploring some of the same caffès as James Joyce did when he was a resident.

After this exhaustive tour of Italian foods, I stand by my claim that their success is due to their incredible ingredients prepared with great care. Fred agrees, adding that to truly enjoy Italian food, we should never forget the nap afterwards.

(Tomorrow: Names and addresses.)