Le Dolce Vita

Food was invented in Italy. I came to this realization halfway through a focaccia with pesto in Vernazza in Le Cinque Terre. After all, my lunch was first created, or rather discovered, within 50 km of where I sit on the steps watching a cat play in a boat while eating. I say discovered because only God could have created pesto. He made basil, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil all native in this region. Then he left it to man to figure out how to combine the ingredients properly (a personal discovery I have yet to make). And that may have taken a thousand years, but we are better today for it, just as the focaccia is.

But back to our thesis here. Food was invented in Italy. Before that, it was just sustenance,like the bagels with cream cheese that have sustained my brother since he was two. Here food takes on meaning, identity, a higher purpose. It becomes le dolce vita, the sweet life enjoyed in five or six courses over three hours with friends or family. Antipasta. First course. Second course – land or sea. Dessert. Liquor. Coffee. And ample amounts of wine throughout – all from Italy, too many to be named. But any country with towns named after wines, or vice versa, appreciates the good life. That is so much more than sustenance. That is the invention of food.

And then there are deli meats. Start with prosciutto, legs of it hanging from nearly any Italian trattoria or grocery store wall. And speck. Mortadella. How can meat go wrong with little pistachio nuts in it? And cheeses – mozzarella, bufala, asiago, parmesan. And breads – focaccia, ciabatta, bruschetta. And that good thin crust pizza that puts New York to shame. And there is Annette's daily favorite – Gelato. Straciacella is her favorite – vanilla with chocolate chunks. But the flavors go on far beyond Baskin Robbins could imagine.

Italy is the good life. We say goodbye to it tomorrow for the French coast and on to the delicacies of Spain.