Sarah Bluett & Quentin Ikuta Food Habits in Montespertoli Professor Filippo Randelli 15 November 2017
Team Task: Food Culture and Habits in Montespertoli In Montespertoli there are three major food outlets to buy food: the Coop, the Tuesday and Saturday markets in the Piazza del Popolo, and smaller shops like I’Licchio or the small produce store next to Daniele’s building. Specialty items are typically obtained at the Tuesday and Saturday markets, however, products like wine and olive oil are accessed through personal connections with friends or family. Staple food items like flour, pasta, butter, and milk are usually bought from the Coop out of convenience. Food items like meats, cheese and bread are usually purchased from specialty shops that focus on quality ie. una panetteria or una macelleria. Individuals that shop at the Coop can acquire common, conventional foods that are packaged with well-known labels such as the “coop” brand. Produce is typically not local, but almost all of the fruits and vegetables sold at the Coop are from Italy. Other parts of the store include an organic section, frozen foods, fresh cheese and meat, local wine, and some “ethnic” food. The Tuesday and Saturday markets feature local farmers who offer direct sale of fruits, vegetables, cheese, and other locally produced foods. Purchasing produce from the markets is more affordable than going to the Coop, but the specific hours of the markets can make it difficult for some to people to make it there. The family we interviewed had a garden of their own so this is not a problem for them. On the other hand, stores like I’Licchio target wealthier, more eco-conscious consumers. This kind of customer desires local, organic, quality products that come with a more personal relationship through the consumption of fine wines, craft beers, bread, cheese, meat, and tea. Daniele, the owner, has another job so the hours are quite limited. The other store in town is a small store selling home cleaning items as well as produce and fruit from local sources. The family we interviewed for this assignment was the Ammirabile family--the two parents, Giovanni and his wife Grazia, own an azienda agricola just outside of Montespertoli. They produce both olive oil and wine products for a business. They also have five children, two of which live with them, along with their own families, and work for them. We spoke with their daughter, Caty, who is about forty years old and has three children. When we asked about their eating habits she was very helpful, and gave a detailed description of their family history and reasons behind their food consumption. She said,“We eat a lot of vegetables which we love, especially if from our garden more common probably pasta (in thousands of combinations, especially with vegetables and legumes). Our typical meals include a lot of vegetables but also some meat and fish...a true Mediterranean diet”. Also, they cook their food in a myriad of ways such as sauteed, steamed, boiled, as salad, stewed, grilled, and almost always cooked or dressed with their olive oil. Their family is not originally from Montespertoli, but they have been living here for forty years. Her parents both come from the south of Italy, explaining why they consume more vegetables than meat because the south of Italy has traditionally consisted, and continues to consist of, many farms and farmland. According to Caty, the family used to shop at the coop, but because they are a big family it is not as convenient anymore. Though they like the coop’s products, they rarely go there because they cannot afford it. Instead they choose to shop in bigger cities where there are cheaper options. Caty’s husband, Phil, is from the United States and when we asked about how Italian food was compared to American food they said Italian food is very tasty because there’s more variety and better quality especially of vegetables. Also, Italians imagine different ways of cooking the same thing, which requires refined taste and creativity. We wrote down a list of dishes we have seen in stores, restaurants or have eaten ourselves through the use of different cookbooks (one about Florentine food and the other about common foods in Tuscany). Many soups that we have eaten are considered food that poor farmers used to eat in the past by using leftover bread, meat and vegetables. Dishes like panzanella, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro use vegetables and stale bread to make a new dish out of old ingredients. Other favorite soups include minestrone, a vegetable heavy soup with potatoes, and zuppa di zucca, a creamy pumpkin soup usually topped with toasted breadcrumbs . A few meat dishes we have seen and tried in Florence or in Montespertoli are bistecca alla fiorentina, a steak seared for a few minutes on each side, porchetta, a pork butt wrapped in a pork loin covered in sage, fennel and other seasonings, and rosticciana, which is grilled pork. Because meat is more expensive, they are speciality dishes and not considered “a poor man’s meal” and are eaten at many traditional restaurants around the area. Another typical food is pizza, which is a staple of the Italian diet, a pizzeria may be easily found around every corner in Montespertoli. Traditionally, the pizza consists of a very thin crust, followed by tomato sauce, mozzarella, and a personal selection of vegetables and/or cured meat to top it off. Different kinds of desserts and breads that are traditional in Montespertoli include castagnaccio, a chestnut flour cake, schiacchata, a type of bread that is sometimes made with grapes, and cantucinni, a dense biscotti consumed with Vin Santo. The chestnut cake is more a seasonal recipe and the flour can be found in packages in early November at places like the Coop. People who live in Montespertoli typically eat a lot of tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, cavolo nero, beans, and onions.
In conclusion, the food habits of Montespertoli residents are rather traditional and emphasize typical foods like pizza, pasta, ribollita, porchetta, and other typical Tuscan/Italian dishes. The people of Montespertoli enjoy these local, seasonal foods due to the fact that they have grown up in the town, which is small, and food habits have been passed down and preserved. If they are not originally from here, like Caty’s family, they adapt to the land and the food it provides meanwhile preserving some parts of their old traditions. In addition, the one Coop in town supplies a lot of food to the people of Montespertoli because of the convenience and ease of shopping at the store. However, quite a few residents prioritize either growing their own produce or buying it from the markets on Tuesday or Saturday because the products sold at the markets tend to be more fresh and delicious. Not to forget about the local food emphasis that the people of Montespertoli tend to be aware of because of the availability and ease of access to local, organic foods. Furthermore, due to the limited availability of certain foods year round, residents tend to get creative in the kitchen, imagining their typical foods prepared and cooked in different ways. Thus, because the people of Montespertoli continue to prioritize the beauty of the land and its rich culinary history, their food habits are rather unique in that they focus on quality, locally produced, seasonal foods. This type of behavior toward food, as a behavior, is impressively sustainable and proves that food is able to not only provide sustenance but also substance to life. It serves as an example to other cultures in sustainable food habits because of its strong foundation based on locally sourced products and preservation of one’s cultural heritage.