Sydney Grace is a student at the University of Cincinnati and an ISA Featured Blogger. Sydney is currently studying abroad with ISA in Florence, Italy.
Grocery shopping in Italy is a quite the scavenger hunt! Every time my roommates and I set out with a list in hand we come back with many delicious foods but rarely ever the ones we originally wanted. Each stand draws you in with the colorful spreads, options for combinations, and freshness. Each stand offers a little uniqueness, and you can’t help but want to try something from each one.
Here are the top ten items I cannot find or have a very difficult time locating:
#1. Oatmeal
#2. Peanut Butter
#3. Cooking spray/butter
#4. White Corn
#5. Raspberries and Blackberries
#6. Bacon
#7. Greek Yogurt
#8. Whole-wheat wraps and bread
#9. Brown rice
#10. Flavored coffee creamer
Possibly the oddest concepts for us to comprehend include: items are not bought in bulk, grocery shopping seems to occur on a daily basis, and we quickly learned you can’t touch the food, because each stand owner bags the items for you! I personally love this style of grocery shopping, although I do miss many of the items off of my Top Ten list. These items may even exist, and we just do not know where to locate them, or how to read the names in Italian! Each day I learn something new, and today I discovered eggs do not have to be refrigerated! The grocery shopping culture is only a small part of the vastly different Italian culture, and I know this is just the beginning to the many differences making themselves apparent day by day!
Our family lived in Cremona and loved the chocolate salami which is almost like fudge. I also learned you can get that stuff at one of the huge groceries usually located just on outside of town or near a mall but it is much more fun to shop daily at the markets. Enjoy! Be sure to go to Verona one day! You aren’t too far!