By Michele Flannery
There are a wide variety of pizzas in Italy. From the left, Top: the French Fry Pizza and Nutella Pizza, Middle: Squa Qua pizza with artichoke hearts, onions and sausage. The Diavola pizza is the typical pepperoni pizza. Bottom: The Olive Pizza has black olives and there is a four cheese pizza, with mozzarella, gouda, gorgonzola and scaglie di parmigano.
Photos by Molly Faber
Walking – yes walking, not driving – down the grey cobblestone streets of Cagli, a traveler will notice small boutiques, stores, cafés, and restaurants that make up the Italian shopping and dining scene. While McDonalds and other fast food chains can be found in bigger Italian cities like Rome, American fast food chains are non-existent in Cagli. Instead, the culinary landscape is dotted with family-owned businesses that use fresh ingredients in the various items they sell.
The Non-processed Paradise: Alternatives to Fast Food
Monica Barzotti of Caffe del Teatro saysthe only items that are not fresh at their cafe are the bottled drinks and sodas they sell. Barzotti’s family owns Caffe del Teatro and has been in business for 34 years. Each morning, she prepares food using fresh ingredients, very unlike the frozen burger patties that are slung on hot, greasy griddles in America.
Virna Antoniono of La Pineta Bar/Caffetteria, which is also family-run and been in business for 30 years, has the same attitude toward fresh local ingredients. She believes that fresh food is more genuine, but it also needs to be sold and consumed faster since it deteriorates more quickly than processed food.
There are some benefits to processed foods, however. The one good thing about preserved food, she notes, is that it does provide more choices when certain foods are out of season. For example, basil, or basilico, is an important ingredient in many Italian dishes and is out of season during the winter months.
Processed or preserved foods are also convenient. To make a quick sandwich before class, a straniero (stranger) may think bread, lunchmeat, and sliced cheese found in supermarkets would be an easy fix. In Cagli, though, various macellerie (butcher shops) selling fresh meat are where many Cagliese visit when planning meals.
Simona Caselli of Caselli Salumeria explains that the plethora of macellerie in Cagli is due to the fact that Italians eat a lot of meat and that there are many meat producers. She believes that her meat without preservatives contributes to her customers’ loyalty. And quality and loyalty play an important role in keeping small businesses profitable. Cagli fruit shops also inspire loyalty. Customers want to grab a peach or other piece of fruit on the go. Step into one of these shops like the one on Via Gucci, and the aroma of fresh fruits and vegetables overwhelm your senses, making it almost impossible not to buy something. The aroma alone inspires a sense of trust in the freshness and quality of the produce.
Video by Vincent Thorn
Italian fast food
Fast food is, by definition, food that can be prepared and served quickly. After a quick tour of some shops and restaurants that sell fresh, non-processed fare, the most pressing question has yet to be answered: What do the Cagliese consider “fast food? ”
“Il panino” (a sandwich) is the most common answer to this question. A panino is better than traditional lunchmeat sandwiches or fast food because of the high quality of the ingredients used in its construction. Freshly baked bread, fresh meat without preservatives, crisp vegetables, and creamy pungent cheese would make the American cheeseburger weep in its processed greasiness.
Meal time in Cagli brings with it a sense of sacred calm. Only a few people eat sandwiches as a quick meal, Lara Catena of Caffe d’Italia says. Most people tend to linger at the tables outside, smoking a cigarette, enjoying the food, and watching the traffic stream by on the piazza. There is no sense of urgency, to hurry up and inhale a sandwich in order to vacate the table so the next customer can sit and repeat the process. Eating is not just to refuel the body, but to partake in a communal process where the term “fast” has no place.
In a city untouched by American fast food, Enrico Santi believes that Cagli is too small for such an establishment. He also notes that he’d rather eat Italian food than fast food, although he does eat fast food once or twice a month.
“[Fast food] is less expensive, but I still prefer Italian food, ” he says.
Fast food chains are not the same in Italy as in the United States. If you visit the McDonalds website, you find separate websites for each country. Each country has special items that are only offered in that specific country, although the hamburger and fries seem to be an international staple. Even these simple items are comprised of different ingredients depending on the culture’s view of certain meats. In Italy, the menu offerings cater to local tastes from parmigiano reggiano on burgers to serving McFlurries with Cornetto, a popular Italian frozen ice cream treat.
Fast food in Cagli, however, is defined as food that is prepared and served quickly using fresh, non-processed ingredients.
A healthier nation?
Without the dominance of fast food, in conjunction with walking as one of the major forms of transportation, it seems as though the Cagliese are leading healthy lives. Although the town lacks a McDonalds, a Burger King, or a Taco Bell, Cagli residents may still be tempted to consume unhealthy snacks. Supermarkets and restaurants offer items that can result in a bigger waistline, such as suppli, cookies, and gelato. The trick is portion control and will power.
It all comes down to what a person chooses to eat, Antoniono says. If they want to eat fast food or Italian food, then they will.
Web production by Amy Burke
