BoomerGirl Diary

Strolling through the winding streets of Lucca during one of Italy’s most significant open-air antique fairs I suddenly realized that the vendors had abandoned their stalls for it was the most sacred hour of the Italian day—the lunch hour! As an antique dealer I am fortunate to travel frequently to Italy in search of one-of-a kind pieces for my shop. What most people don’t realize is the significant role the art of eating well — or, l’arte di mangiare bene, in Italian — has to do with the whole process of buying my treasures.

My love for culinaria Italiana started long before I started buying Italian antiques. As a student at the University of Kansas, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. Quickly, I fell in love with fried zucchini flowers stuffed with pecorino cheese, potato gnocchi served with only a touch of garlicky tomato sauce and my first bitter salad of dandelion greens and herbs. It was all so interesting and delicious. Before I met my husband, he also spent time in Italy and to this day reminisces of his favorite Italian lunch of canned tuna packed in olive oil served with cannellini beans, capers and purple onions.

After we married we spent our honeymoon in Tuscany in search of great things to eat from morning till night. We happened upon a wonderful small place in Florence, Italy, called Trattoria Mario located behind Florence’s enormous fresh food market, Mercato Centrale. Though only open for lunch, as it primarily hosts the workers, butchers and farmers from the market, Trattoria Mario serves the best vegetable soup we have ever tasted called simply zuppa verdura. The thing that makes it extra delicious is the chunk of bread in the soup and the drizzle of olive oil floating on top along with a sprinkling of grated pecorino cheese. Our children have grown up on this dish and when they are along on our buying trips to Italy always insist that we take them to Trattoria Mario where they are greeted with hugs by the very same waitresses that served us on our honeymoon 17 years ago!

From my very first buying trip I loved the fact that all of the vendors vacated their posts at lunchtime regardless of how many potential buyers were wandering about the market. Absolutely no one is available to do business during this part of the day. You might be the antique buyer with all the money in the world and it just won’t matter during lunch — no one will interrupt their meal simply to make a sale. It is just too important to them to savor the experience of dining at a leisurely pace rather than to take their food lightly or on the run. On one trip to an antique market in Modena, Italy, I noticed a group of Italians had borrowed a couple of antique chairs fashioned an ancient door into a table and settled into their lunchtime feast right in the middle of the street surrounded by their wonderful antique collection. They were enjoying wine, using real ceramic dishes, silverware and cloth napkins and serving up pasta that smelled heavenly. I was impressed!

Over the years, I have gotten to know many antique dealers and they know that I share their love of Italian food. We always discuss what is in season and what I need to try at that time of year or in that particular city. When the opportunity arises, they always take me to their regular places to eat which are typically out of the way and never in a guidebook. On a recent trip, my sister-in-law and I were having lunch with a vendor named Paolo and his daughter Valentina. As we always do when we are together, we were discussing food, recipes and cooking. Since it was summer, the tomatoes were in season and wonderfully flavorful as were the green onions. The particular pasta dish we discussed involved sautéing green onions in olive oil along with diced roma tomatoes and a pinch of pepperoncini or little red pepper flakes. After you have boiled your pasta until it is al dente (Italians despise overcooked pasta) toss with the sautéed mixture and throw in a couple of handfuls of fresh arugula. Intrigued, we decided to get the ingredients at the end of the day and make the dish as described. It turned out delicious. We even took digital photos of our fabulous dish so we could show everyone how beautiful it turned out.

The next day we ran into our friends, told them about our wonderful meal and shared our pictures. They looked at the small window on the back of the camera and were shocked! What was wrong? Why weren’t they impressed with our wonderful creation? They became very serious about the situation. As it turned out, we had used short penne pasta for the dish when in fact, long, thin spaghetti was supposed to be used for very valid reason our friends explained. As we learned, the important point to note for this dish is that the spaghetti twirls around the fork capturing the tomatoes, onions and arugula so you taste everything in one bite. Otherwise, you have a tough time trying to enjoy all those wonderful flavors in the same mouthful. After further discussion with Paolo and Valentina, we discovered that an entire book can be published on which pasta you use and why. On that recent trip we learned that pasta really matters not only to seasoned chefs but to the average vendor at the antique market and most Italians as well.

Whether dining in an industrial area on the outskirts of Florence in a cafeteria that serves 5-star-quality platefuls of the most flavorful seasonal dishes to workers from the local factories or stopping at an Autogrill perched over Italy’s super-highway to enjoy a freshly-grilled mozzarella paninni with a slice of proscuitto-wrapped melon, the true Italian meal is never rushed. The Italians take time to enjoy their food at a pace that allows them to contemplate their actions, savor their experience and appreciate the bounty of the seasons. Perhaps that is one of the reasons virtually none of them are overweight and all of them are so passionate — all that and the wine, of course, but that’s another story.

Now when I sell an antique from my shop I remember the story left behind in Italy. Every table has a past, every chandelier a memory, every fragment a history. I remember the friend I bought it from, the meal we shared and the passion, the culture and the place that is Italy. I remember a people in an ever-changing world held together by their devotion to food. The Italians would never think of working through their lunch hour, eating something less than fresh or serving the wrong shape of pasta. For the Italians, food is not merely a thing of sustenance; it is the core of a social fabric and an opportunity to celebrate one’s humanness. Why would any one of us rush through something so precious? I can’t wait to get back!