Food - Drink
The Crucial Italian Produce Tip You Should Know
By STEPHANIE FRIEDMAN
If your experience with Italian food is limited to Italian-American restaurants, there is much to learn about dining in the motherland. There are plenty of tips to be kept in mind when eating in Italy, but shopping for goods and cooking your own meals in the country is also a quite different experience that you should be prepared for.
One of the reasons Italian food is so delicious is that cooks use only the freshest ingredients, so you’ll rarely find out-of-season produce in Italian markets. Unlike American grocery stores, where you can find most fruits and vegetables year-round, you may only find cabbage in December, oranges in January, and almonds in February.
Holiday traditions also play a big role in Italy’s seasonal eating; for instance, fava beans are heavily consumed on May 1st, a national holiday, so you can at least count on finding these beans in stores around that time. Italy's produce-selling rules may seem restrictive at first, but actually make for more delicious cooking.