Food Lessons From the Mediterranean

Cindy Silver, MS, RD, LDN
Cindy Silver is a registered dietitian in Winston-Salem, NC. Her business, Market Basket Nutrition, helps people become more skilled at tasty meal planning, smart grocery shopping and simple, nutritious cooking at home. Cindy’s major business client is Lowes Foods, a retail food chain, where she is the Corporate Nutritionist. You can say hello to her on Facebook or visit her blog for other great nutrition advice.

If there’s a best way to learn about Mediterranean food, it’s to go there, cook a lot and eat everything. I had a most amazing opportunity to do just that when my husband recently led a group of undergraduates on a Wake Forest University Study Abroad Program – to Venice, Italy – and our son and I came along, too.  The food sights I saw were forever memorable, the aromas and flavors were uniquely beautiful and the lessons I brought home to the US with me were sustainable and really handy.

Lessons Learned:

1. Don’t overcook pasta.  It took an extended stay in Italy for me to realize that I was overcooking pasta – spaghetti, fettuccini, penne, everything. This lesson has made me a much better pasta cook of Old World, Mediterranean recipes, and ‘go to’, every day dinners.
   
2. Make minestrone soup. Shopping in small, Venetian food markets, both indoors and open-air, was a delightful and almost daily enjoyment. As a soup fanatic, I was drawn to an easier way to make minestrone. I could purchase a fresh assortment of cut-up veggies or a variety of frozen, bagged options. I tried them all and, as a result, I’m making minestrone like an Italian in my US kitchen.
3. Get to know arugula. Another discovery for me was arugula. I walked over cobblestones and several bridges to the ‘Vegetable Boat’ to purchase a nice, fresh bag frequently. I even memorized one sentence in Italian to place my order. Today, I use arugula as a solo salad green, as a flavor booster in a Panini sandwich and to top a homemade pizza.
4. Try fennel – immediately. Fresh fennel was a huge discovery for me while living in Venice. I tried it raw, slivered, in salad as well as roasted with Parmesan on top. I ate it at every opportunity and now search for the biggest and freshest at my local US market.
   
5. Embrace unusual. Fresh skate was our ‘fish of the day’ at the Rialto Fish Market when my friend, Dianne, a chef, came to visit for a week in Venice. We settled on the price and then carried home our catch to have Dianne skin and lightly sauté it for dinner. Today, I prepare fresh fish and shellfish Mediterranean-style with tomatoes, plenty of garlic, fresh herbs and a dash of wine. Delizioso!