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Imagine living in a town that doesn’t have a Costco or a BJ’s. 600 rolls of toilet paper? For what?! No, the Italians like to keep things simple and easy. When it comes to food, you can add “fresh” to that criteria list as well.
Imagine living in a town that doesn’t have a Costco or a BJ’s. 600 rolls of toilet paper? For what?! No, the Italians like to keep things simple and easy. When it comes to food, you can add “fresh” to that criteria list as well.
When families decide it’s time to cook tilapia, they head to the local market to pick up some capers, lemons, and olive oil and then visit the Pescheria to select a few pieces from that morning’s catch.
Most Pescherias are only open in the A.M.. If you came across one that was still serving customers in the early afternoon, you wouldn’t have many options to choose from. It’s understood that the early bird catches the worm… err… the fish.
Of course, this lifestyle is also influenced by the small spaces most families call home. You aren’t going to come across a double-wide Viking anywhere in the Amalfi Coast. Because they don’t stock up on much, the Italian pantry is typically filled with a small quantity of fresh, high-quality food.
Sounds about right to me.
Each town is also pretty self-preserved. In fact, every time we visited a new village, we saw the same repeat of stores. Every town had a butcher, a fish market, a general store that was filled with fruits and vegetables, and then a handful of restaurants and tourist hot spots.
Thank goodness everyone is pulling from the same resources. The sea is the sea is the sea… and every square inch of it is filled with delectable fish for the taking.
In America, it’s rare to see fishermen weaving nets and readying their boats alongside a family of four slathered in sunscreen and picnicking on the sand. However, this is the norm on the Amalfi coast. In fact, every restaurant offered this same exact view. To the right of the Positano beach, you will find dozens of small wooden boats waiting for their owners to row them out to sea. To the left, quite the opposite — folding chairs, beach towels and sand toys. Both types of people harmoniously living side by side. What a perfect match.
Seafood is embedded in an Italian’s DNA. The sea is what earns these men a living. It’s a skill that is passed down from generation to generation: some men even had their grandchildren with them!!! It is an activity that is swelled with pride and with custom. Fishing is the foundation the Amalfi Coast is based upon.
If you aren’t a farmer, or playing a role in tourism hospitality, it’s pretty safe to say that you are a fisherman. Plain and simple. There are no large factories or office buildings that house computer programmers in Positano. Most people lived off the land or catered to visitors looking to immerse themselves into the Amalfi Coast’s culture.
So, when we spoke with waiters about that night’s seafood specialty, not only was it passionately described, but some could even tell me WHICH boat was responsible for the catch. Amazing! That’s how intertwined this community is with one another. And somehow, that made the food taste that much better.
When one thinks of Italy, it’s pretty safe to say that one of four things comes to mind: pizza, pasta, wine, or seafood. Well, while dining at La Tre Sorello, we saw a young boy combine two of those topics in a very unexpected way. He ordered pizza with mussels and clams as his meal.
Sure, clam pizza is common practice in the States. But, this version was like none I had ever seen. The pizza was topped with the shellfish INTACT. I watched the boy to see his reaction, because I knew if I gave something like that to my children, they would instantaneously protest.
But, that Australian native dove right in. He began to lift the mussels off his plate and eat them one by one. Then, he enjoyed the remaining salty pizza slice without a second thought. I almost started to drool. I snuck a picture because… how could I not? My husband and I made an agreement then and there that we would replicate the dish once we returned home. I adore clams. I also adore mussels. It’s like a match made in heaven!
Talk about a healthy alternative to some of my hometown favorites! The Mediterranean way of eating is a much better alternative to my pizza slice of fried buffalo chicken topped with blue cheese.
No matter where we went, we could guarantee that there would be a plethora of seafood dishes offered by local restaurants. The Amalfi Coast is filled with small mom-and-pop eateries that are bursting with flavor and tradition.
One of my husband’s favorite dishes was ‘lemon and shrimp risotto’ from La Bettola del Gusto. Ironically, the sound system was pumping out Italian-American classics from singers like Frank Sinatra. I found that quite amusing. My daughter is obsessed with shrimp, so she actually ended up eating the majority of my husband’s meal, instead of the plain pasta with tomato sauce she originally opted for.
This particular dish was not trying to hide the seafood taste. The flavors were all-consuming. Every bite tasted like the sea and it was as fresh as you’d imagine. We’ve ordered lemon and shrimp risotto many, many times before, but it was always the chef’s intention to mask the shrimp by overpowering it with other ingredients.
Not this time.
The shrimp were the main attraction and my entire family appreciated that fact. You knew you were eating shrimp risotto down to the last bite — with or without the seafood present on your fork.
Perfection!
