FOOD & WINE

The availability of produce that falls outside the category of "Typical Umbrian Fare" is not great, but it is getting better as the influx of different cultures starts to create different culinary habits and demands. Below we include some specialist shops together with stories concerning food and wine in the region.

HEALTH FOOD SHOPS

For molasses, Alpen, grains, pulses, dried fruits, brown rices and pasta, cane sugar etc, sugar free jams and juices.
Citta' di Castello, Umbertide and Cortona.

FUNGHI

Funghi and Truffle shop in Citta' di Castello, at the back of the Duomo (Cathedral), at the end of the narrow lane.
White and Black Tartufi, truffles.
Truffle oil.
Different funghi and different types are eaten by different families.
If in doubt about the funghi, they say, "You have them for lunch and I'll have them for dinner!"

ANECDOTES

Water, sparkling or still, fizzy or flat, spiky or smooth, piccante o liscia.

Olive oil, you gets what you pays for, the higher the price generally the finer the wine, but, as in the case of wine, fancy bottles and wicker baskets will not improve a poor quality oil.

Wine, start with the cheapest and work up until you find one to your taste. Dont' be taken in by fancy bottles and wrappings. The cantine of each area will often let you try before you buy. Take your own bottles and jugs and you will be served by pump with an automatic counter to indicate the litres taken.

Gran' Turco, Turkish grain, maize and sweetcorn are all the same thing. The Umbrian varieties in the fields are very hard and usually fed to the pigs and chickens. Though these yellow seeds if fried in a tiny amount of hot oil, or placed in the microwave at full power, make fine pop corn.

We had a large party to thank all our new friends and neighbours for their help during our restoration and subsequent move. A reasonable feast was prepared, stand up, English buffet style. "Do you always eat cold food in England?" inquired one of the guests.

• Coffee- Caffé- small black and strong
• Caffé ristretto- smaller, blacker and stronger
• Caffé corretto- corrected with the addition of liquor.
• Caffé macchiato- stained with a small amount of milk.
• Caffé lungo - normal small coffee, but more of it.
  You can also of course have Lungo - corretto or macchiato.
• Cappuccino- frothy and with milk, the colour of a Cappucine habit.
• Cappuccino senza schiuma- without froth
• Caffé americano - black, weaker, in a large cup

Amaro- bitter, used to describe somewhat medicinal drinks, distilled and therefore alcoholic, taken as an aid to digestion, as a general pick me up, and to cure a hangover. Many different flavours. Sold in bars and restaurants.

HERBS

Sage -Salvia
Mint -Menta
Basil -Basilico
Bay -Alloro
Fennel -Finocchio. Homosexuals in Italy are often referred to as finnocchi, a reference to the medieval habit of burning such unfortunates at the stake with bunches of the herb at their feet, to disguise the odour of combustion.
Rosemary-Rosmarino
Thyme -Timo

SHOPS

Special Cinghiale butchers, meats and associated products from wild boar.

Frozen and tinned foods are now widely available, but ten years ago were unheard of and are still treated with suspicion by many country folk.

Some of our amusing experiences

There was a snack bar in Citta di Castello, which served really interesting and delicious light meals and drinks, but used to close for lunch, and is now, not surprisingly, defunct.

On the main road between Mercatale and Castel Rigone, when descending towards Pian di Marte, the Plain of Mars, one passes the unpronounceable hamlet of Crocicchie. A notice is sometimes displayed to the effect that the Bar is open, that Panini are available and that Caffé is sold. Upon following the signs one arrives at the bar and general grocers shop, so far so good, but it is closed! Wait, there is a note on the door, "Ring for Service". One rings. One waits. In the still of the hot afternoon even the dog can't be bothered to get up and look. As a forlorn hope one rings again. Nothing. What a shame, back to the car. But listen, in the distance the sound of heavy pounding feet; coming our way. A runaway beast, a robbery? But no, it is but the shopkeeper's wife who has galloped down to open the shop having heard the bell ring in her kitchen some 100 meters away! Bread rolls with mortadella, salami and cheese are fashioned, coffees, teas, beers and mineral waters are dispensed and a new, though slightly glowing, friend is made.

The cantina near Montelovesco has a similar system, but a longer bell cable, the proprietor shouts down from about half a mile away, leaps into his car and rushes down the hillside to dispense his brew.

We bought a 50 litre demijohn of his best red, and, as we loaded it into the back of my business partner Fabio's car, struck the boot catch with the glass. The container broke and a wave of red wine cascaded through the length and breath of the little Fiat. It was so full of wine that it poured over the door sills onto the ground. The car forever afterwards smelled like a travelling brewery.