RESTAURANTS

With the vast selection of international food and drink available in English and American supermarkets we might be forgiven for believing that we are well acquainted with the sort of fare available in Umbria before we even get here however the reality is very different. Firstly many of the foodstuffs available in our supermarkets are Americanised/Anglicised versions of the Italian product. The other thing to note is that food is still very regionalised in Italy. Each area has its own speciality so Italian food and Umbrian food are very different concepts. Most of the surprises received by visitors to Umbria are pleasant ones - the food being far superior to that available in British and American supermarkets, but there are some less pleasant surprises. The salt less (and often dry and crunchy!) bread famous in middle Italy springs to mind. The Umbrians will proudly explain to you how this evolved as a clever way of avoiding the Pope's punitive taxes imposed on the buying of salt. The fact that this happened many hundreds of years ago in the Middle Ages and now salt is dirt-cheap seems to have escaped their notice!

This stubborn attachment to tradition and resistance to change is what both attracts foreigners to the region and exasperates the ex-pats living here. This is why when listing restaurants we have included a reference to "TUF" meaning that they specialise in Traditional Umbrian Fare - wonderful food (Though generally quite meat based) but not necessarily adventurous, particularly if you are staying here a long time.

Another thing to bear in mind when eating out is that if you want quality freshly - made food it won't necessarily have the same degree of availability as the pre-packaged and frozen food we are used to in Britain and America. Fruit and Vegetables will nearly always be "In Season" (By law a restaurant must show on the menu if something has been frozen- sugelato- unless of course its an ice cream!) so don't go expecting Proscuto e melone in the middle of winter! Pizza and "Torta al Testo"(a type of local focaccia) are rarely available at lunchtime since it's a big deal to light up a massive wood-burning stove just for the odd tourist who is crazy enough to want to eat Pizza for lunch! Cappuccinos, though only drunk early in the morning by Italians is available throughout the day for the likes of you and me so long as you don't mind the odd ironic glance. Try not to compound things however by walking around afterwards with a brown frothy moustache!