Piacere! Di dove sei? I am in the UK, haven't been to Italy since last Pasqua when I was on holiday in Palermo. I run so it goes without saying that I love pasta! Ci sentiamo presto I hope x

Ciao ! I'm Joanna and I have been living in Milano for 2 years now

I draw the line at brown pasta! Isn't it bad for la tua pancia?

Because of the LCHF diet, I only eat pasta on special occasions, vacations, etc. and when I do, it is very high quality pasta made with farro from Italy, or homemade gnocchi or homemade fettuccini, etc. I really don't miss the pasta though, because I am an excellent home cook. For example, if I eat breakfast, I will make Eggs Milanese (poached eggs, on a bed of asparagus fried in butter, with a few drops of white truffle oil and a sprinkling of parmigiano reggiano). Or eggs a la Diavola, eggs fried in tomato sauce and mozzarella. I must confess, I usually don't eat breakfast, and just have an espresso. For lunch at work, I have high quality cold cuts ( prosciutto di Parma, salami finocchiona Toscana, cured cinghiale, etc), as well as high quality grass fed cheeses (mozzarella di buffula, burrata, Pecorino Toscana, grana padano, etc). For dinner, options seem endless - love to have greens fried in olive oil (like rapini, kale, broccoli, etc), and I eat all sorts of meats (free range, grass fed, pastured, etc). I have learned how to use a julienne cutter to make spaghetti out of zucchini (zucchini noodles called "zoodles"), and I can make delicious lasagna with egg plant and or zucchini instead of noodles. I also discovered that shucked oysters can be used as a substitute for ravioli - it's really delicious and very healthy. There are so many italian recipes that are low carb or no carb, like veal saltinboca, bracciole, porchetta, chicken or rabbit cacciatore, etc. Have you ever looked at the writings of Apicius? He was a chef during the ancient Roman Empire, as it provides a good example of what our italian ancestors used to eat. They cooked with lard and olive oil galor. The food prep was very fatty and full of meats and green leafy veg. My diet is not too far off theirs. And of course, like them, I have my glass of red wine with supper. Salute, e buon apetito! Cin cin!

Hi everyone, this group is a great idea (and by the way, I like your blog, M!)

I'm italian, living in Italy, veg*n in a vegetarian family and getting fit - sort of - so I guess it's possible ;-) Well, my diet is not exactly the standard mediterranean diet but fortunately there are a lot of traditional italian recipes that are either vegetarian or vegan, especially in the rural culinary tradition - our grandparents used to eat a lot of legumes and very little meat.

Vegan? Vegetarian? Oh my... yeah, my suoceri would die if I went vegetarian.

Yes, tell me about it! My family members in Emilia Romagna, when I told them 20 years ago - when it was a less common choice than today - were worried sick, asked me what happened like I was terminally ill. No more zampone, cotechino or bollito? And what about prosciutto? And tortellini? You can't have a Christmas without tortellini here in Emilia, as you know... Yeah, that was a strange Christmas indeed :-)