I love gelato. Love it. But I have to admit that this is not a new love that developed since arriving in Italy. I have always liked ice cream. One summer while we were living in Chicago, our family made it our mission to visit all of the top 10 ice cream places in the city as designated by Time Out. Of course, we succeeded even though many were in the far reaches of the city. And not only did we try the ice cream everywhere, but like all good researchers, we assessed and analyzed each one of them.
I knew that Italy was famous for its gelato and I knew it would be really good. I recalled our honeymoon when Dave and I visited three different gelato places in Florence in just one day. We ordered the same flavors so that we could accurately assess and analyze each place. What I never understood prior to moving here though was the difference in the gelato culture. I never even understood that there was such a thing as a “gelato culture.”
In Italy, gelato is not necessarily recognized only as a dessert or a treat. It is not seen as the next course after dinner or a reward after winning a baseball game. And it is certainly not mostly for the children. What has struck me most is this concept of gelato as being the “perfect snack.” While it is popular as a “merenda”, an afternoon snack between 4:00-6:00 pm to carry you over until aperativo hour, it really is appropriate to eat gelato at any time of the day. It is also appropriate to be enjoyed by anybody, in anybody’s company, or even when alone.
Walking through various towns, I often see men dressed in corporate business suits enjoying a gelato-filled cone in the afternoon, an old lady sitting on a park bench enjoying a cup in the late morning, or a 40-year woman without children pausing in the middle of her shopping for a gelato break. Literally, anybody can have a quick gelato. And society is okay with it.
Also, the cups and cones are small and inexpensive. We usually order two flavors for €2 (or maybe €2.50 if it’s a really well-known establishment). Gelato is literally meant to be enjoyed daily. I once had an Italian language teacher tell me that he routinely eats two to three gelatos per day in the summertime (while he acknowledged that in the winter, it’s only once per day).
It’s worth noting here that gelato is very different from ice cream.
While both have the essential ingredients of milk, cream, and sugar, ice cream also traditionally includes egg yolks. Ice cream has a lot of air whipped into it and it is served at a very low temperature. Instead, gelato contains a higher percentage of milk than cream, with very little air, and is served at a warmer temperature. The end result is a product that is silkier and softer. Since the fat content is lower, the primary flavor generally shines through more robustly. Making good gelato (like most cooking) is both a science and an art – and of course, the Italians think they are best at it. If you want to learn from the best, you can attend Gelato University in Bologna as we did. Although you may prefer to attend the four-week course, we just attended the afternoon class and concentrated our full attention instead on mainly eating the gelato!
Although it is possible to get good gelato everywhere throughout Italy, our family has definitely chosen a favorite. We LOVE La Romana. This is a small franchise in Italy that started in Verona. There are four locations in Turin so it’s always convenient for us to stop by for a quick “merenda.” It is a slight deviation from the classic Italian gelato in that there are chunks of ingredients (à la Ben & Jerry’s famous style) and they also sometimes have Arachide (peanut butter) as an option – which is a favorite in our family. It’s an unusual flavor to find in Italy, so I once asked a woman working at a gelato place in Elba whether Italians themselves actually order arachide, but she told me it was prepared just for foreign tourists! That may be, but in the Lewin household, we still love it.
In the end, we think we will miss gelato so much when we move back to Chicago we want to bring it with us. We have seriously (and half-heartedly jokingly) discussed launching a La Romana franchise in Chicago. The idea generated in part to fuel our own gelato craving, but also to bring this incredible treat to the United States. We do not want to just encourage Americans to love great gelato, but more so we want to introduce the “idea” of gelato, helping to cultivate a genuine “gelato culture.”
That’s the really good stuff that makes Italy so unique that I want to spread and share.
The Avventura 