Differences

Wednesday, June 18th

Today was all free time until it was time for us to go to a pasta making class! We made three different types of pasta from scratch, spinach ravioli, tagliatelle (kinda like fat linguine), and gnocchi (potato pillows). The process of making pasta wasn’t exactly something new to me since I watch Food Network for a living, but I’ve never actually physically done it so I was super excited to finally get the chance. After all the mixing and kneading, we got to eat our pasta and it was probably the best pasta I’ve eaten this whole trip. You could taste the differences in the pastas, like if someone’s was a little tougher than someone else’s, but you could also taste the freshness and effort put into each noodle. Hand-making pasta just shows how vastly different Italian culture is from American culture. Their life style is much more relaxed and have a more “enjoy the moment” vibe, where as in America people are running from one place to another trying to get things done in a rush. The art of cooking and having family dinners is slowly being lost in America because of a lack of time and the shift in our values. People like to eat their take out in front of a TV because who has the time to cook a three course me and set a dinning table up when you can have someone else do that for you. Obviously this doesn’t apply to all Americans because I know families that do have family dinners, but a large majority are so caught up in work-eat-sleep routine that they forget to enjoy the moment and enjoy it with the people in their lives. I’m just as guilty of it as anyone else. I like to watch TV while I eat, and I would never take the time to hand make pasta daily when I can just buy a box for 99 cents and cook it in 15 minutes. What I realize today is that, although hand made pasta tastes fresher, what really makes the difference is the sacrifice of your time and effort put into it.