Food as Art — Two Parts Italy

A cold Aperol Spritz on an Italian Piazza is the perfect antidote to a too hot summer day. I will do this immediately when I return to Lucca this week.

It’s the second week of August and it’s hot, punishingly hot.

Mother Nature seems to be very angry with us humans – sending not just heat but also drought and terrible fires our way in Europe, Canada, and the US. Even an earthquake centered near Pisa last week! This has everyone seeming on edge, just a little grumpy, and ready for this summer to wind down, myself included.

Much as I try to write, I keep getting distracted. So this will be a very short blog post.

I am returning to Italy this week and bracing myself for not just heat, but humidity too. A double whammy of summer weather. It will be especially challenging because as soon as I get back to Lucca I will be moving to a new apartment. Moving in the August heat is a bit crazy. Shouldn’t I be celebrating Ferragosto in the cooler mountains or on a beach somewhere? Sounds like poor planning on my part!

Peppers from Puglia at the Bologna market.

My mind right now is half consumed with packing, double checking my flights, and closing up my New Mexico condo. The other half is already in the new apartment, thinking about how I will decorate to make it a little cozier than its current “IKEA chic” style. No wonder I am too distracted to do much writing.

Instead, I’ve been searching through old photos, especially ones from markets, shops, farms, and restaurants. In other words, photos of food. I think prints of these photos will make good (and inexpensive) kitchen art in my new place. Choosing the ones I will frame and use has been a good project this past week.

Pictured above: handmade pici at Agriturismo Cretaiole, bread from the big market in Avignon, eggs from a cooking class at Fattoria di Fubbiano.

Below: beets, asparagus & artichokes, all from spring-time markets in Lucca.

Colorful fruits, veggies, and local products are their own form of art, right? Better yet, each photo will remind me of an experience that I’ve had while living in Italy or traveling to other places in Europe.

Below: fruit from markets in Bologna, Lucca, and Rapallo

Included here are some of my favorites, soon to be found hanging as art in my new kitchen. I hope they might provide a nice break from the summer heat for you too.