Venice & Bologna

Bigoli (Venetian: bìgołi) is an extruded pasta in the form of a long and thick strand.

Good for me were pasta to go places in Venice.

Choose bigoi. Choose your topping. Take it away in a box.

This one is a kind of Carbonara.

This one is Amatriciana: Tomato and Bacon.

I can then sit on the canal to enjoy with my Diet Coke bottle of cheap wine. 😀

Overall, the Carbonara variations are my favourites.  Eggs, hard cheese, cured pork, and lots of black pepper. 

I tried a super popular local restaurant near a train station. AMERICAN portions.

Tastiest of all — however — was a small portion of lasagna I had with Les and Tam at a random tourist restaurant in Venice. I couldn’t recall better.

Bologna

Outside Italy, the phrase “Bolognese sauce” is often used to refer to a tomato-based sauce to which minced meat has been added. As kids in Canada we ate spaghetti and meatballs — thinking it a kind of spaghetti bolognese.

The mayor of Bologna pointed out that “Spaghetti bolognese doesn’t actually exist, yet it’s famous the world over …”

Ragù alla Bolognese is what it’s called here.

Tagliatelle al ragù alla bolognese is much preferred over spaghetti. Often served with grated Parmesan on top.

This is grocery store Tagliatelle bolognese. I added the parmesan and pepper.

Sadly, it was the worst pasta I had in Italy.

Tuscany

I’m the kind of gourmand who’s quite happy with spaghetti and ragù sauce out of a jar. 😀

BUT for this trip to Tuscany, I decided to learn something about real pasta.

Hostel homemade Tagliatelle has a nice texture. Long, flat ribbons that hold a lot of sauce.

Northern Italy

In the north, cuisine is influenced by Germany and Austria. But I stuck with pasta in Trento.

Monograno Felicetti is like spaghetti. And was served to me al dente.

The carbonara was tasty. Cured pork and black pepper the main takeaways.

In Italy, I listened to sections of a good book:

Pasta, Pane, Vino: Deep Travels Through Italy’s Food Culture

Author Matt Goulding was inspired by Anthony Bourdain.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.