In case you haven’t noticed, Laura and I (but mostly I) like keeping track of data. We list some arguably interesting statistics about our trip in the Fun Facts sidebar of this blog, and one of the stats that’s been there for a long time is “Feet of Subway sandwiches consumed”. During the first few months of our trip, it seemed like Subways were everywhere, and a Subway sandwich was often just the little taste of home that we craved. It was also a reasonably healthy (and cheap) option for a quick lunch or dinner in some places where salad wasn’t all that easy to find. Don’t get Laura started about the lack of mustard in the UK Subway shops, but overall, we heart Subway.
Well, it turns out there aren’t many (any?) Subway sandwich shops in Italy. And why would there be given the numerous amazing food options on pretty much every corner? The so-called fast food restaurants have giant blocks of artigianale parmesan cheese, incredibly fresh mozzarella di bufala, and whole legs of prosciutto that they slice fresh on the spot for your panini. I even had a made-to-order pizza in the Naples airport that was better than most pizzas I’ve had back home (Zachary’s and Little Star excluded, of course). True, pizza was invented in Naples, but still, the airport. They are serious about their food here in Italy.
;)
One of the glorious pizza pies we’ve consumed in ItalySo, in the spirit of keeping current with the ever-changing landscape of our trip, and in honor of the humble Italian pie that is so ubiquitous, and so cheap, and so DELICIOUS, we have decided to retire the Subway stat (for now, at least), and replace it with a shiny new, and slightly disturbing, statistic: “Number of pizzas consumed in Italy”. Just so we’re clear, this is a combined total for both me and Laura, and it represents complete, full-sized pizzas (they’re thin here, we keep telling ourselves), not half pizzas, not shared pizzas, not meals of one or two pizza slices. Whole 12-14” pizza pies. And trust me, there were rarely leftovers. We each have our favorites – mine is the diavola, with spicy salami, and Laura’s is the napoletana with anchovies and garlic (which is really fun for me).
At last count, Lustin had consumed 32 pizzas in Italy, and we still have another ten days to go. When we “ran the numbers”, we surely forgot one or two that we’ve eaten along the way, so it’s bound to be a conservative number, too. Pondering the grand total, we are stunned, and ashamed, and sated, and… a little hungry for un’altra pizza diavola, or maybe una pizza napoletana, or possibly una pizza capricciosa… it’s so hard to choose.