The best meals we have ever had have been during out visit to Sicily. I should note that we have yet to visit France, but we look forward to that as a challenge to be decided fork to fork.
One reason that Italian cuisine stands out is its use of local products: ripe fruit, fresh fish, homemade pasta, great bread, crisp vegetables, newly harvested spices, etc. In the States, too many of our ingredients are picked long before they are ripe, transported thousands of miles, and then artificially ripened by the use of chemicals, including calcium carbide, acetylene, ethylene, propylene, chloroethyl phosphonic acid, glycol, and ethanol.
Yes siree, I’d like a big glass of that chloroethyl phosphonic acid ripened grape juice, please.
For example, Insalata di arance (Orange Salad) is a great but very simple salad. For example, a typical recipe is as follows:
- 2 navel oranges or blood oranges
- 1 large fennel bulb, halved lengthwise, cored, very thinly sliced crosswise
- 1/2 cup very thinly sliced red onion
- 16 small fresh mint leaves, torn in half+3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil+
- 20 oil-cured black olives
This recipe varies widely and can include capers, arugula, chicory, celery, parsley, red pepper and/or just about anything else. But Insalata di arance totally depends on sweet, juicy, ripe oranges. As such I am hesitant to try making this salad in the United States. While our oranges look good at the supermarket, they are too often dry and sour after their long trips from Australia, Brazil, or South Africa. Indeed, our food travels more than our citizens.
A second key to the great food of Italy is a sense of style and inventiveness in both the choice of its ingredients and the presentation on the plate. Italians make dishes look visually appealing, fun and often surprising. Style helps you take a step back to appreciate a dish, as opposed to just shoveling it in the old pie hole.
Lastly, the portion size is usually smaller than in the United States. The objective is not to fill (or overfill) your gut, but to focus on the dish in front of you. Each dish is ordered separately to be savored separately, as opposed the usual combination meal in the U.S.: “salad, side dish of over cooked vegetables, potatoes fried, baked or smashed, and a large coke.” In short, Italian cooking has nothing to do with the Olive Garden.
The other good news about Italian cuisine is its price. Generally, costs have been running 30 to 40 percent less than comparable restaurants in New Mexico, which translates to 70% of the costs of similar meals in California or New York. And the wines are generally better. Italian beers are okay but have yet to rise to the level of the artisanal beers in the United States.
From a broader perspective, food in the major cities of the world has gotten dramatically better over the last 25 years. While I can joke about English and Australian food, this no longer applies to places like London or Sydney, which are brilliant places to eat. These cosmopolitan 
centers are truly world cities where ethnic diversity has engendered real talent and sophistication. I look forward to continuing to eat our way around the world.
Of course, all of which is predicated on having enough money to eat, which far too many people do not have.
All the food looks lovely, even what I cannot identify. So glad it was delicious.