food and beverage

A small town in Tuscany
ancient red brick and stone
narrow cobbled streets winding around the contours of the hill upon which it is built
a few shops
all closed now
as it is siesta time. The only sign of life comes from the doors of a bar
an appetising aroma of espresso coffee wafting out to give hope of food and sustenance to the tardy traveller. If you’re lucky it will be one of those bars that provide a fine array of freshly made sandwiches and pastries.

Italian bars are not primarily about drinking…alcohol that is. Coffee is their staple
the reputation of the barista stands or falls on the espresso he produces. (A fine
literary example is provided in ‘The Food of Love’ by Anthony Capella. Set in Rome
the barista is forever tinkering with his coffee machine in pursuit of the perfect coffee
cannibalising his van to add parts to the machine to build up ever-higher pressure.) Bars provide a social function: most of the neighbourhood will pass through the bar during the day
for a breakfast cappuccino and brioche (pastry)
mid-morning espresso and regular doses of the same throughout the day. Even today most people stop work at lunchtime for a two or three hour siesta break
then work until 7 in the evening.

Anyone with any respect for their digestion would take a leisurely lunch either at home or in a restaurant or trattoria
but for those in too much of a hurry
wanting food on the go
the bar provides the equivalent of ‘fast-food’: tramezzini (sandwiches made with sliced bread
usually intended to be toasted)
panini (filled rolls of all sorts)
pastries both sweet and savoury
ice-creams. Of course quality varies – at worst a sad selection of curling-edged tramezzini
at best an enormous variety of breads and fillings
tantalisingly displayed and beautifully wrapped
if you intend to take away.

My memories of the best include: Nannini’s in Siena
where it can take hours just to choose; the bar in the main square of Colle di Val d’Elsa (Bassa)
where you could get a slice of flaky-pastried pie filled with spinach
ricotta
egg and more that melted in the mouth and ice-cream that kept you there all day
just to try all the different flavours; a simple bar on the main road below Monteriggione
which would make you up a panino fresh
with a crusty roll and ample slices of prosciutto
carved straight from the ham
as you waited; a bar on the Via di Citta in Siena near the Duomo
which had the best breakfast brioches ever
tempting you beyond the sensible ‘just one’
into the realms of second cappuccino
second brioche and beyond!

It is eight years since I was last in Tuscany
(having children put a halt to travelling for a while)
but I am sure that those bars still endure
serving coffee and food
the same mouth-watering treats: Tuscan ‘fast-food’ at its best.

Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock