barry attempts to explore florence's mercato centrale...

...and is at a loss of where to begin. so i think i'll break this up into a couple of posts.

bustling with locals and tourists alike, the mercato caters to all tastes. luckily, i was there on a private food tour with angel walking tours, and so was able to enjoy stuffing my face with delicious goodies in relative peace. our guide, Samanta, started us off with a "small" selection of italian antipasti and wine (can you already tell that this is going to be good?!). everything was local, fresh, and told a history of the region that made you wish that all history lessons you had in grade school had a sample involved, because you would actually remember what you learned. i'll try to impart just a fraction of the wisdom i learned, and leave it to you to discover the rest on your own food adventures.

can i just say that i love cheese? i've been smitten with it for years, but would never have thought to serve it straight up with huge dollops of raspberry jam and orange-onion marmelade. DO IT. a staple around florence, and with so many sheep in the countryside, both fresh and aged pecorino cheese is the only way to go when sampling tuscan cuisine.

how can you tell a florentine salami from a venetian, or even a hungarian? no, this isn't some dirty joke, there really is a way. just look at how big the fat bits are. florentine ones will have larger fat bits, and lots of black peppercorns. other sausages will have smaller bits closer together. eccola! with info like this, you're going to be a hit at all the cool kids parties!

let's talk carbs, shall we? or more specifically, tuscan bread. no, i'm not talking about the soft, fluffy stuff they serve at olive garden with their mozzarella fonduta, but instead, the saltless wretch that tries to rip you teeth out of your mouth when you take a bite of it. ah...THAT bread.

for years florence and their rival (well, one of their rivals), pisa, went after each other in anyway that they could to get the upper-hand, and one thing that the pisani had access to that the florentines did not was the harbour...and salt. by heavily taxing salt headed for florence, almost no one in the city could afford to puchase this basic seasoning. the result: a new bread weapon...um, recipe, that was salt-free. ha! take that pisa!

i don't like olives. argh! i can practically hear you judging me. i do like olive oil if that makes you feel any better. no, these olives were not the typical olives you'd find at the corner store in edmonton. they were fresh, and done in a simple brine to keep as much of their fresh flavouring in. it also made them more meaty than other olives i've tried. tuscany is brimming with olive trees, and you'll find their fruit and their oil in almost everything. we were also educated in what to look for in a good olive oil. 1) make sure it's cold pressed, and 2) the freshest olive oils will be a murky green. the longer they sit, the clearer, and paler in colour (towards the yellow many here are used to) they become.

what would italian cuisine be without a little garlic? i ate these. raw. well, pickled. and surprise, surprise, i did not create a 10-foot barrier around me with my breath. sweet with almost no after taste, these suckers were probably my biggest surprise on this tour.

i also don't like sun-dried tomatoes. calm down, calm down! if i WERE to like any though, it would definitely be these. packed in good olive oil to be carefully preserved with love, these ruby jewels were crammed with enough flavour to work over your tastebuds as you chewed. only the best plum tomatoes are to be used - use the tomato-flavoured olive oil with salads!

20 year aged balsamic vinegar. you know all those trendy restaurants that started serving strawberries decked out in balsamic? yeah...they're doing it wrong. good balsamic vinegar should be sweet and almost syrup-like in consistency. anything less is just gross fwhen you're using it for dessert or appetizer toppings. try drizzling the good stuff over strawberries, ice-cream (really.) or, like we did, freshly shaved parmesan.