Breakfast is at 7 a.m. for me on weekdays because of school. We usually have tea with biscotti or a slice of cake that my host sibling’s grandmother makes.

At school, I bring a snack, usually a container of nuts or fruit. Lunch is after I get out from school, so about 2 p.m. Sometimes we’ll have pasta — bowtie pasta, spaghetti, pasta with pesto, etc., or we’ll have meat — beef slices lightly coated in a flour mixture and then fried on a pan, or I’ll make a smoothie — blueberry, raspberry, or mango– and sometimes I go out after school for lunch with friends.

In between lunch and dinner, we usually have another snack, whether something sweet or healthy. Then for dinner, at 7:30 to 8 p.m., if we had pasta for lunch, we’ll have meat, soup, or fish with vegetables.

After dinner we occasionally have dessert if there’s any, for example, I made cheesecake a couple weeks ago, and we had that after dinner, and sometimes my host father brings gifted biscotti from his clients at work.

For both lunch and dinner there is always salad and tomatoes if anyone wants some, and now and then prosciutto as well. After the main course at dinner, the cheese tray is brought out and you can take slices of different kinds of cheese and eat it with bread.

I have to say, Italian cheese is exceptional, especially compared to American cheese. There are so many types of cheese! There’s sweet creamy cheese, strong parmesan cheese, unseasoned and seasoned cheese and local cheese. When eating out it’s normal to have a sweet drink like Coca-Cola, but when eating at home we usually have water.

Another thing, sparkling water is very popular here! I personally don’t like it, but about half the people drink it regularly. After lunch, my host family likes to drink an expresso, and yes, they make it with the classic Italian coffee pot (made on the stove).

My host mother told me that although it’s hard to schedule everyone to eat together — with the basketball practice, gym, and work — they do their best because eating together is very important. It’s not just about filling your stomach, but also about the family conversations and relationships.

Some of my favorite foods have been Pici with Pesto (hand-rolled pasta like fat spaghetti), certain types of delicious cheese with crunchy Italian bread, prosciutto crudo (dry-cured ham that is thinly sliced and served uncooked) and prosciutto speck (thin smoked pork slices), all Italian pizzas (below is an entire paragraph dedicated to Italian pizza), Nutella Gelato, almost all biscotti, chocolato (hot chocolate in Italy is basically melted chocolate, like a pudding), panini, gnocchi, Risotto with Gorgonzola (a rice dish served in melted Gorgonzola cheese), Cannoli), homemade Tiramisu (ladyfingers dipped in coffee and covered in a mascarpone cheese pudding), Cappuccinos, lasagna, and classic Italian spaghetti and meatballs.

Italian pizza is very different than American pizza, both in what you eat and how you eat it. First, each person gets their own personal pizza, a bit bigger than a dinner plate.

This may sound like an insane amount of food, but Italian pizza isn’t as packed as American pizza. The crust is thin and the tomato and cheese (both fresh and unprocessed) is thinly spread out on the pizza along with scattered toppings like prosciutto. Then, with a knife, you cut the pizza into quarters, and if the pizza is especially melty, into eight slices. Eat each slice folded in half so nothing falls out. My favorite pizza is prosciutto crudo, which is a normal pizza but with a couple slices of prosciutto on top.

I think it’s funny when Italians make fun of America’s attempt at Italian cuisine. They say our pizza is an unhealthy attempt at copying their own pizza. When I told them I liked Pizza Hut, they looked at me very strangely. And they think our Kraft macaroni and cheese is equal to garbage and our cheese is an extreme disappointment. Our tomato sauce (not usually fresh) is described as ketchup and our ice cream is certainly a step down. Putting butter on bread is extremely weird and using creamy salad dressings like Ranch or Catalina is equally disturbing. Our huge mugs of watered-down coffee is described as “typically American” and peanut butter with chocolate was a strange and foreign concept.

Although Italians are proud of their traditional food, they also love some American food. My host family loved the cheesecake and ate the chocolate chip cookies in two days! My host siblings love beef jerky (I brought five bags of the stuff with me for presents because it’s something you can’t get in Europe) and my host mother has suggested we have pancakes one weekend because that was one of her favorite foods when she was in America. My host brother and father like lemon flavored things, so I’m determined to bake a lemon meringue pie.

My host family is authentically Italian. They never go to fast-food restaurants, they buy their meat from the butchers, and they buy the cheese and fruit from fresh markets. When they buy clothes, they buy to keep for as long as they can and go the tailors if something needs advanced mending.

Nonna (the grandmother) bakes cakes and lasagnas and brings it over. They say hello to people they know in the streets and prefer to ride their bikes or walk over taking the car. It reminds me of my own family (which is half Italian actually). We always eat our meals together and often go to my grandparent’s house for a family lunch or dinner (Hello Guna and Poppa!). At church (Hello church family!) we’re always having potlucks because food really does bring people together.

Thank you for reading about my adventures in Italy!