Cancer. What Are The Causes?

My nonna used to say the Italians know how to live. She would say in Italy the pace was easy, 'work a little, take a nap, eat a little something, work a little more, take a walk, socialise, eat a little more.' And of course she would say everything tasted better in Italy from Italian butter made with fresh cows milk, full of natural fragrant goodness, to pancetta, parmesan, olive oil and fresh basil.

My life in rural Spain is not that different to my nonna's vivid descriptions of Italy all those years ago. Like the Italians, Spaniards live life at a leisurely pace and their style of food is more fun and sociable, like the Italians they love olive oil, cured meats, fish and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

                                            I always buy lots of lovely olive oil in Spain

                                                                       

                                                   A selection of Spanish cured hams

                                                           Nice big bags of garlic 1€

Food in Mediterranean countries is about freshness, fragrance and ultimately about flavour. Further to my post yesterday regarding calories, where we buy most of our foodstuffs prepacked, we look for the calorie content and expiry dates. Common sense and taking responsibility fail us. My mother never counted a calorie in her life, she cooked using good judgement, if we had eaten a rich meal of pasta with a heavy meat sauce one day, she would counter that with a light fish or vegetable dish the next day. 

The Spanish still shop at markets buying loose fruit and vegetables, slices of meat, fish, nuts and bread, they're not dictated to by corporate food chains as to how many calories per portion or when they have to eat their food by, they use their initiative, as my mother would have done.

                                  A typical market stall selling nuts and dried fruits

                                                 Spanish women selecting their meat

                                                                            Jacarilla market

Unfortunately we Brit's have a sheep like mentality. Everyday, be it a TV programme or a newspaper article, we are being told to eat our 5 a day, cut back on sugar, drink less alcohol, take less salt, cut down our red meat intake, exercise more.........yet the huge food corporations still ply us with mass produced factory food and we still buy and eat it.

One of the dishes both my nonna and mother used to lovingly make was roasted peppers. These would be used in various dishes but I loved them most laid in thin strips on slices of freshly baked hot bread with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. The vivid colours of the peppers would glisten like silk and the combination of melting peppers and hot buttery bread was divine. 

Roasted peppers

Recipe

A mixture of red, yellow and green peppers,  (I make these in batches and store in sterilised jars with olive oil) 

Coarse sea salt

Olive oil

Half the peppers and deseed, lay the peppers skin side up on a baking tray

Set your grill to its highest setting, place peppers under grill and char as dark as the sky

Allow peppers to cool slightly then peel the peppers (my mother could lift off the charred part in one piece)

    Lay the peppers in thin strips in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt

    

Enjoy with bread or use as a topping for pizzas or combine with pasta and lashings of parmesan cheese. So simple but utterly delicious! 

'Piatto ricco, mi ci ficco.' (Rich plate, I dive in.)

- Italian proverb

Love Donna xxxxxxxxxxxx