In Tuscany you discover soon that a quick bite is not a synonym for an unhealthy or colourless snack. There is plenty of choice of tasty, cheap, fast and authentic snacks, let's say the Tuscan fast food. Do you have a sweet tooth or do you favour savoury tastes? These are some typical Tuscan quick bites.
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| Schiaccia |
Schiaccia, plain or filled, is perfect as a snack or a quick lunch. It's a flat bread (crispy or soft), topped with olive oil and salt. You can find schiaccia at the bakery, in the supermarket or in a local grocery store, where you can usually have it filled with fine cold meats or cheese.
A panino, a tasteful Tuscan bread roll or sandwich, is perfect filled with any type of Tuscan or Italian cold meats and cheeses: pecorino cheese, Tuscan ham, salami with fennel (finocchiona), mortadella, a fresh sausage ... Most small grocery stores sell these tasty panini. They first weigh your roll, because bread is sold by weight in Tuscany, then they slice your cold meat or cheese and weigh this too, and then they stuff you roll. No fixed price for sandwiches but everything by weight. Honest and delicious.
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| l'Antico Trippaio in Via dei Cimatori in Florence (foto Google Streetview) |
Lampredotto is a typical snack that you find almost exclusively in Florence. This old, traditional dish can be found in food kiosks in the streets of the city centre of Florence. Lampredotto is a kind of tripe, the fourth beef stomach, which is boiled in a broth with herbs and tomatoes and then cut into strips. You eat the meat in a sandwich, of which one half is soaked in the bouillon, and topped with a green sauce (salsa verde).
Another popular snack is Trippa alla fiorentina, another beef stomach, cooked in tomato sauce. This dish is amazingly tasteful and you can may find it also outside of Florence.
You find the most famous lampredotto food stall l'Antico Trippaio in Florence in Via dei Cimatori.
A bombolone is originally from Tuscany but you will find it all over Italy. It's a deliciously sweet, soft pastry. It looks like a doughnut without a hole. You can eat it filled with cream, Nutella, pudding or jam.
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| Porchetta |
Porchetta is one of the most common snacks in central Italy. The boneless meat, a kind of giant pork roulade, stuffed with garlic, rosemary, sage, wild fennel, pepper and salt, which is roasted. The delightful, tender and spicy meat really overwhelms you with its delicious smell. You usually find porchetta in food stands at markets, fairs and festivals.
In the Garfagnana, a rugged, mountainous part of Tuscany near Lucca you can enjoy delicious chestnut crepes, Necci, stuffed with ricotta cheese or Nutella.
Ice cream or gelato, was created by the Florentine Bernardo Buontalenti in 1565 for Catherine De' Medici. Now you can find ice cream all over the world and not only in Tuscany or Italy. Fresh ice cream however, made with natural ingredients, without preservatives or artificial flavours and colours, is one of the most delightful things that Tuscany has to offer!
Finally, in the list of delicacies we must add pizza. Pizza is definitely not a typical Tuscan product, but in all Tuscan cities you will find delicious pizzas sold by pieces (a taglio). Of these large pizzas you can buy one or more pieces for a quick meal or snack. Throughout Italy pizza is by far the most common and most popular snack.
Enjoy your Tuscan snacks!
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