Today, we interview the fantastic Sara Rosso, founder of the Italian food blog “Ms. Adventures in Italy” – a must read for every foodie! Having travelled all over the country, Sara writes about exploring, tasting and discovering Italy and Italian cooking. Her book “How to order an Italian Coffee in Italy” is a wonderful read for those wanting to learn more about Italian culture. As a true food and travel expert, she gave us some tips and tricks for your next Italian cooking holiday!
We love the travel tips section on your blog – everything from packing hand luggage, fighting jet lag and ordering Italian Coffee. Do you have any tips for travelling solo?
I don’t do as much solo travel as others, in that I may be travelling solo *to* somewhere but usually it’s for an event or for something where I’ll be joined by others, but I think one of my biggest tips is to create a mini-agenda for yourself well-ahead of the trip, scouting out favourite places to get coffee, dinner, or other activities. Line them all up and make a week for yourself. You can always blow off your plans later, but I find once you’re on location it may be hard to fight your own shyness or inertia to leave your comfort zone and do something if you haven’t lined up a few easy options beforehand.
You’ve lived in both Rome and Milan, how does the food differ from these two regions?
Both have their own unique dishes and I tend to like Roman food a bit better, especially pizza al taglio here in Rome. I think Milan has a little more vibrant ethnic food scene, however, and there are lots of good restaurants featuring food from all over Italy.
The recipe list on your blog is quite extensive! Are you able to choose a favourite dish from it?
Ha! That’s like choosing a favourite parent or something. 🙂 I would say the desserts are definitely my favourite section of the menu, so everything there has been repeated over and over, but I would say one of my favourite recipes is making homemade chicken stock as it really can enhance a ton of other recipes in your kitchen, so mastering that will go a long way to contributing to other things you do in the kitchen.
Along with olive oil, wine, and pizza, perhaps another great Italian export is Nutella! You helped co-found Nutella day, could you tell us a little about what inspired you to do that?
Way back then (we’re talking 2006, so almost 10 years ago!) Nutella was relatively unknown back in the US, so it seemed like we were introducing something quite exotic back home to our friends and family. It was a lot of fun to get the holiday going, and I couldn’t have imagined where it would end up.
You’ve lived in Italy since 2003, is there anywhere else you’ve still to see? Amalfi, Sicily, Puglia?
I’ve seen almost every region in Italy (I’ve been to all the places you mentioned – Amalfi, Sicily and Puglia , but I have a few things left on my list, more like cities than regions: Matera, Lecce, more of Calabria, more of the North’s wine country, and I can’t wait to get back to Sicily once again.
Feeling inspired and ready to explore the different Flavours of Italy yourself? Join us next year on one of our Italian cooking holidays – but be quick, places are filling up already! To get a copy of our 2016 brochure click here or simply contact our lovely team of experts today.
About Sara
My name is Sara Rosso, and I have lived in Milan, Pavia, and now back in Rome since I moved to Italy from Silicon Valley (California) in July 2003. I have a full-time job working for Automattic (WordPress.com & more!), but I am also a writer and photographer, and I love technology. And espresso.
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