Does Italy have all the cooking ingredients we have here in America?

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sueet2b

ive lived here in florence for the last 4 years, been in and out of the supermarket thousands of times and gone nutts many times when i cant find the things im use to having back at home.

ill jump over the category of 'ingredients' and go directly and tell what there is and isnt in an italian supermarket:

1. no such thing as 'already prepared' pasta sauce. like you know in the states theres all the brands of pasta sauces already set like Prego and its in big bottles, here theres no such thing, the only thing in stalk is the tomatoe sauce and the regular italian sauces i dont count as 'already prepared' since there is tiny difference between one another. and they all come in tiny itty bitty bottles, im use to the jumbo american sizes.

2. frozen concentrated juices do not excist ( i miss so much the frozen lemonades)

3. lemonde equally does not excist (literally) you can bring some to have the italians try it.

4. no cocunut icecream bars, only the lame chocolate and wild italian flavors. you only find the cocunut flavor in icecream stops.

5. its hard to find regular oil to cook, they only have the olive oil. i use to use the canola oil to make popcorn, is even canola oil the same as olive oil??no, right? well you never see anything else to choose from except olive oil.

6. no good chocolate chip cookies, im use to the american brand Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies, dont excist here. wierd, you can easily find them in spain but not in italy.

7. no big gallons of fresh orange juice under the top brands like Tropicana or MinuteMaid, they dont excist here in italy, but they do excist in spain, no idea why. the fresh orange juice here only comes in tiny little carton bottles.

8. hard to find kid flavor toothpaste, theres no such thing as the 'toothpaste + moothwash all in 1!', type of thing.

9. its just hard to find a good big box of tissues to have around the house, every american has one right? here they barely sell one tiny box of tissues but at the same time half a hall full of portable tiny tissues bags in every single scent and flavor, color, disney character, ecc..the tissue boxes here in italy i guess no one really cares to buy. wierd.

10. shampoo: first of all, all shampoo bottles are completely tiny and the good well known brands like pantene proV costs A LOT!! i always bring 2 to 3 huge shampoo bottles of my favorite brand either herbal essenses or pantene proV. you save money by the thousands to last me all year.

11. talkng about a specific type of cheese, if you ever go to the a regular supermarket in the US look for the cheese brand called, Ranchero, its white fresh cheese, real good suff. i love it! but that type of cheese doesnt excist here in italy?? i ve looked everywhere and its not even invented yet.

12. about little seasonings, ive also looked around, im not big on cooking but when iwant to follow some special recipie, ive noticed that there are certain condiments that are extremly hard to find in a supermarket, for example Paprika. ive used that condiment thousands of times in the states, can buy it anywhere, but here ilve looked all around and never found it until one day. it was just an ordinary supermarket no different from the others and they just happened to have it, see what i mean? so just bring the ones you have back in the states, it can be irritating finding them here and plus traducing them to italian.

13. frozen burritos, dont apply either

14. the regular things that dont excist here that you can make your italian friends taste is the pancakes with syrup or the guacamole.

ok thats all i can think of so far, ill add in other stuff if anything else comes up.

have a good trip!

carl l

I wouldn't call any of those things you listed as "cooking ingrediants" but I'm sure you can find them if you try.

no middle name

I'm Italian and don't worry u'll find everything u need, including spoons!

Valeria R

I'm Italian so... YES We aren't Pakistan!!! We have everything ou need to cook... Last summer I've found your marschmallows! I didn't know what they are but now... Bleah!!!!!!! Spaghetti are the best!!!!!!!!! Champion of the world!!!!!!!

The Man

I don't think they have spoons, so you might want to bring some

pierluisa

if you go to a big supermarket you will find almost everything, including spices, pasta sauces, oils that are different from olive oil (maybe not canola, but we have sunflower seeds, corn, mixed seeds, soy....). In some supermarkets you also find ready to make brownies, muffins and pancake mix. Peanut butter and marshmallows are not easily found except in specialised stores and, it's true, no frozen fruit juices here... I miss them a lot too!!!!

ami

You should be able to get most of that stuff in Italy...esp. if you are in a large city. I'm only not sure of marshmallows, peanut butter and mayo. It's been a long time for me to have been there, so maybe they do now. (rome)

nancina

mustard and mayo are found in most stores, as are spices. Marshmallows and peanut butter might be a little harder to find, but discover nutella and you won't miss them as much.

If you get a fix for something American (like Betty Crocker, or Kraft, etc.) there is an international supermarket called Castroni on Via Ottaviano near the Vatican, where you'll find your American things, as well as other international products.

I lived in Italy for 16 months, and the only American thing I really missed was Cheerios. They sell the honey nut variety in Italy but not the plain kind. My sister sent me a box while I was there and I absolutely treasured every bowl full...!

Have a great time in Italy!

--Flavia--

you'll find everything, if you go to a big supermarket (auchan, ipercoop...).
you can find mayo,mustard and spices(and paprika!!) a lot... but about peanut butter, mashmallow, maple syrup you can find them JUST in big supermarket where you can find only few types, and you must search well 'cause there is just 1 or 2 kind and you could miss it.
instead if you search chocolate cookies and coconut icecream bar you can find in some discount stores..
guacamole and burritos you can easily find at blockbuster..
the big difference is that here we have everything but just in few flavours (ex cheerios, pringles etc..).

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