Week 25 - Colazione - Italy

BOMBOLONI and CAFFE LATTE

Italian food is arguably the most popular cuisine in the world.  Even when we lived in Korea, eating Italian was considered romantic and chic.  So I have been very excited to try Italian breakfast.  And, (drum roll), it didn't disappoint!

Breakfast in Italy is an entirely sweet affair.  No savoury foods to be found here.  In fact, most of the foods that they eat for breakfast I would normally consider to be dessert:  cookies, biscotti, donuts, some people even report that they eat gelato!  Sounds like my kind of breakfast but I was left thinking that it couldn't possibly be true...

Enter Exhibit A:

I found these Italian Breakfast Cookies at a Walmart located in one of Toronto's largest Italian communities.  Here's what it said on the back:

So I had proof, Italians really did eat cookies for breakfast.  But a dry plate of cookies didn't seem like a very fun entry, so I upped the ante and went to see what I could find at an Italian bakery.

Eating breakfast out at a local Caffe is very common in Italy.  Locals grab a Caffe Latte or Cappuccino and a sweet and most often without even grabbing a seat, they're on their way.  (As a sidenote, apparently the frothy Cappuccino is considered a morning beverage only.)

To best emulate this experience in Toronto we headed to Francesca Bakery, an Italian bakery I've been dying to try for a long time.

Jon had a Caffe Latte and Cannoli (one of Francesca's specialties) and I absolutely devoured a Bombolone.  A Bombolone is a sugar coated yeast doughnut stuffed with creamy vanilla custard.  It is one of the most classic of Italian breakfast treats and it was delectable.  I love stuffed doughnuts in general because they feel so much more substantial and the custard in the Bombolone really hit the spot.

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:

For Degree of Separation:

For Guestability:

For Sustainability:

Confession:  we also had two enormous cheese and stew stuffed Arancini, so this category was compromised.  (It was worth it, Francesca's Arancini were amazing.)

For Overall Appeal:

I could eat dessert for every meal, so Bombolone and Cannoli appealed to me.  Not so sure about those dry breakfast cookies...