Would you like a slice of lard with that?

Mmm hmmm... a whole post about LARD. Nope, not that hard white stuff you find in a jar, but we're talking thinly sliced, considered delicious, part of your meat and cheese plate, lard.

For our second night in La Spezia, we ventured off in search of a really Italian restaurant.The night before we had been caught in a total tourist trap where they served my dad what looked like a frozen pizza, and so we wanted something real. Something delicious. Wandering away from the main drag, we turned the corner and found this little hub of activity, full of Italians eating delicious-looking food. We checked out the menu, and for the first time since I've been here I noticed that lots of things were listed with lardo. I was so confused that I had to double check. "Scusa, cos'è lardo?" "Lardo. Lard." Weird.

Anyway, it all looked delightful so we stayed and ordered an assortment of food, one being the meat and cheese plate. Well, when the board arrived, it looked like two types of cheese, and four different types of meat. We dove in and after a few pieces I went in for the thinly sliced piece of white cheese. In my defense, you can buy thinly sliced white cheese at the grocery store. I put it in my mouth and the next few moments were something shocking. It was salty. It started to melt in my mouth. Then a flavour party exploded while I was still trying to figure out what kind of cheese I was eating. This all happened within seconds, after which I swallowed, looked at my dad, and said, "I think I just ate fat." We confirmed this with the server, and really, if I had looked closer, I would've noted the barely-there rind on the outside. But why would I inspect my cheese so closely??

True, fat equals flavour, and this was like a flavour rave in my mouth. But, the idea of voluntarily chowing down on pieces of pure fat is just so bizarre that I can honestly say I'll probably try to avoid it in the future.

Non so come scrivere questa storia in italiano per voi italiani, piuttosto perchè per voi, non è strano mangiare lardo! Quindi, secondo me dovete leggerla in inglese. Beh, no. Per forza dovete leggerla in inglese, perchè non la scrivo in italiano!