Of my 6-week stay in Tuscany, I always felt a sense of warmth whenever I joined meals with my host family or with my friends. The connection between food and family here is no difference to that of my home country, Vietnam. In both countries, food is the bond that brings people together as we would mainly stay in and enjoy a jovial home-cooked meal.

However, I did experience some initial confusion when it came to dining in Tuscany. Dinners were served at around 7:30-8 pm; this is very different in Vietnam as we would normally have dinners at 5-6 pm. At first, I was quite puzzled as I would run downstairs at 4 pm to help with the cooking and found nobody in the kitchen. I then was told about the time of serving dinner here and found it to be an amusing incident. So, to adjust to that minor unfamiliarity, after a long day wandering around the area, I would stop by some pasticcerie to get a gloriously moist Pesche di Prato, a sweet made of brioches dipped in liquor and served with custard, to get my rumbling stomach filled.

Another funny anecdote about the cultural difference when it comes to food is that in Tuscany, you are generally not allowed to touch the fresh fruit and vegetable displayed at market. In Vietnam, I was taught on how to use our tactile and olfactory sensory to feel the freshness of the produce. So, at my first trip to a market, I picked up a bunch of grapes and was told by the vendor to put them down. Although it was just a friendly reminder, I felt that I have to do research beforehand on the local customs, to not offend anyone and to immerse myself fully into the travelling experience.

*Buon appetito: “have a great meal” in Italian, “Chuc ngon mieng!”: “have a great meal” in Vietnamese