Grocery Shopping in Sorrento

Grocery Shopping In Sorrento

Americans take on an Italian grocery store with the help of an expert.

While grocery shopping is a universal necessity, every culture and region does it just a little bit differently. For a group of 15 Americans living in Italy for 5 weeks, they needed a little bit of help.

Luckily, Anna Maione, from the Nonna Flora Sorrento Family Kitchen, was able to help.

Meeting the students at the Sant’Anna Institute, Anna led them through the streets of Sorrento, using a wooden spoon to make sure nobody got lost and took them to experience their 1^st Italian grocery shopping trip.

Their shopping list included ingredients to make, spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, meatballs, Caprese salad and affogatos.

They first stopped to grab a bottle of milk to soak bread for the meatballs. Then they took a little detour for Anna to tell them how to find the best pesto and to grab a few bottles of fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Then it was off to produce. They needed two types of tomato for their sauce, fresh basil, fresh parsley, garlic, and onions.

Next was meet and cheese. She taught them how to pick out the best mozzarella for a Caprese salad and then how to order meat for the meatballs and salami to have as a snack while they cooked.

After that, the students had to learn a couple of very important things. How to pick out the best pasta, olive oil, wine and coffee.

For pasta, Anna advised that the best kinds should not be yellow, should have ridges and not be smooth and have a long cook time. She recommended La Molisana.

For Olive oil, the extra virgin was what Anna recommended because she said the way it is produced preserves the best part of the olive. She recommended the brand Gargiulo, a brand made right here in Sorrento.

For espresso, Anna recommended the brand, Kimbo. She said this was a good quality Napoli coffee, that was very strong so it is definitely a great brand for coffee lovers.

For wine, Anna said to look for a bottle with D.O.P on the label. This means that the place where it was produced guarantees high quality.

Finally, they grabbed a few cartons of cream ice cream and made their way to the checkout. The students filled their bags and were on their way to begin cooking. More importantly, they left prepared to go back and shop for themselves.