5 ms·

you probably are from northern Italy, where bread just plain sucks. Otherwise Italian bread is one of the best of the world and has nothing to fear from the Fr

you probably are from northern Italy, where bread just plain sucks. Otherwise Italian bread is one of the best of the world and has nothing to fear from the French one. source: an Italian from Rome that lived in most of the north of Italy and cried every night for their terrible, almost inedible, bread.

kome 10y ago
Yep, I am from northern Italy.
- walterstucco 10y ago
  There was no other possible explanation.
  - tatoalo 10y ago
    In Milano bread is not that bad c'mon. Source: Italian, Milan born & raised.
    - kome 10y ago
      No, trust me: it's pretty bad. You are just used to.
  - walterstucco 10y ago
    I'm sorry, but it is. Things have been slowly improving in the past couple of years, new bakeries are opening, EXPO had its effects, but we're still talking about small niches and not the typical Italian bread, it's more all grain, cereal, black, whatever is popular abroad. For example in Milan it is impossible to find good (not even great, just good) michette (that we call rosette in Rome) even if they were invented in Lombardy.
carlob 10y ago
I am from Rome, I lived in France for more than 5 years and now I'm back in Italy. Southern Italian bread is good, provided you like the 2-3 types made your area, which usually means some variation of casereccio. Oh and also choose the right bakery. If you want something with more cereals, maybe dark bread you're basically fucked. In France 80% of bakeries are decent, it's really like coffee for us. In Italy you can eat good bread, but we don't hold bakeries to the standards we expect from cafés.
- walterstucco 10y ago
  > If you want something with more cereals, maybe dark bread you're basically fucked. Yep, if you want non-Italian bread in Italy you're fucked, that's right. It's like eating sushi at the all you can eat restaurant run by Chinese. Anyway, I don't want to defend Italian bread more than necessary, but we basically don't eat bread, we use bread like asians use rice, to eat something together with bread. There are plenty of options if you don't want bread, from pizza to focaccia, from farinata to roll pastry etc. etc. etc. > which usually means some variation of casereccio This is an exaggeration. It's true that most of Italy is made by small cities if not villages, where variety is minimal, but put them together and you made one of the most diverse food ecosystem in existence.
  - carlob 10y ago
    All I'm saying is that if you think about it. If somebody asks you where to buy good bread, you probably have an opinion. If somebody asks you where to have a good espresso or a simple pasta dish, you probably know one place where where it's excellent, but expect it to be good everywhere. With bread it's different.
- tomcooks 10y ago
  > If you want something with more cereals, maybe dark bread you're basically fucked. Pane di segale is common up north, pane di Coimo is just one of the several types of dark bread we have in Italy anywhere cold.
donretag 10y ago
As an Italian-American, who lived both in the US and in Northern Italy, please do not try the bread in the US. It is not even comparable to northern Italian bread. And the author is from the east coast, which has more of a European presence. The bread on the west coast (California), is even worse.
- wbl 10y ago
  I grew up on the East Coast. Berkeley Bowl has decent bread from a few bakeries.
- asveikau 10y ago
  One of the biggest shocks for me when I moved from the east coast to the west was the decline in quality of bread in supermarkets. Strangely, a lot of people, even other east coasters who moved west, don't seem to believe me when I say this, or don't have the same complaint.
  - hkmurakami 10y ago
    I've been struggling to find a good loaf of bread ever since the Chinese bakery in San Jose we used to go to shut down...
tomcooks 10y ago
You should have done better research, bread is just as good up north and there are excellent dark wheat delicacies you won't find south of Milan. Best regards, Triggered Polentone

kome 10y ago

Yep, I am from northern Italy.

walterstucco 10y ago
There was no other possible explanation.
- tatoalo 10y ago
  In Milano bread is not that bad c'mon. Source: Italian, Milan born & raised.
  - kome 10y ago
    No, trust me: it's pretty bad. You are just used to.
- walterstucco 10y ago
  I'm sorry, but it is. Things have been slowly improving in the past couple of years, new bakeries are opening, EXPO had its effects, but we're still talking about small niches and not the typical Italian bread, it's more all grain, cereal, black, whatever is popular abroad. For example in Milan it is impossible to find good (not even great, just good) michette (that we call rosette in Rome) even if they were invented in Lombardy.

carlob 10y ago

I am from Rome, I lived in France for more than 5 years and now I'm back in Italy. Southern Italian bread is good, provided you like the 2-3 types made your area, which usually means some variation of casereccio. Oh and also choose the right bakery. If you want something with more cereals, maybe dark bread you're basically fucked. In France 80% of bakeries are decent, it's really like coffee for us. In Italy you can eat good bread, but we don't hold bakeries to the standards we expect from cafés.

walterstucco 10y ago
> If you want something with more cereals, maybe dark bread you're basically fucked. Yep, if you want non-Italian bread in Italy you're fucked, that's right. It's like eating sushi at the all you can eat restaurant run by Chinese. Anyway, I don't want to defend Italian bread more than necessary, but we basically don't eat bread, we use bread like asians use rice, to eat something together with bread. There are plenty of options if you don't want bread, from pizza to focaccia, from farinata to roll pastry etc. etc. etc. > which usually means some variation of casereccio This is an exaggeration. It's true that most of Italy is made by small cities if not villages, where variety is minimal, but put them together and you made one of the most diverse food ecosystem in existence.
- carlob 10y ago
  All I'm saying is that if you think about it. If somebody asks you where to buy good bread, you probably have an opinion. If somebody asks you where to have a good espresso or a simple pasta dish, you probably know one place where where it's excellent, but expect it to be good everywhere. With bread it's different.
tomcooks 10y ago
> If you want something with more cereals, maybe dark bread you're basically fucked. Pane di segale is common up north, pane di Coimo is just one of the several types of dark bread we have in Italy anywhere cold.

donretag 10y ago

As an Italian-American, who lived both in the US and in Northern Italy, please do not try the bread in the US. It is not even comparable to northern Italian bread. And the author is from the east coast, which has more of a European presence. The bread on the west coast (California), is even worse.

wbl 10y ago
I grew up on the East Coast. Berkeley Bowl has decent bread from a few bakeries.
asveikau 10y ago
One of the biggest shocks for me when I moved from the east coast to the west was the decline in quality of bread in supermarkets. Strangely, a lot of people, even other east coasters who moved west, don't seem to believe me when I say this, or don't have the same complaint.
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  I've been struggling to find a good loaf of bread ever since the Chinese bakery in San Jose we used to go to shut down...

tomcooks 10y ago

You should have done better research, bread is just as good up north and there are excellent dark wheat delicacies you won't find south of Milan. Best regards, Triggered Polentone