The Street Food Tour in Naples
One of the best parts of traveling is eating. So it was natural to do a food tour in Naples, the birthplace of pizza and the capital of street food. The tour we signed up for was Naples Street Food Tour With Local Expert, and our guide, Sara, fit the description. She was friendly and humorous, and was informative about both the history of the city as well as the food.
The tour started in the Piazza Dante, where Sara gave us a fast overview of Napoli history. We then walked down some of the oldest roads in the city to get to our first destination.
Stop number one was a very small, local deli where we were served a sampler of delicious foods. Buffalo mozzarella is traditionally produced near Naples, so they are able to have the freshest buffalo mozzarella every day. The sample we were given was very creamy, fresh and delicious. Along with that, they served us an olive, a thin piece of ham and a sun-dried tomato. One of the most surprising things was the tarallo, which they likened to a bagel. The only similarity I found between the two was the round shape with a center hole. The tarallo is very brittle and crunchy, and made of ‘nzogna (lard), pepper and toasted almonds, but the savory taste was a treat.
To facilitate easy eating and walking, the Napolitano people have turned traditional Italian food items into easy grab and go options. We were able to try the Pizza a Portafoglio, which translates to pizza wallet. Because of the way they fold the pizza up (like a wallet), you can easily eat an entire pizza while walking. The Pasta Fritta, or Fried Pasta, is another way to make an Italian classic into a mobile dish. Think of it as an oversized version of a fried mac & cheese that you’d get on a bar menu…then replace the elbow pasta with longer noodles, trade in the yellow cheese for creamy béchamel sauce, add in some meat, and drop it right into a food cart in Italy. Voilà, you have portable pasta. Filling? Yes. Tasty? Absolutely. No plates or forks required.
Anyone who has ever been to Italy has certainly heard of limoncello, the popular lemon flavored digestif. We were able to go to a limoncello factory to see how it, and creama di limoncello, were produced. Limoncello is produced in a multistep process in which lemon zest, sugar, alcohol, and time work together to make this unique beverage. During the later steps in the process, the alcoholic fumes were so strong they almost hurt to breathe in around them. Creama di limoncello is a toned down alternative, as milk is added to dilute the limoncello.
The final stops were the sweetest, literally. We were treated to an Italian dessert called Babà, which is a mushroom shaped spongecake that has been soaked in rum. To add to the sugar high, we each got a slice of Sfogliatella to taste, which reminded me of a crispy, flaky croissant stuffed with a ricotta filling.
By this point, I barely had any room left in my stomach, but I had to make room for our final stop: Gelato. All of the choices looked wonderful, so in true Amanda fashion, I let the lady helping me choose her favorite flavors. I trusted her expertise and the Coffee and Sicilia combination she put together did not let me down. After all of the food we tried on the tour, there was no way I could finish the gelato, but it was so good that I really wanted to.
The food tour in Naples was the perfect way to round out my quick trip to Italy and the Amalfi Coast. With all of the history, and delicious things to eat and drink, it could be likened to a walking excursion, food tour and bar crawl all combined into one. This was the perfect way to experience Naples when you only have a limited amount of time.
