Snippets from the Italian Scene
The Euro: First Impressions, and
The Big Chill
Returning to Cosa Bolle, January first 2002 wasn't just the beginning of the new year this year; it also marked the introduction of the Euro as a physical currency rather than a banker's abstraction, and this means we have had to come to grips with a new set of coins and bills. The transition has actually been quite smooth, though there were long lines at post offices (which also give out pensions and function as bill payment centers) and banks for the first week or so, and there have been some surprises -- one post office ran out of bills and gave pensioners 10-pound sacks of change instead. Since there's also a 2-Euro coin, which is worth about two dollars, this isn't as far-fetched a means of giving out pensions as one might think.
The other effect of the introduction of the Euro has been a slight increase in prices, as people have (understandably) rounded up when converting from Lire to Euro. However, the Euro-related increases have been dwarfed by the effects of the weather: This fall an Arctic high settled in over Central Europe and began deflecting the Atlantic storms that usually bring moisture. As a result there hasn't been a drop of rain in Northern Italy in three months; the Alps are brown except where the snow cannons lay down cover for the ski trails, and the lakes are all at historic lows, and the fields have frozen solid, destroying the winter crops and making early spring plantings impossible, while the lack of moisture is likely going to stunt budding cycles. Nor is the situation much better in the South; it did snow heavily in December, but since then the skies have cleared and the temperatures have plummeted, again with disastrous effects on what crops the snows didn't destroy. Thanks to all this the prices of vegetables and fruit have tripled and are still climbing, and many of the spring and summer crops are at risk -- including the grapes that should in theory give us next year's wine harvest. We shall see, but it may be a grim and sorry vintage.
In the meantime, the weather people have been telling us "It'll be warmer in a day or two" for weeks -- Rather like the summer weather reports that promise "It'll be cooler tomorrow, for sure."
A presto,
Kyle Phillips
Webweaver, About Italian Cuisine
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