Wait!
Did I pull out into a strange parallel universe?

An Italian asking for tips about food on a british forum and gave a like to McD? Cannot be real...

Please someone wake me up and make a hot espresso on my single stove. I don´t need much more in the morning. Or let´s drive directly to the next tabacchi for a croissant and a chat with the locals. Just to ask, where to get the best catch of the day for diner - and to ask for the muddiest short cut to go there. There might be a toilet, too. Then we´ll see.

No wait, do you remember that farm sale we´ve passed yesterday. We could start the day with some local cheese and fruits, buy some mushrooms and nuts to cook some Penne Piemontese later, on our single stove. Or any other pasta, we still have our glass of Bottarga/Pesto/... or at least a piece garlic somewhere down in the kitchen box.

Did you find it?

No, that´s the dehydrated duck noodle soup. Are you kidding me? Don´t you remember? We promised each other for our good health and karma, no processed industrial food, no eating out in a plastic furnished franchise restaurants. What´s the point? We´re not on a mission to Mars. We do not touch these rat packs until we are running out of road kill. Or starving to death in the middle of nowhere. But even then… Would be an achievement, to bring the rat packs back home untouched.

I could´t imagine a trip, without stopping at every interesting local bakery, food shop, little restaurant or take away. As the landscape changes, the food changes as well. And so do the people. Only few things beat the different culinary experiences on a trip, the little chats in little bars, lost in translation, the funny moments when you receive a dish you didn´t expect but it turns out quite delicious. Or not. Even on a budget, it´s priceless.
I actually thought about a trip round Europe, where I have to find every day a different, locally hand made cheese direct from the producer. I guess, I´d end up in nice remote places and meet interesting people. And where is cheese, there must be bread and wine…. I´m not picky. "Thousand ways to cook a chicken - a culinary trip round Asia" is second on my list.

For a single traveler, cooking meals is barely worth the hassle. Shopping, preparing, cooking, eating alone (isn´t it forbidden by law in Italy?) cleaning up and dealing with the left overs - because you always cook too much being hungry - makes not often sense to me. Only, when I decide to stay a few days at a lonely place, just for the exclusivity of surfing this secret spot alone, I could live on Pasta for weeks. But after a few days, I´d move on anyway.

But even with the aim of 90% self cooking on a single stove during a 60 day trip due to lack of access to restaurants, there are lots of things, one could cook in a single pot. Depends on the availability of ingredients and creativity…
Just ask your local dealer.

Buon appetito...