Sticker Shock! Food Costs in California vs. Italy · May 25, 02:35 PM by James Martin
Travelers complain a lot about the exchange rate of the worthless green things that Rick Steves called the “Bush Peso.” Yes, a sinking dollar can make a vacation in Europe seem really expensive these days.
But I’ve returned to California a few hours ago and have purchased the raw materials for dinner for two at a variety of stores. I was shocked. It wasn’t food shopping, it was highway robbery. For a meal for two and wine the price came to nearly $35.
I can go to a restaurant in the Lunigiana and get a three course meal and a bottle of wine—plus coffee and an after dinner drink for 10 Euro a person. That’s $30 for two, and I don’t have to clean up after.
You can complain about exchange rates all you want, but the cheapest bottle of white wine I could find at Whole Foods was 6 times the cost of its equivalent in Tuscany. Bread was a similar rip-off, unless you wanted the industrial crap, a decent loaf was about 4 to 6 times the price of a loaf lovingly baked in a wood oven in Tuscany. Whole foods wants almost $20 for a pound of “Tuscan” salami. I can get it in Tuscany for half that. Don’t get me started on the cost of cheese.
So, my advice is to rent a vacation home in Europe and learn how to shop. You’re likely to be amazed. And if you’re in the Lunigiana, eat at the Spino Fiorito. Unbelievable.
Sticker Shock! Food Costs in California vs. Italy originally appeared on WanderingItaly.com May 25, 2008, © James Martin, 
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