Extremely Cultured Americans Studying Abroad Almost Burned Florence, Italy To The Ground In Idiotic Fashion
My friends and I know this one girl who studied abroad in Italy and came back thinking she was the best cook in the world. While traveling around Europe like each country was the stop on an international bar crawl, she’d had the chance to eat some of the best cuisine on Earth and bring some knowledge back with her. And let me tell you, she’s amazing. One semester we’re meeting up at the dining hall or ordering Domino’s at 4 a.m., the next she’s inviting us over for a five-course Italian dinner cooked with herbs and vegetables from her own garden and paired with a wine she learned about in her food and wine pairing class. I wasn’t complaining.
Sadly, not everyone who studies abroad in Italy has the culinary excellence of my native people, the Italians, rub off on them.
From Travel and Leisure:
Consider this a public service announcement, as well as a lesson in cooking 101: to cook pasta, boil water first.
Three American students living abroad in Florence, Italy, learned this the hard way this week when they started a fire in their apartment by cooking pasta without the most basic of ingredients.
According to Italian newspaper La Nazione, the 20-year-old students brought home pasta from the supermarket, put the dry noodles straight into a pot without any water, and lit the stove. Instead of getting a delicious pasta dinner for three, the pot quickly burst into flames and caused a fire. The group called upon local firefighters who promptly extinguished the fire — perhaps with water? — and apart from some damaged “kitchen furniture,” it appears that no one was harmed.
Look, I’m no Food Network star, but how could these students not know you need water for pasta?! Anyone who ever lived in a freshman dorm knows that (if they somehow didn’t already know it going in) because it’s not like ramen becomes moist, sodium-filled, 79-cents-a-cup goodness using magic (though it tastes that way).
As if almost burning their study abroad apartment and possibly the city of Florence to the ground wasn’t bad enough, they’re getting mocked by the Italian populace for this whole ordeal. Way to pasta shame people who only made one (really stupid) mistake, Italy. Not cool. They were trying their hardest, damn it, even if their hardest was just awful. Like really, really moronic… Okay yeah I’m on the Italians’ side now..
[via Travel and Leisure]
Image via Shutterstock
Fucking random people and being rewarded. Is it a TFM?!
7 years ago at 10:47 am