melissa grace kreider

     Some background information! I was a vegan for four years. No meat, dairy, egg, or animal product. Ever. I completely and totally planned on continuing my veganism while I was here, but happily Gusta Pizza tempted me with their Napoli mozzarella and after a month and a half of living here, I broke and ate cheese. From then on I ate cheese and gelato like it was nobody's business and lived my life as a vegetarian for three fantastic months. No regrets, but as I find myself sashaying into summertime, I decided to transition back into veganism. Fruits, veggies, beans and grains are plentiful at Mercato Centrale and cheaper than any cheese or meat that I could ever want. 

       While I don't regret eating cheese or dairy here in Italy (everything is local and fresh; humane...not to mention...it's Italy), veganism just works for me personally and brings joy to my life.

       A question to you:  do you know how delicious gelato is? It's like ice cream on steroids. The biggest problem with transitioning back into veganism was the fact that there would be an gaping absence of gelato in my life. Wrong. I googled 'vegan gelato in Florence, Italy,' not expecting much and up came two options! The first being Festival del Gelato and the second being Perche No?. I've only had the pleasure of trying Festival del Gelato, and sooner rather than later I plan on trying Perche No?. 

"Diet Gelato" Made of Rice Milk! There were only two kinds of vegan gelato offered that day, but they were two I am particularly fond of: Nocciola [noh-cho-la] aka Hazelnut and Zuppa Inglese [zoo-pah in-glay-say], or Trifle. 

      It was completely delicious and tasted just like the gelato I had fallen in love with previously! It's nice that I have the option to still enjoy gelato because my wisdom teeth are coming in and it's pretty much the worst pain I've ever felt in my life (more on this later!). It's nice to have something cold, chewing not required, and vegan to remedy the pain temporarily.

      I will certainly return to Festival del Gelato if I'm in the area, but I'm looking forward to trying Perche No? as I have read that they have a wider range of flavors not only vegan, but non-vegan Organic flavors! 

Ciao for now,

-m.