There is no good junk food in Italy. As an American used to at least a whole aisle of junk good in US supermarkets, what is on offer here in Italy is pretty pathetic. I am sure it is all for the best, for my own good at least. But let me tell you one thing, junk food or not, you can still gain weight here from all of the other good food! 😉
So what can and can’t you find here? First, no Doritos, no Cheetos, no Twinkies or Ho-Hos. No corn nuts, no sugar daddies. No chocolate covered raisins or Reese’s pieces. Think of your favorite candy or salty snack food, you won’t find it here.
The “junk food” section of our local supermarket has Pringles chips in maybe 2 flavors and two brands of plain potato chips and maybe one flavored with paprika. Sort of similar to BBQ but not the same. No ridges, no sour cream and onion, no cheese flavored ones, nothing of those extravagant tastes! One brand of plain tortilla chips. The same one makes cheese puffs and that is as close as you get to real junk food.
As for candy, there is slightly more choice. You can find snickers, kit-kats and twixs. Then plain chocolate, dark chocolate and hazelnut chocolate bars. Lots of chocolate bars. If you love chocolate, as far as candy goes, you are set.
Personally, I prefer salty snack foods so you can see I’m at a disadvantage. Oh well, helps keep me from gaining too much weight – but I’ve got plenty of pasta and pizza to keep me from losing any ;).
Now the breakfast aisle – that is where Italians like to go crazy. A whole aisle or more. But we’ll talk about that on another day. Now, I’ve got to go make some pizza!