This week I took a trip to Mercato Centrale! Everything I saw here looked so delicious and I will definitely be coming back here to try as much as I can. The thing that intrigued me the most was the meat selection because I feel like Florence isn’t known for their meat or poultry aside from the Florentine steak. I tried a sample of chicken at Mercato Centrale and it was so delicious and flavorful which I didn’t expect because all of the times I’ve had chicken in Florence it wasn’t that great. Mercato Centrale differs from street vendors because it has everything from meat, candy, drinks, and pastries, basically anything you can think of, whereas street vendors typically only offer pizza, sandwiches, and fried food. Not to mention, Mercato Centrale is a huge multi-story market whereas street vendors are quite small. However, street vendors and Mercato Centrale are similar in the way that they both offer pizza, sandwiches, pasta, fried food. The most unique thing I saw at the market the huge selection of candy and all the different types I had never came across before which I didn’t expect to see at a market here in Florence. Based on my trip to the Mercato Centrale I would definitely recommend everything to visit it, I think everyone would be able to find something they like since the options are endless. This visit is important for this class because it showcases the Italian culture and food and all that they have to offer all in one place. I also found it interesting that this huge market closes at 2pm which is when most people would eat lunch in the U.S. so that was also an important aspect to this class which is to live how the Italians live.