What defines eating well?

Living in Italy is inevitably challenging how I view food.

At home, the abundant contents of my spice cupboard, cookbook shelf and fridge were a source of some small pride: at any given moment, I could cook almost anything for any number of people. In my experience, food creativity revolved around recipes. Of course, I gave some thought to seasonality, but often I'd create weekly menus based on what was on sale at the local grocery or market. While that was changing to a degree in the past year, frugality was a very strong thread linking my purchasing decisions and to some degree, will probably always continue to be so.

Now, there are three farmers markets every single week. The piles of fresh goods are so inexpensive and inspiring and there's real discovery in tasting, handling and smelling what's available. We buy what's good. We discuss new meals. Now, I feel the drive to learn techniques, not recipes. And the producers themselves recommend new ideas. Rosanna at our favourite greens stand describes, in vivid Italian, how to slice celery just so, and toss it with olive oil from Puglia and wide shavings of parmigiano from Ivan's stall just down the way. Yes, it's a European cliche, but market-given recipes persist because they're given by people who know their products intimately in a way those of us disconnected from the agricultural process just can't. And simply put, they're fantastic.

The challenge to re-connect to food in a sustainable way is also greatly enhanced by my education. Reading and discussing the serious issues facing our global food system must boil down to: what can I do in the here and now?

Well, Friday mornings, we get up early to fit in a run to the farmers' market. And while we are dazzled by the array of products, we buy only what is needed for the weekend. It's all about having an abundance of creativity, not an abundance of supplies. It means every three nights, the three of us stare into our fridge and create a menu whose purpose is solely to finish off its contents. Three star cuisine it may not be, but the flavours are rich and so inextricably linked to this time and place. And when the quality of goods available is excellent, the simple meals are always good. Last week's caramelized onion, pancetta and castelmagno cheese frittata with roasted potatoes and sage and sauteed broccoli rabe left an empty fridge, but us perfectly satiated.

Good doesn't necessarily equate complicated anymore.