bites abroad
Our intern Carly explored Florence's culinary scene and took us with her along the way.
Meet Carly
Meet Carly, our awesome Elon Dining Marketing Intern from Boca Raton, Florida! She is a Marketing and Entrepreneurship double major with a minor in Food Studies. This semester, she will be learning firsthand about the culinary world of Florence, Italy. She explored new restaurants and hot food spots each week and documented it right here for us to see. You can also stay updated on her journey by following along on the Elon Dining Instagram. We are excited to see how Elon Dining incorporates her discoveries into their flavors and menus!
Carly Tavares
Intro Journal
August 26, 2026
Hey everyone! I’m Carly Tavares, a marketing intern for Elon Dining! This semester I will be doing a Bites
Abroad segment as I travel around Europe and my home base: Florence, Italy.
On our first day arriving in Italy, my roommates and I decided to start off with the basics, which obviously entails pizza and pasta. For our very first meal we decided to walk around and see what we could find. We stumbled upon a cute little pizzeria which was a bit off the beaten path, about 10 minutes from the Duomo. We split pizzas and a mixed salad and sat for well over an hour chatting and enjoying ourselves. The pizza in Italy is a bit floppier and served uncut as you are meant to do it yourself at the table. Something I also found interesting is how relaxed the lifestyle is here. No one rushed us to get the check or take our food away, and in fact we were the last people in the restaurant by the end of our meal.
For dinner that night, we gathered a bigger group with some other girls from our sorority studying here and had dinner right in front of the Duomo. I believe this was more of a touristy restaurant as are most restaurants around the center of the city, but regardless, the food was amazing. We all ordered pasta, but everyone agreed that my pesto pasta was the best one. The pasta has a lot more of a bite than it does in America, which is considered ‘al dente’. The portions are much smaller as well, but pastas are meant to be a first course before a meat or fish dish. They also always offer espresso after your meal, which I am told is for digestion. As I continue along my study abroad journey, I am hoping to learn more about
certain food traditions and to taste new things!
Carly Tavares
Bites Abroad Week 2
September 14, 2026
For this week’s video I am taking on a new avenue: the local grocery store, Conad City. This supermarket chain is popular across Italy, with locations spanning all over the country. One is conveniently located just 5 minutes on foot from my apartment.
I went on my weekly grocery run and grabbed a few things for dinner. This grocery store sells my favorite yogurt, Fage 0% Greek yogurt, which is so nice as I like to have it for breakfast every day. Aside from that though, I have yet to find any other American favorites that I’m missing from home.
They have a very interesting produce system. You grab as much of a certain fruit or vegetable as you’d like, bag it up, and place it on one of the self-service weighing machines. You have to select the specific produce option on the screen and then it spits out a sticker for you to place on your bag. This makes the cashiers’ lives a lot easier as they can just scan it when you check out.
There are plenty of typical grocery store products, but one section I found particularly interesting is the eggs. They are not refrigerated as they would be in an American grocery store. They are just simply on shelves in the open air. But this is clearly a testament to the quality of their eggs as they must have never gone through a processing facility.
Another fun aspect of the store is that even in Italy, they sell frozen pizzas! I’m definitely curious if they’re better than the ones in America. They have an impressive prepared food section, with options like truffle pasta, bolognese, and other various dishes.
You bag your own groceries at check out and most people bring their own grocery bags. Luckily, our meal card works in some grocery stores which is extremely helpful for those of us who like to cook our own food.
Today I decided to cook salmon, zucchini, mushrooms, and put it over some salad mix consisting of lettuce and shredded carrot. This is a similar variation of dinner I eat most days. I’m eating the zucchini here very frequently because it’s in season at the moment. We have a gas stove in our apartment which has been fun to learn how to use. The salmon and vegetables come together very quickly which is part of why I’ve been recreating this dish so often. I’ve been enjoying using just salt and garlic powder to keep it simple like the dishes I’ve been eating in Italy. I put balsamic vinegar on my salad base. Funny enough, I didn’t like balsamic vinegar or tomatoes before arriving. Now I have been eating both almost every day. It’s really rewarding to shop for and cook my own food with the local ingredients. I have even been teaching my friends how to cook too!
Even though I’m living across the world, I get to keep a part of my familiar routine which has really made feel at home in Italy.
Carly Tavares
Bites Abroad Week 3
September 28, 2026
This week has been so fun exploring the city and having my favorite rotational meals, but over the weekend I visited Mykonos, Greece! I wanted to detail my travels there and what kind of food I ate.
On Thursday night after classes, we headed to the Florence train station and made it to Rome. The next morning, we flew to Athens and then to Mykonos. The ride from the airport to our Airbnb was only 10 minutes! We happened to be staying in the middle of the city which was the coolest thing ever. This popular gyro spot was directly below our apartment, so naturally it had to be our first meal. I have never had a gyro before this, but this will definitely not be my last. I ordered mine with halloumi cheese instead of a
protein, and it came with tomatoes, lettuce, and tzatziki. Halloumi cheese is a very squeaky, salty cheese that can be grilled without losing its shape and hold. It was one of the best bites I’ve had since coming to Europe. Everyone agreed this was the perfect way to start our trip.
Later that night we headed to Zuma Mykonos, a very famous sushi restaurant. We started with a cold spinach salad with sesame dressing, and it was super refreshing. I think the dressing is what made the dish. My friend Daniella and I split the king crab salad, which had king crab, arugula, tempura flakes, fish eggs, cucumber, avocado, and the same sesame dressing. This was one of the best salads I have ever had. The crab was so fresh, and the salad dressing could probably make anything taste good. I then had a spicy tuna roll, and this may have been my only critique of the night. While the tuna was extremely fresh, it was just way too spicy to enjoy its flavor.
We ended the night with frozen Greek yogurt from a local shop called Yo Kalo. I had the cinnamon roll flavor and added a million toppings. They had such unique topping options like blueberry crumble, caramel pretzel
praline, baklava, kinder bueno sauce, and so many more.
The next day, we took a boat out for a few hours. They served us lunch on board which consisted of grilled calamari, Greek salad, a pasta dish, chicken, grilled zucchini, and grilled eggplant. The food was so good and so nice to have out on the water after swimming around all day. I have never had grilled calamari before so I was a bit apprehensive to try, but I am happy I did. It was perfectly cooked, not chewy at all, and very lemony. The chef was absolutely amazing.
Of course, we had to stop again for frozen yogurt after the boat ride. For dinner that night, we went to Interni which was only down the street from our Airbnb. I ordered the grilled shrimp with a side of grilled broccolini and carrots. Whatever they put on the vegetables was amazing. My friend had the langostino pasta which came with pearls on top that looked like caviar but were made of truffle. Her pasta was the best dish of the night by far.
Before our flight the next day to come back to Florence, we made one final stop for gyros and frozen yogurt. This was truly the best weekend and possibly the best food I’ve had while being abroad.
Carly Tavares
Bites Abroad
This week has been packed and busy with my parents in town! I wanted to take them to
some of my favorite spots and some new places I’ve been meaning to try. On the first day of their visit, we headed to my favorite brunch spot: Melaleuca. We got a cinnamon roll to split and they both agreed it was the best one they’ve ever had. This then led into a full tour of Florence on both sides of the bridge. We did some window shopping and then got ready for dinner at Trattoria Zaza.
This restaurant is extremely popular with tourists, but it’s for a very good reason. It might be the best Italian food I’ve ever tried. There are consistent lines out of the door every night. My parents offered to take my roommates out to dinner with us, so we went out with all 8 of us. We got appetizers like calamari, truffle gnocchi, pear and pecorino salad, and truffle bruschetta to split. I have ordered the same meal every time I’ve eaten here, but I don’t care because it never gets old. I had the truffle seabass with baked vegetables. It has some type of truffle sauce on the fish and more shaved truffle on top. My dad got their bolognese, and my mom got the truffle tagliatelle pasta. My dad was thoroughly impressed, and he’s a tough critic when it comes to bolognese. My mom loved the pasta but couldn’t finish it. It’s one of their heavier dishes so I would recommend sharing it as it’s worth trying. Afterward we all got Riva Reno, one of my favorite gelato places.
The next day I took my parents to another brunch spot I like: Wild Buns Bakery. They are known for their Kanelbullar’s, which are Scandinavian cinnamon buns. Very different from Melaleuca’s as they are a bit drier and more like a pastry than a true cinnamon roll. In my opinion they have the best matcha in Florence. My parents thought their food was decent but nowhere in comparison to Melaleuca’s. As stuKed as they were afterward, I had to make them try an Italian sandwich. We found a small place by the Duomo, and they got a sandwich with prosciutto, burrata, arugula, and truffle.
Later that day we got dinner at Osteria delle Tre Panche, a place I’ve been wanting to try for a while. They specialize in truffle, so they have a dedicated truffle section of their menu. Me and my dad both got their most popular pasta, the Maccheroncetti with tomato carbonara. It was decent but not as good as I was expecting. My mom got their bolognese and she loved hers.
On their last full day here in Florence, I took them to the best pizza place in the city, Gusta Pizza. This place doesn’t take reservations, so they have lines out the door every day. If you go at an off time like we did there aren’t very long lines. The pizzas are supposed to be personal size, so we each ordered our own. I got the pesto pizza with burrata on top, my dad got the truffle pizza also with burrata on top, and my mom got the margherita. It was thin and floppier than American pizza, so it’s easy to eat a full pizza yourself. As much as they loved it, my parents still think New York pizza is better.
We went on a mini cookie crawl, stopping at Prae Bakery and right back to Melaleuca to try their chocolate chip cookies. The day ended at the most anticipated restaurant, La Giostra. We had to make this reservation months in advance due to their extreme popularity. They are most well known for their pear ravioli. We of course had to try and we had mixed feelings. On first impression, I was thrown off by the taste and a bit confused. But after eating more, I really loved it. You could taste the pear slightly, but more of the pecorino filling. The pear was more of a hint of sweetness mixed in rather than a standalone flavor. It brought out the flavor of the cheese very well. My parents on the other hand, didn’t love it. My mom thought it was a nice dish but not one she would order again. My dad didn’t like it at all. He did, though, like his truffle pasta. My mom tried her first Florentine steak, didn’t love it, but at least now she knows. I may have been the only one who consistently enjoyed the entire meal.
For their last stop of the trip, I had to take them to my favorite gelato place, Barroccino. They rotate their flavors weekly, with unique options like black truffle, carrot cake, chestnut, and even tomato vanilla! It’s always fun to come try the weird new flavors every week with my friends. I’m so happy that I got to show my parents some pieces of my life here in Florence and even crazier that this was the first time they’ve been back since their honeymoon here 22 years ago!
