top 7 sardinian edible things.

My personal Sardinian food highlights:

1) ricotta caprina. As we were sitting down to dinner on our first night in Sardinia, Andy was telling us about this amazing cheese they'd had the night before in Lecce called ricotta forte. He described it as fermented ricotta that tasted almost like gorgonzola, powerful stuff. Moments later our waiter appeared with a basket of breads and a shallow dish of what looked like a spreadable goat cheese. Andy tasted some and said that it was the same thing they'd had last night.

Was it? We don't know. Was it great? Yes. None of us could remember what our waiter called it, but I heroically bought this jar of caprita pictured above at the grocery store the next morning, and it turned out to be a very very similar substance. Just great.

2) Sardinian prosciutto. Thicker-cut, by hand, and not too salty. Best prosciutto I've ever had.

3) Really fresh clams and mussels. Cozze. Vongole. Arselle. Cheap and perfectly oceanic.

4) pecorino sardo. More on this soon.

5) Ichnusa. Delicious Sardinian beer. Always served icy icy cold, this was a surprise treat, as if it were brewed specifically for hot summer nights. And days. I drank a lot of it. Afterwards I learned they're owned by Heineken, but I'll try not to hold it against them.

6) The coffee. I drank too much of it, but the ubiquity of a superlative espresso was a little irresistible.

7) pesche marmellata. Two crunchy cookies with jam between them, rolled in sugar. Sounds boring, wasn't.