fenocchio

i've been sort of weaving tid bits about my horrible eating patterns throughout these french blog posts, so i may as well come out and say it.  i am addicted to gelato.  the first step is admitting you have a problem right?

not that this should come as a huge surprise.  gelato is good (show me someone who doesn't like a good ice cream!) and i've always been a fan of the sweets genre.  usually, i can maintain some semblance of self control with my treats.  when it came to my trip to france, however, gelato became like my after dinner mint.  or should we say my after meal mint? ok, i didn't have it after breakfast. everyday...

when in nice, i decided to look up the best place to get this tasty treat.  if you're going to indulge, might as well make it worth it, which is how we discovered fenocchio.

located in a highly populated square, this gelataria has been doling out delicious scoops since 1966, which earned it a spot in my lonely planet guide book. there are gelato stands on every block in europe, almost as frequent as the number of mcdonald's there are in america (so, why aren't they fat again?). the point that drew us to make a special visit to fenocchio, however, was that they offer almost 100 flavors of gelato.  

i couldn't even think of 100 different flavors of ice cream at the time, which actually makes sense when you see the list of flavors offered.  of course there are the typical staples - vanilla, chocolate, strawberry - and a few of the fancier variety - mint chocolate chip, orange chocolate, rocky road.  alongside these, however, were flavors i would never imagine as ice creams.  flavors like "tomato basil," "beer," and "rosemary." there was even a section of what sounded like more of a garden than an ice cream shop with "rose," "violet," and "poppy."

there was a huge part of me that wanted to get tomato basil just to try it, but since i'm on a budget and actually was craving some cold sweet deliciousness, i got a scoop of something i couldn't pronounce that had a lot of caramel woven through it, and almond.  sounds plain, but almond was actually my favorite and became a flavor that i sought out in future gelato shops.

after my regular gelato habit was formed, i was compelled to take advantage of my proximity to the foundation of the dukan diet and picked up a few "detox" items at the grocery store.