susnobie

We are beginning our trip to Corsica by spending a couple days traveling to Portofino and Cinque Terre. We have an apartment rented in Rapallo near the train station and will have a car. Due to the effect of radiation my wife's diet has some particular requirements. We are looking for a store or stores that will have the following or an equal substitute:
Ensure Shakes
Heavy whipping cream
Hunts butterscotch pudding cups

Does anyone have any recommendations in Rapallo or should be stop in Genoa on our way from the airport?

nochblad

I think you will have problems with all of these products in Italy.

Ensure Shakes - as this is produced by Abbot you should ask them if they supply it in Italy. If so, you would most probably find it in a chemist or specialist health shop and not a supermarket. Perhaps there are equivalents produced by other companies but I would imagine that you would want to be sure before leaving.

Heavy whipping cream - whipping cream in Italy is light and not dense.

Hunts butterscotch pudding cups - I don't believe you will find this. First of all butterscotch is a flavour unknown in Italy. Perhaps you can find something not too different in supermarkets - perhaps produced by Danone.

sandralist

You will have a much easier time locating these products in Rapallo than in Genova.

You can ordinarily find Ensure in Italian pharmacies.

http://www.abbottitalia.com/struttur...ensureplus.htm

There is a fairly large pharmacy at Corso Giacomo Matteotti, 21 called Farmacia Anglo-Americana, and that is an easy walk from the train station area, so you could start there.

I confess I have never bought cream of any kind in Italy, but I think what you are looking for is panna da montare. (They certainly have heavy whipping cream in Italy.) You can buy this either fresh ("panna fresca")

http://www.trevalli.cooperlat.com/re...rod/202241.jpg

or as UHT product with a long shelf life.

http://www.parmalat.it/image/image_g...?img_id=426758

The fresh will be in the refrigerator section, the long-shelf is unrefrigerated, usually sold in small square boxes. There are latterie (dairy stores) all over Rapallo, and I would also expect to find it in large supermarkets. Ask your landlord for the nearest one. There is also a large organic grocery store in the pedestrianized via Giacomo Bove, between the train station and the piazza Venezia.

I am unfamiliar with Hunt's butterscotch cups and suspect they are going to be a problem finding an equivalent. There are pre-made pudding desserts you can easily find in supermarkets, and they are either milk-based

http://granarolo.it/prodotti/dessert/tutti/

or soy-vegetable based

http://www.valsoia.it/prodotti/dessert-vegetali/

But the closest you are likely to come to a butterscotch flavor is a caramel or vanilla.

nochblad

I would not consider panna da montare or panna fresca as heavy whipping cream. In Italy such cream is quite light and liquid and not nearly as dense as that from Jersey or Guernsey cows.

sandralist

Looks to me like the travelers are coming from America, and most whipped cream I've ever encountered in Italy (in its whipped form) is equivalent to whipped cream in the US. I agree UK cream has a greater density than both, but here's hoping they don't need that.

sandralist

Just checked on the internet and Parmalat's panna da montare has 35 percent fat, whereas American heavy whipping cream has 38 percent. Don't know if that 3 percent will make a difference but if it does, there is also a "crema pesante" at the full 38 percent in Italy.

nochblad

Cream in Guernsey from Guernsey cows is so dense that you have to add milk to it in order to whip it otherwise it immediately becomes a solid buttery mass.

That for me is dense cream!

sandralist

I was just thinking that if higher-fat content is what's needed, then thinning marscapone -- 48% -- with whole milk or panna da montare might work. There is also apparently "doppia panna" (double cream) in Italy, but probably only avaliable as an imported food in UHT form, and not very readily. Both fresh panna da montare and marscapone are in every supermarket, made fairly locally.

Hope this helps! The only time I've ever bought cream in Italy was in aerosol cans to make a dessert for kids, and I doubt that's what you need (but if you do, it's easy to find).

sandralist

And ps to nochblad -- thanks for pushing the issue, because if the 3 percent of fat does make it difference, then the panna da montare doesn't cut it.

You can look on the sides of packaging in Italy to see fat content.

nochblad

It would appear that the original poster is looking for products which are easy to eat and digest.

As an alternative to the butterscotch product many supermarkets sell excellent single portions of panna cotta and creme caramel which might be an agreeable substitute.

sandralist

I'm not sure -- and I am not sure we are owed an answer! I was thinking calcium absorption might be the target, since sometimes fat aids that. But if easy to digest is on the menu, I can recommend the local Ligurian torta di riso, which is a large pie sold by slice made of rice, eggs, milk (or ricotta) and often a touch of butter. The fresh pasta shops also sell gnocchi.

The local Ligurian cuisine tends to be low in fat, including the most common local cuisine (stracchino). Olive oil and anchovies tend to be the fattiest foods in the diet, along with the (garlicky) local pork salume. Pesto has plenty of cheese and nuts, but also plenty of garlic.

sandralist

sorry for my error above -- stracchino is the local cheese, and the key ingredient of foccaciao col formaggio, which you can find at Tossini (near the buses and the organic food store) made fresh every day at 5pm. It is quite easy to digest, made only with cheese, thin pasta dough, salt and olive oil. No onions or herbs or meat or veg. I wouldn't call it slimming, but despite the cheese and oil, it still manages to be less fatty than a typical slice of pizza.

sandralist

Foccacia col formaggio

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focacc...adizionale.jpg

Torta di riso alla genovese

https://primononsprecare.files.wordp...ta-di-riso.jpg

nochblad

sandralist - I think we need more input from OP. Based upon the original posting it seems that we are looking for items which can almost be ingested with a straw which would eliminate foccacia, torta di riso etc

sandralist

Agreed -- I don't think many people eat butterscotch pudding with a straw, so only the OP knows what they are looking for (and again, not obliged to reveal here).

susnobie

Thanks to everyone for your replies. Fordorites are the greatest. Sorry about not getting back to you sooner. I had an all day cribbage tournament and just got home and started wading through the replies.

First to explain the reason for the needs. These items are thing that we know will work.
The Ensure is for making shakes with protein powder added. This is one of her main sources of calories and minerals.
The heavy whipping cream has several functions. It is added to the shakes for calories. She also uses it the make the right consistency for soups and frozen vegetables. She has a hand blender that she uses to puree canned soups and vegetables. To get the consistency so she can get it down she adds the heavy whipping cream.
The butterscotch pudding is used so she can get her pills pushed down. The butterscotch flavor seems to work the best.

To get any of the above items down her throat she uses “Thicken Up”. She mixes the dry power per instructions and used the mixture to “push” the food down her throat. As you mostly likely are able to figure out eating is a chore. No restaurants for her. This is a result of radiation that she had in 2011 for cancer on her tongue. The radiation basically fried half of her tongue. She found out how necessary the tongue is for eating.

Now to answer specific questions that were not covered above.
We will look for the Ensure at a pharmacy. We found Farmacia Anglo-American in Google Maps. Thanks for telling us to not look for butterscotch. Will look into “panna fresco”, might work as the pill pusher.

The 3 percent difference between Parmalat's panna da montare and heavy whipping cream in not anything to worry about. I am not sure if the mascarpone would work or not with the citric acid in it. Citric acid is a no no on her diet.

Will also look at single portions of panna cotta and creme caramel. We are not looking for things that are easy to digest, just easy to get down the throat.

The only pasta she can handle is certain brands of angle hair. It has to be real fine. Calcium is not a requirement. I believe the torta di riso has rice in which is something she cannot handle.

nochblad a straw is definitely something that is also a no no.

I hope I have covered everything the first 14 replies.

susnobie

One more question. What hours will the pharmacy and grocery stores be open on Wednesday and Thursday?

sandralist

The candor of your replies really helps give you advice, and I think you will find everything you need in Rapallo. Like every other town in the area, there is one afternoon per week when small stores close for the afternoon, but supermarkets remain open. I cannot remember which afternoon that is for Rapallo, and I don't trust the internet for such advice. Perhaps your landlord in Rapallo can tell you? Anyway, supermarkets will be open, and they will carry most of what you need.

By law in Italy, there must be at least one pharmacy open at all times in a town, so if the Anglo-Americano pharmacy is closed for the afternoon, another will be open. (Usually there is a sign on the door telling you where, or again, your landlord willl know.)

Just to be clear, "panna fresca" is just plain fresh cream. Sweet pre-made puddings in Italy, which are called "budino", are sold in plastic cups with peel-off tops, like in America, have the same pudding consistency as American counterparts.

You can buy fresh egg pasta at a shop called Dasso in the piazza Venezia. The finest cut is called taglierini, and you wil be able to eyeball it in the case.

http://www.lapastadicamerino.it/wp-c...Taglierini.jpg

The Italian equivalent of angel hair is capellini and any supermarket will have it. You are right that the main ingredient of torta di riso is rice.

The gourmet speciality shop Parla Come Mangi on the via Mazzini might have home made panna cotta or other soft desserts, and fresh ricotta. If your wife can have gelato, Rapallo has one of the very best gelateria called Frigidarum. In addition to milk-based gelati, they also have many flavors of semi-freddo, which is made with heavy cream. They will pack servings into small styrofoam chests so you can take them home rather then eat on the spot.

All supermarkets carry frozen foods, but there is also a very large frozen foods store (mainly fish, but also vegetables) located in between the train station/bus parking depot and the organic food store in the pedestrianized via Giacomo Bove.

Hope all that helps! I have a good friend who also underwent radiation treatments for his tongue and throat who also eats a bulked up liquid diet, so I do understand the care and preparations one needs to take.

sandralist

One more tip: Pharmacies in Rapallo (and everywhere with Italy) display big green crosses outside their doors, typically neon. When they are open, the green cross is lit (and usually flashing). Rapallo is a small town, so you won't have trouble spotting pharmacies just by looking around.

http://www.tecnofarmamedicosanitari....l-graphic2.png

nochblad

sandralist - keep up the good work and you will be the next Rick Steves!