the sluttiest italian meatballs

contadino shit recipe #13

I just read a sad story about how the whales are no longer singing. Because they are starving.

You may ask: what the f— does this have to do with meatballs?

But allow me to explain…

When people stop eating meat, they often don’t give up all animal meat. They give up the scary red meat (and maybe pork too) that they heard has a higher chance of giving them cancer.

Blunt to say, but to get people to eat better for the world, we have to convince people to eat better for themselves.

aka EAT THIS, and you’ll be hotter in no time!!!

It’s the sad truth that when people go meatless, they often just turn to pescatarianism or white meat-ism, as I like to call it. The poor chickens don’t stand a chance. And I’d bet my life savings that no one considers a whale’s diet in the process.

Sure, some do go wholeheartedly vegetarian or vegan, yet that reveals the same issue. No thoughts on the food system. Just: ‘Don’t you dare feed me meat! I can’t eat that! Meat gives ME a stomach ache’ energy.

Ok, let me put my nagging cynicism aside for a moment…

This leads me to meatballs. Or specifically polpette di pane - bread meatballs.

Now, meatless meatballs solve everything here without having to explain much. First, no red meat, so everyone’s happy. Second, utilizing the bread that is often neglected in our society’s crazy fear of carbs.

But more than that, using good bread in these meatballs justifies spending a pretty penny on good bread to see it go a LONG way.

Rather than letting it sit on your counter or get all sad in your freezer.

Contadino shit was born out of a world that’s opposite to the one in which we are living. And these recipes, to me at least, are a small but meaningful way to show respect to Mother Nature while also getting something out of it for ourselves.

And that’s damn good food.

polpette di pane or bread meatballs are a hardcore staple in southern Italian kitchens. Abruzzo has it’s famous cacio e ova while my family’s Ciociaria has its gnocchi di pane - either way not a single crumb of bread is going to waste.

Warning: the following recipe may result in vegetarianism