A native of Italy, Anna Silvestri had culinary culture shock when she moved to Florida in the early 1990s.“I felt like I was in the desert but instead of water I was looking for food,” she says. “These people didn’t know how to eat, there was no quality. You’d go to Publix for arugula and they were like, ‘What are you talking about?’”

Silvestri and her family opened La Casa Del Pane, a small Italian bakery and deli in St. Pete Beach. They’ve since expanded to a much larger place, now one of the most popular gathering spots on Gulf Boulevard. But their mission remains the same: teaching people to eat food like Italians eat it, with none of the preservatives, sugars and other additives that, Silvestri says, corrupt the typical American diet.