Sicilia

The 6 days that I have just spent in Sicily were some of the most exhausting, incredible, stuffed, and bizarre of my life! The trip was planned by the "Regione Sicilia" which is basically the Sicilian government (whereas all other university trips are planned by the university) therefore it was an odd mix of sales pitches, back scratching, and putting on a good face with a little slow food thrown in on the side. From the moment of arrival, it was uncommon for us to have an entourage smaller than 10 people, some from the region, maybe one slow food leader, and lots who probably just heard there was free food. A camera man and a photographer became daily instalments, even on our bus. By day 4 our questions were finally answered about why in the world these strange men were following us around. The region is making a video which hopefully can be seen on you tube soon. The only problem is that my self esteem might suffer this next week without anybody in my face trying to take my picture! But over all, the trip was like a dream. I ate lots of cannoli, a good few kilos of ricotta, lots of fish, wine, more ricotta, olives, oranges, another cannoli, and more oranges. And that is all in one day (or so it seemed). I did Marsala tastings, olive oil tastings, fish farms, had a Palermian spleen and lung panino, and saw cheese made from the sheep to the final product all within about 12 feet of distance and a few hours. And a lot of waiting around for the Sicilians to show up, feeling suspicious if we were less than an hour and a half behind schedule, and making up conspiracy theories in the back of the bus about who all those men in suits and sunglassess were!

I left home with a 6 kilo bag and returned with 17. Everywhere we went we were given products and brochures. Here are just some of the
products I received!

Also, raw sheep milk is really nice if anyone's curious!

Cheese and Chocolate

I have to admit that school-wise, this last week was ridiculously enjoyable. Cheese Tasting, Italian, Wild edible herbs (during which we foraged around the park with an ethnobotanist), and Chocolate tasting. Then Friday, one of the classes had graduation, to which we were all invited, after a talk by Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food. Mostly though, I've been getting excited about this next week...Sicily. We leave tomorrow on a flight out of Milan, and we'll be there until late Saturday. The schedule is packed and I will probably not be able to eat anything for several days after I return. I think we have a dinner planned with just about every slow food chapter in the entire western half of the island. This is what last week looked like...

I don't think I like Italian-German food!

Last week was primarily 2 classes: Semiotics (the study of signs) and Rural Economy. Both were very conceptual and really, neither are among my favorites so far. Also, I gave a presentation on powdered milk for the conclusion of food technology. At the last minute, we were told that there would be no classes on Monday...3 day weekend! A friend and I decided to go to Trento (as in "The Council of Trent"), which is in a northern province bordering Austria, Trentino-Alto Adige. I mostly wanted to go because I had never been in this region and I needed to cross another off my list. It was a very pretty city, surrounded by snow covered mountains, but very confusing. Not only was everything now labeled in both Italian and German, the food was this very odd mixture of the two. On Saturday evening, I joined a group of Trentini at a place resembling very much a biergarten (?) complete with platters of sausages (both Italian and German style), sauerkraut, potatoes, and mustard, with lots off beer to wash it down. The next night was local spinach gnocchi with house brewed beer and rye bread, with strudel for dessert. It was like a weird dream, and I'm still not sure what I think about it! But now only 3 regions remain on my "never eaten a traditional meal there" list. So I feel accomplished.

Cheese and violins

Last week, in addition to classes on Wine Technology, we had 2 days of stage for Parmigiano-Reggiano. We traveled in and around Parma to see cows, old men making cheese, businesses promoting and protecting the brand, and large warehouses full of the straw colored wheels. Unfortunatly, I ran out of battery and was only able to take pictures at the caseficio (cheesemaker). Please, when you shop, do not buy the stuff in the green can! It is a poor imposter!

Chillin' in the brine....
Over the weekend, two friends and I took a train to Cremona, about 1 1/2 hours away. It is located in the southern part of Lombardia. It is the birthplace and home of Antonio Stradivari (as in the famous violin.) There are still many violin workshops all over town. It is also home to the second highest bell tower in Europe, which we were stupidly ambitious enough to climb. All 592 steps of it!
At the top...

Brunello

Because I have allowed 2 weeks to pass since the last post, I'm gonna break it up into 2 parts. Last weekend, a group of 9 of us rented cars and drove to Montalcino, a small wine town in southern Tuscany famous for its Brunello wine, considered by many to be the best wine in Italy. A preview event for the newly released vintage (2004) was held for 2 days. Only 2,000 tickets were avalable, mostly for professionals, but the school was able to procure some tickets for us for free. What? Endless Brunello for free? Yes, please! Unfortunatly we were only able to stay for only one night, but it was a fantastic trip! And even better, 2004 is considered to be the best vintage since '95. Lucky me!

Another newsworthy highlight was a school trip to Forlimpopoli, about 2 hours SW of Parma. The father of Italian cookery was born there (Pellegrino Artusi) and there is now a library, resturant, wine vault, and cooking school in his honor. Wendall Berry (a renowned American farmer-author) was giving a lecture, so we attended the lecture, and then enjoyed a lunch made from the 19th century recipes in Artusi's cookbook.

Cured Meat, and more cured meat

This last week, we spent three days on a cured meat stage. From about 9am till 6pm, we traveled in and around Parma visiting different aspects of cured meat, mostly prosciutto. Each day was super exhausting, but tons of fun! I think I had my fill of cured pork for a while. At least for a few days! Imagine, all of the prosciutto and salame you can eat, with hunks of parmigiano thrown in for good measure, all washed down with endless Lambrusco. Three days in a row.

Above, a visit to a cured meat school for a demonstration of typical processes.
Preparing for a visit to an extensive pig farm...

Disgusting and something best forgotten if I ever want to really enjoy pork again!

Slightly higher fashion at an industrial prosciutto factory

A LOT of prosciutto!!!

Week 4

It's hard to believe, but this week has marked a month into the program. The time is really flying by, and I'm sure it will only continue to accelerate with the commencement of the "stages" this next week (a fancy word for field trips). The highlight of last week was a honey tasting class. A "nomadic beekeeper" came to conduct the class and taught us just about everything there is to know about bees and honey. I have a new respect the this remarkable insect! And a new respect for great honey! After learning about the how and why, we tasted 9 different honeys that were beautifully prepared, sourced from all over Italy. My favorites were the lavender, dandelion, and sunflower honeys.


We tasted the honeys off of an art palette, because according to the "bee guy", honey is art. We were then instructed to coat the inside of the wine glasses filled with honey using the spoon to release the varying aromas. Practical and beautiful!


By the end of the class all of the girls were swooning. This guy had amazing passion for bees and honey. It was incredibly inspiring.