The New Gastronomes

“Industrial agriculture is an urban invention, and if agriculture is going to be reinvented, it’s going to have to be reinvented by urban people.” —Wendell Berry
It may be a bold step to pick a bone with Wendell Berry, the beloved poet-philosopher of sustainable agricultural, but something about this quote has always made me [...]

To Mrs. Eleni Papadogiannaki
How can you define what “tourist food” is? And how did this term emerge? Definitely when it comes to mind, memories of really low-quality food immediately come back. So, why are tourist places so famous for their bad-quality food? Is it because tourists are considered a special category of people that doesn’t [...]

I had to come out to my parents last weekend. It was emotional. I didn’t really know how to break it to them, but since my UNISG study trip to the producers of the famous Prosciutto di Parma, I’ve lost my appetite for the stuff.
This was difficult for my family to understand because, you see, [...]

To watch the artisanal practice of fishing for Magghia Masculina in the Bay of Catania, you need to rise before the sun. Half asleep and fumbling like drunks, our class poured onto an old sightseeing boat that slowly lumbered towards our destination. Our first stop was to watch the industrial practice of netting anchovies. As [...]

What is the relationship between an encyclopaedia and a DOP? An obscure question, you might think, but one relevant to the study and communication of food culture and food products. It is a question that has crept into my mind while writing an entry on Romanian food culture for a Food Cultures of the World [...]

 
In a conversation we had with Massimo Bottura, the chef of Osteria Francescana, one of the leaders in Italian “molecular” cooking, he told us he is the first one to be crucified when there is a discussion about modern cooking methods. It seems that a lot of people in Italy, but not only, have a [...]

What do Shropshire Sheep, Silver Grey Dorking, Ayrshire Cattle, Pure Breed Suffolk, and Wessex Saddleback have in common? Apart from being romantic names one might expect to read in the pages of Pride and Prejudice, they’re also rare breeds that are making a comeback to our culinary assembly.
For those of us who value taste and [...]

The third and last instalment in the new James Bond script
 “What now K? What happened? Milk pollution? Unauthorised cheese? The consortium found a fraud!? I’m starting to be fed up with this crap!”
“No, this one is bad, Bond. It’s a hostage situation. In a university in Colorno, Padano’s men are holding hostage a class of [...]

 
The next installment in the new James Bond script
 “Okay, let’s go to the car,” said Bond. “We’ll continue the explanation in the car.” They started driving towards the aging hangar when suddenly a helicopter appeared and fired a missile at them. The missile missed the car by just a few centimeters, but the shock threw [...]

Have you ever wondered whether it is possible to be an animal lover and a carnivore while remaining connected to the source of your food? This is a question I have been asking myself for a long time and a predicament I thought I might figure out as a student here. It grieves me to [...]