The New Gastronomes

 
There’s a unique joy when you suddenly realize you’ve communicated with ease, not just a concept, but something of yourself in another language. That hasn’t happened for me in Italian yet.
 
In the meantime, I have the best teachers in the shops and markets of Bra. Rosana at the Piazza Giolitti farmer’s market sells the most [...]

Coming from a small village in the middle of nowhere (aka the Venetian countryside), I am used to making it short and clear when asked about my geographical origins, answering, “I live close to Venice.” This is even more efficient if I have to explain it to a non-Italian audience, but it can be tricky…. [...]

One of my favorite things about our year so far at UNISG is that after class, thought-provoking or not, we all talk about it. With 25 students and three hours per class, we don’t always have a chance to speak and share our opinions, but I know each of us have different ideas, experiences, thoughts, questions, and [...]

 IT ALL STARTED WITH ONE BOTTLE.
When I arrived in Parma, neither knowing what my new home for the next year would look like, nor who my new two flat mates would be, I was excited just like before a first date. I knew their names and where they were from. Curious as I was, [...]

Walking through the Palazzo Ducale di Colorno garden and watching it grow has become a daily ritual for me following the hungry hurricane that can be considered lunchtime at ALMA. I often ponder the many similarities between my wonderful classmates and the garden, taking pride in knowing that together, we are changing and growing alongside [...]

Tripe: what to some is gooey, treacly, and viscid strips of boiled cow interiors is comfort food at its best for others. Tasting it for the first time is very often considered a rite of initiation to true omnivorism for real foodies.
Every aficionado always remembers their first time with what I like to call the [...]

There is something about a craving that makes you go a little crazy.  Especially with food: until that special something touches your taste buds, it is hard to even concentrate.
Within my first month at UNISG, picante was calling my name. The problem was where to find it, as spicy is not really Italian, at least [...]

It’s the first thing people notice when they see us together. “Where are all of you from?” they ask. After four months of being together, our response is an exchange of overwhelmed looks followed by a somewhat rehearsed reciting of all 16 countries.
Our recent study trip to Friuli reconstituted my particular choice for appreciating food, [...]

During my undergraduate degree I went on exchange to England.  Every Friday I had a three-hour class, the name of which
escapes me, as does what we were studying.  Perhaps some sort of Christian reliquary was involved?  Triptychs?
What I do recall is that halfway through class we would break for tea and a plate of goodies [...]

Catherine, in the center with other FCC students, is listening to someone explaining his/her dish. She looks very much like Jesus in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper. So we wondered would be Judas. David looked at the photograph and said, “oh, Paolo hasn’t come yet.”

When you tell people that you attend the University of Gastronomic Sciences [...]