The New Gastronomes

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, [...]

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, [...]

My cousin always used to tell me, “Shan, you are the only person I know who takes photos of food.” It’s true; among our close group of friends, I am the only one who takes pictures of food. Most of the time, I take these photos for various reasons – it could be that the presentation [...]

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 [...]

“There is enough in this world for everybody’s needs, but not enough for certain peoples’ greed.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
In my childhood, when I was young, my father told me a story about a humble teacher in India, and the story went as follows.
There was once an Italian man who wanted to give meaning to his life. [...]

Most of us have watched Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel, a documentary-styled travel and cuisine program which focuses on regional cuisine from around the world that is typically perceived by Americans as being unique and bizarre. In each episode, Zimmern focuses on the cuisine of a particular country or region, shows [...]

  ‘‘In Italy, you can eat fresh fava beans only around May Day!’’ an article said. In early May, I went to the market with enthusiasm. To distinguish the beans called FAVA was not difficult, , even though in my country, Japan, the sheath of the bean is thicker. Opening the sheath and looking at the [...]

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 [...]

Emily, Carey and I covered a lot of ground during a lovely lunch in Bologna on Saturday so I can’t quite tell you how we got on the subject of bucket lists. From what I can recall, Emily mentioned Mighty Girl, a favorite blogger and her “Mighty Life List” (http://mightygirl.com/mighty-life-list/).
We admired Mighty’s wisdom: she uses [...]

Study trip to Calabria, five days.
We made pasta and bread, saw how pecorino cheese and ricotta are made, and of course ate them all. Had an olive oil tasting, visited a bergamot plantation, attended a workshop about the Slow Food presidium of Capicollo azze Anca Grecanico and another about the use of bergamot in pastry. [...]