The Final Supper- Blog #20

I can't believe that the semester is almost over. It seems like I just arrived yesterday and now it's almost time to go back home. Our final dinner was a sad reminder of how soon that semester is about to end. However, it was a wonderful celebration of the semester and the wonderful experience I have had this semester.

We went to a restaurant called Trattoria Da Cesare al Casaletto. I had never heard of it before but I am so glad I got the opportunity to go. It took us awhile to get there, the regional train and the tram are my saviors, but it was incredibly worth it. The restaurant was fairly small which created a cozy environment. Everyone at the restaurant besides us was Italian, which to me is always a sign of good food to come! I thought our professor was exaggerating when she told us to come hungry....but I don't think I've ever been so full in my entire life. I think I waddled out of the restaurant.

We had multiple courses and within each course, we had multiple dishes, I don't think I've ever seen so much food in my life. For antipasti we had two types of meatballs, one beef and one eggplant, I really loved the eggplant one because it was a little unusual but it was incredibly flavorful. The eggplant paired well with the tomato sauce the layered on top of it. We also had fried gnocchi with cacio e pepe sauce, I had never have had fried gnocchi before and now I'm on a mission to find some more. The cacio e pepe sauce was also interesting with the gnocchi as I have never had that pasta and sauce pairing. I think they worked really well together, the spice of the sauce was calmed by the basic flavor of gnocchi.

For our primi we had two dishes, a fish broth and broccoli soup and gnocchi all'amatriciana. Both are classic Roman dishes. I had never had the fish and broccoli soup before but it was absolutely delicious. The fish flavor was nice and delicate and the broccoli added a nice texture. The gnocchi all'amatriciana was interesting as well, normally amatriciana is served with bucatini so it was odd to have it with gnocchi.

The secondi round was incredibly interesting. I love ox tail, I usually have it in osso bucco, so when I heard that one of our secondi dishes was ox tail I was pretty excited!. Coda alla vaccinara is a delicious dish with ox tail, carrots, celery, tomatoes and garlic. It reminded me of the stew my mom makes back home, it made me a little homesick for all the delicious fall and winter foods my mom makes. We also had tripa alla romana. When it comes to food I'm a big fan of trying things and then finding out what they are. When I tried blood sausage for the first time my mom made me try it and then told me what it was. I'm glad she told me after because otherwise I wouldn't have tried it and I would have missed out on what is now one of my favorite Irish foods. Tripe follows along the same lines. Now I'm about to talk about what tripe is, so anyone who hasn't tried it STOP READING and go try it!

Tried it?

Good, you just at the stomach of a cow (well it could have been any ruminant animal but it was most likely a cow). I love tripe, I find it incredibly delicious (as long as I don't think about it too much) and this tripe was stewed in tomatoes, garlic and vegetables and all sorts of yummy ingredients that made it incredibly flavourful.

I have a serious sweet tooth so our dolce tasting plate was absolutely perfect! We had a tiramisu, creme caramel, mousse di cioccolato, two tarts-one was cherry and the other was apricot and we had a peanut brittle as well. All of the desserts were so wonderful. One of my favorite things about Italian desserts is that they have the perfect amount of sweetness, no dessert thatI have had here has been too sweet!

This dinner combined much of what we have talked about in class and a lot of what I have learned merely from eating out during my time here. Although Italians don't eat as much every day as we did during our dinner, we covered all of the courses of a big, tradiitonal Italaian meal. Starting with antipasti and moving through the primi, secondi, dolce, and after dinner drink (in our case an amaro, though it could have been an espresso or some other liqour). We also were able to try many specialties of Rome. Regionality is something we have talked about in class extensivley and something that can be seen in everyday life here in Italy. Each region has dishes they are known for and that are more commonly found on menus.Our final dinner was the perfect ending, to the perfect semester. Thank you professor Simari for what has been one of the most amazing classes I have ever taken. 

Ciao for now!

Veni. Vidi. Mangia. 

Slow Food in a Fast World- Blog #19

I found it interesting how the reading portrayed the Slow Food movement versus how the movie portrayed it. The movie was much more positive in its portrayal of the Slow Food movement than the reading was.

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The reading focused more on gastronomy and how it is a more modern concept. This is because for gastronomy to develop the population needed to have enough money that they could spend freely on luxury food and enough time in the day to devote to simply enjoying food as an experience. The reading also talks about how slow food is important to gastronomy, slow food is rooted in food that is grown and prepared in classical or traditional ways. The slow food movement wants to 'save the world from the excesses of modernity' and bring people back to their roots. The French Terroir Strategy was incredibly interesting to read about, I love how it is based on the idea that regional specialties are just that, special. They can not and should not be replicated anywhere else because the quality will be diminished since the ingredients will be of a lesser quality or the producer won't have knowledge of how to properly produce the product. The author discusses how the Slow Food movement can be quite artificial however, he gives the example of how Petrini basically fabricated stores and ways of production that aren't necessarily authentic or traditional, He almost forces producers and farmers into ways of production that might not be true to their origins. The author seems to have a cynical view of the Slow Food movement because of this fact, He also seems cynical towards it because the Slow Food movent doesn't seem to have a plan on how to handle world hunger. The author also states that 'Slow Food's elite is reserved for those who have already reaped the benefits of Culinary Modernism.' However, this is clearly contradicted in the movie.

As mentioned above, the movie has a much more positive view of the slow food movement. It comes at the subject from a much more humanistic point of view than the reading. It does so by telling the stories of multiple groups or individuals around the world who are doing something that is recognized by the Slow Food movement, at the end of the movie we see all of these individuals or groups receiving awards from the Slow Food movement. The movie was interesting as it bounced all around the world, giving viewers a chance to see the Slow Food movement in a very cross-cultural way. The movie focused on how bringing back or going back to traditional practices has helped encourage biodiversity (with the example of the Sanmarzano tomato in Italy) and given a boost to local economies (with the example of how Vanilla has given the people in a region of Mexico a reason to stay in their hometown and in the Mixteca region to resume farming amaranth.)

The reading and the movie both talk about the importance of biodiversity. The movie especially talks about this in Australia when we are taken to the Botanical Ark which protects species from around the world. Biodiversity is something that I  am very interested in. We live in a world where corporations have patents on seeds and where those seeds have taken over, leaving the world with less and less biodiversity of incredibly important plants. The Irish famine was in part caused by a lack of biodiversity in potatoes, it should be a warning of what the consequences of a lack of biodiversity can be.

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In Italy, I have been able to enjoy such a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Since Italy has areas with incredible growing potential and a fairly temperate climate for most of the year, Italian farmers are able to produce an incredible variety of vegetation. Not only that but the Italians have a clear focus on making sure what is on your table is as local as possible and as fresh as possible. I love knowing that the food I am eating is both fresh and close to home. Even in Mensa we always have many choices in vegetables and fruit every day. We usually have 3-4 different vegetables waiting for us and there are always baskets of fresh, whole fruit at the start of the line (including oranges from our own courtyard)!

Ciao for now!
Veni. Vidi. Mangia.