Food, Slowly

On Saturday, the first full day in Italy, we left Milan and drove through the snow-dusted countryside to Pollenzo, a small town which is home to the Universita degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche, the relatively new gastronomic science university associated with the Slow Food movement. We took a short tour of the university itself, which offers seemingly too good-to-be-true courses on things like “cheese” and “food marketing” and both undergraduate and graduate degrees in gastronomy, and food culture, communications, and science (it’s not actually a culinary school, where any practical cooking takes place though). There was even a “sensory room,” for performing tests on different types and ingredients of food, including, naturally, taste tests. The complex also houses the Banca del Vino, a literal “wine bank” which stores cases of promising modern wines from Italian vintners to stand the test of time.

Gastro University

University of Gastronomic Sciences

The highlight of the visit to campus was a meeting with Carlo Petrini, the president of the Slow Food Movement, which is an international movement, that in addition to countering the modern plague of fast food and highly processed ingredients, seeks to promote sustainable and fair agriculture and a return to local, fresh, traditional recipes and ingredients, to be cultivated, prepared, and enjoyed with care and appreciation. Petrini spent most of the day with us, lecturing a bit on the history of the site, sharing a meal and casual conversation, and presenting a video on the principles of Slow Food, which was both thought-provoking and inspiring. His message really resonated with me, and still has me thinking about the importance of food in our lives, both culturally and nutritionally, and how many different aspects of society the seemingly simple act of eating touches–from science to business and international economics.

No visit to the Slow Food headquarters would be complete without a meal, however, so we spent a large part of our visit in the restaurant on campus, for a multiple course lunch. The menu: vitello tonnato (cold veal with tuna pate), flan di broccoli con fonduta (broccoli flan with cheese sauce), tajarin al sugo di salsiccia di Bra (Piemontese pasta with meat sauce), and panna cotta. The pasta, traditional to the region, was homemade with 40 egg yolks per 2 pounds of flour!

so much more delicious than it looks

incredible panna cotta

The panna cotta was indisputably the most impressive part of the meal, however, a sweet creamy dessert, with an indescribably light yet rich consistency, somewhere between the feel of sour cream and pudding, with caramel drizzled over the top…definitely something to be enjoyed slowly.

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2 Responses to Food, Slowly

  1. Claudette Moniz says:

    Wow. what a tough assignment. The food sounds incredible and the dessert yummy. Enjoy.

  2. Claudette Moniz says:

    Wow! The food sounds incredible and the dessert looks yummy. Enjoy.