We stepped off our Lufthansa flight late this morning, having covered nearly 4,000 miles from Washington to Frankfort to Torino (Turin), our ultimate destination the Slow Food Salone del Gusto food show. An hour and a half later we had checked into our room at the Meridien Hotel and headed over to the nearby Salone, held at the Lingotto exposition center in Turin. The Salone must be the largest food show in the world; if not, it is at least the largest one we had ever seen and several hours later if felt as though we covered another 4,000 miles as we wandered from exhibitor to exhibitor.
Our main interest was checking out the wares of the over 400 producers from Italy alone. We wandered, looked, tasted and bought. After the first 100 yards alone we had already bought several items to bring home to sample - such as a jam-like puree of leeks that was served over a slice of grana cheese and a selection of pepperoncini products from firey spreads to jellies. Italian meats and sausages stretched for blocks and blocks in this exhibition that was laid out to resemble a street scene. We sampled a number of proscuitti, lardo di collanta (basically animal fat sliced thinly and served on bread), a spicy dried beef mixed with mystery herbs and spices and some black sausage that we wish we hadn't tasted and that we dared not research the origin of.
And on we walked and ate. Dried beans, lentils, pasta products. Black bread from Castelvetrano soaked in freshly pressed olive oil. Olive pressing machinery spurted out freshly pressed oil. We watched a French woman buy a bottle, pop off the top and swig a mouthful to confirm that she had made a wise purchase. We bought one too, but will leave the swigging to later.
One whole neighborhood hosted a dozen enetoche - wine tasting boutiques with hundreds of wines to choose from. Next door to the enoteche, carts sold plates of finger foods and cheeses to accompany the wines. We buy a plate of four cheeses including Roquefort and our favorite, smoky Fior di Sarde from Sardenia.
It was then off to the formal portion of the Salone - one of the many tasting workshops offered by Slow Foods. We had signed up for a session called "Lentils and Pigs." Here we listened to a panel of experts and producers describe a number of nearly extinct foods that have been promoted and nurtured by Slow Foods. Panelists and attendees are provided wireless headsets that translate the proceedings into a number of languages (we dialed into English), making the whole proceeding look like a sort of United Nations meets the Food Channel affair. Try as we might, however, we were unable to find a Colin Powell look alike testifying about mobile baking units, infiltration of foreign kitchens by Al Qaeda or weapons of mass consumption.
We started with Sicilian lentils served with raw Piemonte beef chopped by knife and simply seasoned with salt and extra virgin olive oil. This delightful plate was topped with julienne strips of turnips. A sweet white wine was recommended with this and while it seemed nearly undrinkable without food, its sweetness was diminished and actually quite harmonious when paired with this dish. Next we had a plate of French lentils with raw veal sausage (two raw meat dishes in a row sets you to worrying, regardless of how much wine you have imbibed at the enoteche or before the food has been served) and ink fish from the Emiglia Romana region. The plate was drizzled with olive oil infused with vanilla bean. Who woud have thunk vanilla beans could be served with raw veal, lentils, squid and olive oil? Chef Marcello Leoni for one, whose creative (you could say slightly tormented) mind created all of these dishes based upon inspirations derived from his wanderings from stall to stall an hour before the seminar.
Fortunately, the portions were small and we had plenty of room for the lentil soup served with the Mora Romagnola pork shoulder. The Mora Romagnola is an ancient breed of pig that had almost completely died because they were not economically viable, compared with other livestock. Several years ago, however, Monti Petra took over the few remaining pigs and rejuvenated the breed, cross breeding them in the wild with wild boar. So too, were Onano lentils from Viterbo bound for the history books when the Slow Foods movement generated interest in maintaining the crop. After four years of growth, this is the first year the crop is ready to be harvested in commercial quantities.
As the proceedings began to break up we chatted with our rather vocal neighbor, who had succeeded in getting second portions of several dishes. Dr. Lorenzo Bracco, it turns out, is a Torinese physician and erstwhile writer on issues of nutrition and health and wellbeing. He spoke to us passionately about a book he recently published (and happened to have dozens of copies on his person) entitled "di Piatto in Piatto" - an exploration of a the sometimes competing, sometime compatible theories underlying a number of popular diet regimens (including the Zone, wheat free, the Mediterranean) as a way of helping people develop "their own recipe for health and wellbeing." Dr. Bracco is looking for someone to help him translate his work into English and publish and promote it in the U.S. Any takers?
After our tasting we headed back into the Salone to see what we had missed, and after discovering aisle after aisle of candies, chocolates and preserves we decided we would have to save some for tomorrow and headed back to the hotel for an early night.
In the weeks leading up to this trip, we have both been excited about our itinerary, which will take us to the Salone del Gusto, on a truffle hunting excursion in Alba, to Parma (to witness the production of parmigiano reggiano cheese), Modena (home of balsamic vinegar), to Lucca to witness an olive harvest and first pressing of the year's new oil and finally on to Florence. It was only a few days before departing that my excitement was tempered somewhat as my beloved Boston Red Sox - the Calzini Rossi - made it back to the World Series for the first time since 1986, after having gone without a world championship for 86 years. The six hour time difference meant that we would either miss all of the games or have to operate on a couple of hours of sleep each day.
After this fantastic first day it almost seems ok to think I may have to wait another 86 years to see my first Red Sox championship.
Ciao a presto!
Suzy and Bill
