The Adventures of a Chef

The long, beautiful journey comes to an end, for the most part. Today marks the last day that we study a region of Italy, and Tuesday is the final day of the course, as it is our lunch that has been planned out for many weeks. It has been a beautiful study, as we have learned about the different cultures both north and south, which as allowed us to somewhat understand their culture. However, we are being sent out to locations of our choice to learn more about the many different ways of the Italian People. I am happy to say that I will be spending the rest of my time in Italy at Tormaresca Winery, learning about the difference in terms of winemaking in Italy, rather than in the States. Luckily, I have already seen this beautiful area, and am very excited to spend three weeks in this area.  I just want to say Thank you to Chef Odette and Chef Martin, whom have facilitated this course precisely and rigorously, making sure that every detail about our class was perfect and sharp...

The final region of our study, Abruzzo and Molise. The regions that border it are Puglia, Campagna and Marche. This region, while one of the biggest, is not united by a family that originated in said region, so their economy is based solely on their own productions, which they get by with just fine. Since Abruzzo and Molise are smaller regions that are divided, both physically and politically, we can see that both sides are both different and alike in many ways. Both sides are in touch with their cultural side and believe what they will, but in term of cuisine they are both different. In the times of the Romans, however, they unified both of these sides due to the fact that they were easy to dominate, by fact of the regions being divided into small cities/states. With the come of the Romans, comes the many different trade routes and ports, that were established along the eastern side. Sadly, with the Fall of the Roman Empire, we see these regions fall into decline, in which they be...

Today, marks one of the last days at the Castello di Ugento. We studied the Region of Umbria, which so happens to also be the most central region of Italy as well. The first people to set foot in this region were called the Umbri, which sadly we do not know much about, due to the Etruscans taking over the region. Like the Etruscans in Tuscany, their love for food in Umbria is above everything, as their cuisine takes flavor into mind. Since they are a central area, however, they do not use fish a lot, only fresh water species, such as trout or catfish. However, the region is known for it's Norcio, or the makers of Salumi in Norcia. In this area of Umbria, we can see the rise of Salumi, and the makers of such, as they were able to raise pigs in this area semi-wild, keeping the meat flavorful. Within this region, we also see the cultivation of Black truffles. These beautiful little fungi are found at the base of certain trees, and can only be found with the help of pigs, which so ...

Beautiful Campagna, which holds one of my favorite cities so far, Napoli, and my favorite coastline, the Almafi Coast. In the region, we can see many different types of area, between hilly and flatland, to coast and sea. In this beautiful region, we can see one of the first visibly natural disasters, the Explosion of Vesuvius onto the city of Pompeii, in which it fully encased the city in rubble, lava and soot, trapping many of the things in this city in time, including a sad couple of people. Many of the houses and areas in this city gave us insight on the Roman lives, as we can see from the frescos and architecture that was not touched by the explosion, and we can see how they lived. In terms of Cuisine, we can see that they have a distinct cuisine that is based off both land and the sea, and who am I kidding, the damn pizza! This region holds one of the best pizzas of all time, the Napoli pizza, which contains san marzano tomatoes, Mozzarella di Bufala Campagna, and dough that is ...

Lazio, the region in which rome was founded, brought life to Italy, in one way or another. With the birth of Rome, came the spreading of Culture throughout both Italy, and most of the Mediterranean. This allows for Italy to gain access to many different ingredients and spices, in which they use, up until the Roman empire's fall in Italy. In terms of where Lazio is Situated, they are found in the center of Italy, and, since they have a very strategic location, it allowed them to trade throughout the mediterranean. However, the early Romans had troubles with the population to the North, the Etruscans, whom had set up a very strong empire in the bordering region of Tuscany. They went to war for a while, and, sadly for the Etruscans, they lost against the Romans and their population dwindled. And with the fall of the Etruscans, comes the fall of their beliefs. One of those beliefs, was the value of women in their lives, and the Romans destroyed this. With the Rise of the Romans, ...

Baylee and I were excited to go to Milan, and boy, were we correct about it's beauty. We landed in Milan around 10 in the morning on Friday, and spent most of the day just walking around. The First attraction: the Duomo of Milan, a beautiful cathedral, built with gothic architecture throughout. We had the chance to walk all around the Cathedral, getting to look at everything and anything that we could, including the roof. The roof of the Duomo was a couple hundred feet from the ground, so we got the chance to see a 360* view of all of Milan, and it was beautiful. After the Duomo, Baylee and I walked around the area, window shopping and crowd-watching, until we stumbled into a wine store, in which I was lucky to find a beautiful bottle of wine that surpassed my every being, it was a Sparkling wine from Trento Alto Adige, that was made with the traditional method, in which sparkling wine is fermented in bottles. However, this sparkling wine as aged in Oak, which caused it to...