Your, mine or theirs?

Last weekend I spent tasting, listening and wondering at the Salone del Gusto / Terra Madre in the nearby city Turin. I was surprised by the numbers of visitors, the variety of food and the patience of the market man and woman. But most of all I’ve learned a lot by asking questions and listening to others.

The Salone del Gusto – initiated by Slow Food – is a biannual event which attracts ten thousands of visitors. It is a big showcase from mainly Italian producers. The fairground is divided in the different Italian regions. Each region has its own specific cheeses, salume, liquors and more. Since this salone is the opportunity to convince consumers, retailers and cooks to buy the products the market men are more than welcome to give you a try on their products.

When the salone is mainly dedicated to the gustosi (gourmets) Terra Madre is dedicated to the political, social and economical role of food. The Terra Madre network is formed in 2004 and unites producers which preserve local, seasonal, quality food, their local environment and traditional knowledge. During the salone small producers from all over the world had the chance to showcase their produce to everyone who wanted to know about it. For the visitors it was the opportunity to taste unknown flavors and to chat to dedicated producers from countries one might not have heard from before.

This year it was the first time that all the Terra Madre lectures were open to everyone. With the combination of these two events Slow Food showed to food lovers that food is not only about the end product but that it involves so much more. Food is the energy for life, the basis of many economies and it plays an amazingly important role in the appearance of the landscapes we daily travel trough.

The topics of the lectures were as wide as the products made by the members of the network. I’ve been to lectures on waste, heard about the quality of our daily diet and was taught about the problem of land grabbing It was an amazing weekend full of food, gathering of knowledge and getting to know new (young) people.

Slow Food did a good attempt to make the food lovers aware of all the other elements they are touching when working with, selling or eating food. For the next edition they should continue this effort and hopefully they are able to get the regular visitors out of the streets of the salone into the auditoria, make them listen to what else they can do with food than the things they normally do.

But we cannot wait for two more years. So start to be critical in what, where and why and when you buy your food now. It’s time to make a change!

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Birra, bier, beer, biere

Beer can also be romantic thanks to these guys 

Beer and wine are in a way comparable. They both contain alcohol – although the percentages are different – and the flavors both liquids can have are as wide as the range of prices they are sold at. However, beer was never given the same level of respect than wine has been given. But doesn’t it deserve to be adored then?

It was the Romans who decided that beer was for the plebs and wine for the educated. Since then beer has always been considered a drink for the rough people from the northwest of what we now call Europe while wine fits to the description of a person from the south of the continent.

And maybe they were right. In the wild medieval cities it was much safer to drink beer than to drink normal tap water. The cities mainly consisted out of hard working craftsmen which couldn’t afford high priced wines. Local brewers could be found in each city creating their own specific flavored beer. Due to the low alcohol percentage the citizens could drink beer and still be able to continue to function as expected.

Although beer has always been seen as a drink for the plebs it has long been made by people which usually deserve respect; monks from (German or Belgian) cloisters and abbeys. The disciplined man made two kinds of beer; a light one which could be drunk all day long by citizens and the nuns and a heavier one which only was for special occasions organized by the monks or other religious persons.

Beer has been competing with wine for centuries. Beer has – if you compare price and quality –a big advantage to wine. Off course it is a completely different kind of drink with a different flavor, a different percentage of alcohol and it generally asks for another occasion; whether you would usually have a beer on a hot summer afternoon you probably rather have a full bodied red wine on a cold winter evening. But I am not sure whether this ‘general accepted idea’ is still true.

Lately beer has gained a more important role in culinary discourse. Beer isn’t just the cheap drink you have with your mates after work accompanied with some chips or salted peanuts. Beer has now become a (local) specialty again with delicate flavors which do not only add up to your night out with your friends, but also contribute to your drink in on a fancy terrace or to a delicious meal in a qualified restaurant.

With the growth of respect for beer also the number of brewers grows again. On a twice-a-month market in Milano the number of local brewers keeps growing. And also in the streets of Milano the appreciation for different kinds of beers goes up as I see more and more (brew)cafes open their doors.

It’s time to forget about the decision the Romans made a long, long time ago. Give beer another try and then decide whether it is really worth to leave this for the plebs only.

Cultivate diversity

The cities inhabitants are as diverse as the tourists on La Piazza di Spagna

As you might have notices after almost two years of posts this blogs tries to make a relation between people, their relation to food and their habitat. During the past years this subject has become more and more important in policies of local and national governments. Also in Milan.

Last week I visited a conference called Coltivare la Diversita (cultivate diversity). The conference was the start of a weekend of activities related to food and its cultural value in and out of Europe. Activities like round tables, theatre plays on the origin of food products, cooking laboratories and discussions on the current food system. Besides that a series of films on food which are all on display for free.

The conference hosted over five speakers from different European countries all able to say something about the relation between people and the way they (have to) get their daily food. The main goal of the meeting seemed to be to discuss how communities - whether they are a private initiative or an institution - could create a way to foresee in their food in a sustainable way and become more sovereign.

The backyard of Milan produces a lot of food. An interesting fact as it is a good opportunity to bring the consumer and producer in contact with each other. However, as diverse the inhabitants of Milan are, so homogeneous are their crops; more than sixty percent of the produce is rise, grain and corn. That doesn't make up for the diversity of dishes served in the cities restaurants….

Milan isn't the only (European) city which has a colorful range of citizens but a sober backyard. The potential of this backyard is enormous but therefore help from its users is indispensable. Some examples where presented - one already brought into practice, another still a dream. There are many opportunities but also many steps to take.

A start is made and hopefully Milan and all the other ambitious cities make it to the end.    

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Almost there

A typical farm yard in one of the many cascine around Milan

Milan has around 60 farms within the borders of the municipality. Many of them are abandoned but even more are still in use. All the farms still play a very important role in the landscape (their size, their architecture) and in the culture of the city (food supply, economics). With the upcoming Expo 2015  – which has as theme feeding the world. Energy for life – the city tries to bring the farms under the attention of the citizens again. Last week I started a report of my trip along some of these farms. This week the rest of the story.

The event I was visiting was meant to bring Milanese citizens into contact with the producers of their food. Farms were open and organized educational activities in which they showed the production process; how do cows get milked (by an Astronaut), where does honey comes from and what do you have to do to grow rise? Many farms also offered some of their produce as part of the typical Sunday lunch which is indispensable for the Italians.

I ended up on an open farmyard were cows where fed and where bulls silently enjoyed the sun. No sign of any activity except from about 30 family cars waiting for their owners to start them and drive them home again. Then a door opened bringing a steady rumor of forks and knifes touching porcelain plates into the yard. This sounds like food.

The warm and damp space we entered was full of families enjoying plates full of pasta, cutlets, vegetables and the like. This is Italy! We hooked on and enjoyed what the farmers’ family served us: home grown rise by the sister in law, cutlets from their own cows served by one of the brothers, homemade cheeses by mama and a pie with apples from the farms garden by the padrone herself.

As good as the lunch was, this is not what we came for. The intention of the day was to show us what a farmer has to do to prepare our milk, cheese and other products we daily eat.

So – dizzy from the food and wine - we stood some minutes looking at the Astronaut in which the cows resigned themselves to get themselves milk. No farmer is involved, except from those days the cows give an amount of milk which is different than their average.  It seems very  anonymous but on the other hand does it give the farmer and his family time to prepare the tasteful dishes we all eat the hours before.

I am sure that many people did not get the goal of the day. The Italian families ate like they did every Sunday only this time on a farm. And maybe that exactly is the beginning of bringing them closer to the process of food production. What will be the next step? 

Cascine aperte

A typical Milanese cascina

I do not know a European city which has so many farms within its municipality borders than Milano. After long periods of ignorance different organizations now try to get the farms into the spotlight again.

Since I live here (about two months now) almost every weekend one or another event was organized in which people from the city where able to visit the (former) farms. As someone applauding for a better relation between the city and its hinterland, I welcomed these initiatives with open arms and happily visited them.

The last event of this season was meant to get people on the bike, let them ride through the countryside and to show them how farms function, what the farms produce and should give the visitors a real taste of the produce they normally buy in the supermarket or on a market stall.

The weather on this Sunday afternoon was fine and my body longed to go out and move around so I took my bike and was ready to join the crowd cycling along the golden rice fields only a stone’s throw from the centre of Milan. A bottle of water, the camera, my partner and the bike routes including short descriptions of the farms where my company of the afternoon.

The trip we choose contained around six farms from which half of them offered food. For Italians pranzo - or lunch - is the main event of their Sunday afternoon so if you want to attract visitors you have to offer them something to eat.

The first farm we planned to visit should offer cutlets and cheese with a glass of wine for a very attractive price. Except from twenty cats there was no one to see. Not even a farmer.  So we went on to the next one. This farm was better prepared and put up signs telling that its fattoria didattica (didactic farm) was open to us showing how milk, rice and honey are produced.

The number of cars (wasn’t this meant to be a bike tour) was incredible so we expected the best of it. But soon we understood the reason of this parking overload; the farmer rented some air-cushions and a huge barbecue and attracted almost all Milanese young parents with their babies. Very didactic.

Up to the last one from our list. The farm was hidden away between high trees and drawn-back. After a short roundtrip around the farms outer walls we entered the farmyard. This was full of cars but lay into a compete silence. No sign telling us where to go, except from a note saying ‘I am in the agriturismo’. So there should be something happening here.

Our inspection of the yard continued along the milk machine and the stall with bulls enjoying the sun. Suddenly a door opened…..

(next week you’ll know how this ends up)