Restaurant Day - The making off…

Everything ready to receive the guests

Last weekend it was the first time that Italy participated in the world-wide Restaurant Day. And our house was one of the six ones open to the public. A short report follows here.

Off the radar

The fish market for many people is a tourist attraction, not a place to buy their weekly fish supply

Food in the Streets usually talks about the relation between the producer and the consumer, the city and the countryside and food in general. In short: people, food and cities. Many blogs have been posted on fruit and vegetables, fast food, meat, eating as a social thing, the problems with food politics and so on. But in the last two years the word fish has hardly been named. Until today.

When we’re talking about growing our own food or getting food in a responsible way, mostly we cover the fruit, vegetable, grains, dairy and meat part. But to have a good food balance it turns out to be important to include fish in your diet. And as many people have grown-up healthy with a diet full of fish, I think we need to consider this advise serious.

A harbor full of small, colorful fisher boats always appears romantic for those on the quay. But growing, collecting and eating fish has its difficulties. Fish likes to swim in the deep and unpredictable oceans which makes the profession of a fisherman a hard an insecure one. If there’s no fish, there’s no income. 

Because of our hunger for fish mankind has developed all kinds of technologies to make it easier to trace them. There are radar systems helping to find the shoal of any fish you like. An unfair way from the smart people to be able to catch up with the also not very stupid fish. It’s just that they don’t have the means to beat the humans.

But these systems haven’t only beaten the fish. Because of the large scale fishing of the last centuries many species have become extinct. Among those species the small fisherman living in a small village where for centuries most people where in one way or another made their money in the fish sector.

This world wasn’t there if it wouldn’t be able to find a solution for its problems. So it will go for the fish. 

Last weekend Slow Food organized for the sixth time a great event called Slow Fish. A small fair in the former port of Genova, where people with a heart for fish, show the consumers what they have to offer. In the line of Slow Food this would be small scale, sustainable (no overfishing, no harm to other creatures in and around the water) and a renewed version of the old traditions. Which usually makes delicious fish, an admirable environment and an economic healthy region.

The fair was visited by many. Hopefully by people who didn’t only come there for the free tastings and the artiginal beers on offer. This fair could help to grow the attention for the problems in the fish sector and enable the fisherman to find a solution for them. Let’s get the fish on the radar again.  

Doubts and uncertainties (part II)

Who can resist this beautiful, colorful tajine filled with only vegetables, potatoes, chick peas and dried fruits

The article reminded me of the fact that I once told myself that I needed to find a good balance between adding meat to my daily meals at some days while leaving it out the others. I had become so used to this habit that I wasn’t sure anymore how strict I followed it.

In Italy they love their food traditions. Even now in these days many ‘intruders’  (successfully) compete with the local cooks, the Italians will never forget about their roots. And their roots are the (poor) farmers kitchen where everything which is available is eaten. Also meat.

But traditions are to develop and slowly change to become new traditions. It seems now that one of them is about to develop: the vegetarian kitchen. Italians which decide to leave the meat a cow (or a chicken or a pig,….) and fully go for the vegetables. Which are diverse, tasteful and locally available thanks to the countries beautiful climate.   

The reason or the Italians to eat only vegetables are diverse and don’t seem to have anything to do with the current economic crisis. It is explained as ‘the people want to live a more healthy lifestyle’ full of sport, green holidays, attention for the environment and respect for the animals on this planet’. A new generation of Italians has traveled the world (or at least Europe) and took inspiration and actions from what they have seen going on there.

Last weekend I’ve again learned that I am a Dutch girl, grown up in a specific culture where not only the traditions but also the future plays an important role in my choices. Making dishes without meat is a normal for me as brushing my teeth twice a day. But also I’ve learned that my meat consumption isn’t as low as I might want too. Since more than once a week I take a sandwich with meat. And even when it is nothing compared to a 150gram whatever on the dinner table, it also is meat which also needs to grow, be slaughtered and transported before it finally ends up on the bakers bread.

It was a perfect weekend, relaxed and critical. To repeat…..

Doubts and uncertainties (part I)

Without any hard feelings I ate this 150grams of beef for lunch......

Last weekend was a weekend full of contradictions. Not only because one day it felt like we were in the middle of the summer while the other was cold, windy and most of all wet, but also because I’ve seen and heard some opposing sounds while going around the city.

For the first time this year the Cascine Aperte (Open farm days) were organized in spring. As the weather was perfect and I had no other commitments for the Saturday I decided to hop on my bike (being solidair with Rete Mobilità Nuova) and ride south of town. Destination: Cascina Gaggioli.

Cascina Gaggioli is a farm just out of town (it is almost literally in the shade of nearby apartment buildings) where rice and corn are grown under organic conditions. Also they have some limousine cows which are fed with the farms own harvest. Besides that a bottega, some apartments and four sites for campers make the income of the families living there.  

The reason I went to this cascina wasn’t because they grow organic. I didn’t even know that. And besides that I recently started to believe that sometimes local food is as good for our planet as organic food. Especially when it competes with organic food from far away. No, I went there because they promised me a grill to use to prepare the meat available in their bottega! And with me many others, as you can see on the picture.

I enjoyed the meat without any feelings of guilt. I knew it was coming from close by (short transport distance) and the fact that the meat was very tasteful, even when I only added some olive oil, kind of told me that the cows had a good live. Besides that, I only eat meat once or twice a week so I allowed myself to do it this time.

The next day the weather had changed completely and I was expected to be at my work. Since the amount of work wasn’t that big, I had some time to read a newspaper. And then I was struck by this article. 

(this blog continues thursday)