Bologna isn’t called la grossa (the fat one) for nothing. The people of Bologna really do take pride in the food they eat. The folding of tortellini parcels, for instance, is an art form and involves long afternoons where groups of women, being either relatives or close friends, will gather around a large table and gossip whilst preparing the delectable parcels. Even the youths of Bologna focus their social gatherings around food. I was recently invited to attend a university student’s twentieth birthday party. The evening consisted of a splendid home-cooked lasagne and various pastas and cold meats as accompaniments. The main course was then followed by a superb choice of dolce delights, including the traditional zuppa inglese (which, incidentally, is not English, nor is it a soup, but a kind of custard cake that is a favourite dolce at the Italian dinner table). It was only after the guests were fed did plans start to circulate of a night out in town. It’s not taken me long to realise that the Italians are not people to stick to a plan. Always be prepared to hear about a change in schedule only a few minutes before the expected departure time. More on than another time. Anyway, my point: food is an imperative part of Italian culture and everyday living.
Although recipes and tactics are passed down over the generations, the Italians’ love of food extends to outside their family unit. Indeed, the people of northern region are particularly interested in the cuisine of the South, and vice versa. The variations in the uses of herbs, uses of butter or olive oil, preference of meat or fish, and so on, are significantly evident. This was something that I have only just begun to appreciate after attending a cooking course in Bologna that was hosted by a chef specialising in Sicilian cuisine. When you visit Italy, I thoroughly recommend snapping up the opportunity to attend a cooking course. The experience is invaluable: the chefs really do know how to make you fall in love with cooking and the entire evening will be enjoyed with an array of people that share your passion for Italian cuisine. What’s more, you’ll leave with a lovely certificate as evidence of your participation; a unique souvenir from your holiday.
I was fortunate enough to attend a cooking course that was targeted at enthusiastic Italian food lovers rather than tourists. Indeed, I was the only non-Italian on the course, and surrounded by Italians from both the northern and southern regions. Our chef, Maria Antoinietta Ficano, explained that her love of food was more than just about satisfying her taste buds. It was about her love of the history of the Italian South that she was able to connect to through her cooking. Her signature food staple, for instance, are flowers that give her dishes a truly distinctive taste that grow in the heart of Sicily.
The group consisted of thirteen students, along with Ms. Ficano, in a spacious kitchen in an office space in the centre of Bologna. The three hours we spent together replicated to the very core the truly Italian way of cooking: a large group of cooks in one kitchen surrounded by beautiful herbs and spices that give Italian cooking its unique taste; and culinary expertise that makes cooking here an art form. The risotto dishes, for instance, required the vegetable broth (made using real vegetables and not a stock cube, might I add), to be poured into the risotto in small quantities every few minutes, and the herbs were only to be cut using plastic knives as the metal damages the pungency of the herbs.
We prepared, cooked and ate two types of risotto and soups. The first dish, risotto mimosa consisted of two main ingredients: courgettes and the egg yolks of hard-boiled eggs (mimosa) and is usually eaten for dinner on Women’s Day on 8 March. The second risotto, risotto alla mela verde (green apple risotto) was a little sweeter, due to the main ingredient being apples, and a lot creamier than most risottos. The first soup was zuppa di cipolle al formaggio, an Italian take on the traditional French onion soup that was a lot thicker in consistency than the traditional style and was more heavily flavoured with parmigiano. The final dish, zuppa cuccia, was the most interesting dish for me (and clearly for all the other people in the kitchen). A traditional Southern dish that uses a number of unusual grains that give the soup its thick consistency, this dish, in true Ficano style, also came with its own history: zuppa cuccia is traditionally eaten on St. Lucia’s Day (the patron saint of eye sight) on 13 December. The big wheat grains, we were told, were said to represent the Saint’s eyes. The soup was exceptionally thick and consequently more than satisfying; the grains giving the meal a comforting appeal. It definitely makes for a good hearty meal during a cold winter’s day.
Cooking is not a chore in Italy, it’s a passion and any Italian will tell you that themselves. The chance to learn to cook like a real Italian is so exciting and is definitely something that everyone should consider when in Italy. Il Salutto del Buongusto, the company that organised the lesson with Marie Antoinietta Ficano, is particularly recommendable.
http://www.ilsalottodelbuongusto.it/default.asp
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