What delights can way-off-season travel bring you? Well, here in Italy we're pretty much into truffle season. That's when you can't resist driving down a windy road to end up at a town whose streets are jammed with truffle stands. The "perfume" as they say here in Italy, is fantastic. Once you tour the streets crammed with all manner of good things to eat, you find a seat at a restaurant (not an easy thing if you haven't reserved) and pretty soon you'll have stabbed your fork into two or three courses of truffled delights. The one in the picture is risotto with shaved black truffles.
The festival we attended this weekend was held in the small Emilia Romagna village of
Calestano, a place tourists would have a hard time finding without help from the web. Yes, travel to the little places is easier these days. Is this worth a little cool weather and some rain? Absolutely, made a lot better by the warm leather coat I bought on sale for €80 in Aulla.
And yes, we bought a truffle. We're eating it tonight, grated over some scalloped potatoes and served with pork ribs (rosticcini) and turkey wings. An odd meal to be sure.
Italy, of course, is a land where many folks shun the industrial production of food products in favor of real food, usually grown on property they own. They prefer turkeys that hunt and peck over a wide swath of land to the genetically tampered-with, breasts-so-big-they-can-hardly-walk industrial turkeys we get frozen in the US. In fact, I just visited some of my neighbors' turkeys that will become our dinner for Natale or Christmas. They're posing on the left. Ok, so they aren't pretty. Still...
Finally, did you know there's a growing interest in artisanal beer in Italy? Yes, the drink of choice in Italy, even with food, isn't always wine. I recently found an account of a food and wine pairing at a restaurant called Grado Plato in Chieri, just outside Turin, by a new company who is doing food, wine and beer tours: GrapeHops.
We have a month and a half to go on our European jaunt. On tap tomorrow is a three day journey to Barolo, then the Christmas markets start. Follow us on twitter if you want to know what it's like in little bitty 140 character bites.