Filed under: Michelle's World | Tags: food, Italy, Parma, Study Abroad, travel blog, University of Gastronomic Sciences
Well after enduring a nailbiting month of waiting and negotiating with the bitter Italians that work at the consulate general of Los Angeles, I have persevered and FINALLY received by beautiful little passport in the mail, stapled in it my study visa that lasts 1 years time.
If studying abroad for a year was this complicated, imagine what moving to Italy altogether would entail. Oy it pains me to fathom.
I’ve been really taking in my American surroundings in these final days here at home. The wide city streets, excessively large parking lots for our excessively large cars (for excessively large people?). The conveniences we have here are unparalleled. Only in America can you buy cereal and a lawn chair under the same roof… or antacids at 3am…or a donut from the local fry-ery at 4am.
Regardless of convenience, living abroad puts the value of these things into perspective. What is more important, an extra large pizza for the price of thrift store underwear or a normal personal pie baked with love and attention?
I leave the day after tomorrow. Goodbye America, Buongiorno Parma.
Filed under: Slow Food | Tags: Anti-fast food, carlo petrini, Ecology, Grassroots Gourmet, Slow Food, sustainability, University of Gastronomic Sciences
Why Slow Food?
This non-profit organization has made it a top priority to combat the ways of fast-food and fast life that have completely engulfed modern society… Something that many in the Western world have integrated so intensely into their lives that they don’t even realize the consequences of their consumption.
Now, I hate to be preachy, but, not only is fast-food ultimately unsatisfying (we’ve all hugged a toilet bowl), the negative repercussions of eating that quadruple bypass burger outWEIGH the 30 seconds of enjoyment one gets while eating fast foods.
A little too much lovin'
Almost 30 years after its initial founding in 1989 by Carlo Petrini, the Slow Food movement has become a cornerstone non-profit organization that works in Europe and abroad to preserve sustainability and ethics within the food industry. Sadly the reason it was ultimately started was in protest of a McDonald’s opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome… but if anyone has been to Italy, McDonald’s locations are beginning to eat that country alive….
NONETHELESS the Slow Food movement has succeeded in communicating its goal to promote Ecogastronomy
Ecogastronomy: A branch of the ecology movement and as well as the culinary side of the anti-globalization movement.
Not only is the movement against fast food consumption, both on a personal and societal level, but also the production of these products. How much energy do we waste in producing mass amounts of food that will ultimately go to waste? Where has the culture behind cuisine vanished to?
I speak from the American perspective, but as a general society our relative loss of interest in food, and its origins may be one of the connections to our increasing body masses. When we no longer feel any real connections to the foods we eat, we break the chain in our relationship to the environment, our personal cultures and histories, and our health.
A quick exercise: Open your refrigerators for a moment. How many of the products that blankly sit on the shelves have readily identifiable ingredients? (if you answer is: “I only keep produce in the frigde”) Fine, how many of you know where that produce came from? Was that zombie GMO tomato grown in Mexico 3 months ago or was it grown organically by a local farm?
If you are interested in this subject and would like to join your local Slow Food chapter, become a member Here!!!!!!!
The movement has become wildly influential in Europe and abroad, with over 100,000 members in 132 countries, but together we can help it grow even further!
In the chaotic and unpredictable world we live in, it feels nice to be a part of something positive.
So eat well, and please, chew slowly 
Filed under: Current Issues | Tags: American Family, Family, food, Grassroots Gourmet, Italy, Meal, Shared Meals
“There’s more to breaking bread than sharing a meal” is phrase that is seldom used in our modern world, but nonetheless conveys the importance that mealtime has taken on in almost every human culture.
To share a meal is more than simply taking in nutrients, but rather communal mealtimes take on a much higher social and emotional importance. In Italy specifically, mealtimes are of the most pivotal components of the Italian social and familial structure. In laughing over a plate of pasta, priceless fuel is added to the flame of Italian passion, the will to ‘eat’ on. Through eating together, we experience each others company, and embrace each others personal histories through age old recipes, and learn to truly appreciate the food in front of us.
The phrase “There’s more to a meal than just breaking bread” is a connotation of the religious and social power that mealtimes had in centuries past… and unfortunately in the hustle bustle world we live in, the role that mealtimes play in the daily routine has severely diminished. In America specifically, very few families have time to eat meals together… Breakfast is a rush, Lunch is at your desk amongst an avalanche of charts and graphs, and Dinner is a unique affair of collective isolation, featuring the television as the central star.
What does the future hold? What are your thoughts? What has the structure of the modern meal become in your society?
Filed under: Michelle's World | Tags: Grassroots Gourmet, Italian food, Italy, Parma, Parmaggiano Reggiano, University of Gastronomic Sciences, Wine
Bancarella di Salumi, Parma
The countdown to my November 12th departure continues. In fact, in exactly 3 weeks I’ll be an expat. It hasn’t set in yet that I will be gone an entire year, but I am so excited to experience the world through food cultures. This is my dream.
I always said to myself that one day I would open a winery or start a food business, but back then all of that was just unsupported self-talk. I never truly thought this would be my future. I am proud of myself, of my determination to follow through with my goals, however unrealistic they once seemed.
I’ve learned that the world is an unpredictable place, and that your life, no matter how mundane, can change in an instant.
As my Gastronomy education progresses, I hope to learn more about the wine industry, as I would love to open a vineyard someday. I don’t need to live a lavish lifestyle, a small vineyard on the Italian countryside will do me just fine (if it happens to become wildly successful I obviously wouldn’t protest).
My future vineyard?
Even though the Italian consulate has made my life a living hell this week (I’ve had to drive up to LA twice because of documents I needed), hopefully I will get my visa before I leave. They have my passport so… I really don’t have another option.
Anyway, here are some photographs of my future home. Parma. And everything amazing that awaits me there.
Ci vediamo tra 3 settimane ragazzi!
Piazza Garibaldi
Piazza del Duomo, Parma
Parmaggiano Reggiano Factory
Ciao!!
Filed under: Michelle's World | Tags: Consulate, Grassroots Gourmet, Italian Bureaucracy, Italy, Parma, Student Visa, Travel
Sometimes when dealing with the Italian consulate I have to stop and ask myself what year it is…..2009 right?? Because the things that Italian bureaucracy requires in order for me to get a student visa are absolutely ridiculous. Thus far, I have spent over $500 on various documents, notaries, and apostilles (stamp of certification from the state dept). Who knew it would be so difficult to actually GET there..
Things I have had to do:
- Get transcripts from both high school and college
- TRANSLATE both transcripts into Italian, reformatted in the exact same way as English version (I saved myself about $300 dollars by doing this translation on my own)
- Notaries on everything. I think I am going to notarize my forehead to certify my insanity.
- Back and forth to the Italian consulate which mind you is in Los Angeles and getting there is like pulling teeth.
I leave for Italy in a month, less, and who knows if by then I will have all the documents I need to leave. This is a really tedious process. In fact, it might have been just as tedious to read about. Oops… Well now I am sufficiently stressed out..
It’s 10am… too early for a glass of wine?? haha!
Filed under: Grassroots Gourmet: Abroad | Tags: Anthony Bourdain, food, Parma, Slow Food, Travel Channel, University of Gastronomic Science
It’s funny. Now that people know I am going to this University in Italy, everyone asks me for wine recommendations, food recommendations, restaurant recommendations.. I feel like Jeffery Steingarten already (See: The Man Who Ate Everything)
I have been reading up all of these things about my school, about Carlo Petrini (founder of the Slow-Food movement and my personal hero), and have been talking with all my Italian friends about my anticipated return. This time it’s real folks, no 4 month excursion into uncharted waters, this is me LIVING in another place for an entire year. That is enough time to create a substantial life for myself.
It all happened so quickly too, one moment I’m sitting in my friend’s kitchen, playing on facebook, the next moment I’m taking a tour of my future grad school, and 4 weeks later I’m set to return for a year.
From what I have read so far, the students on my program get into some really interesting culinary situations, Such as:
- Eating Donkey meat/drinking Donkey milk (donkeys produce milk?)
- Raw Sea Urchin
- Raw Clams
- Unpastuerized dairy products
- Horse (I’ve actually tried this raw, its pretty nice)
I am in training to be the next Anthony Bourdain, exploring the world one bite at a time.
I arrive on the 13th of November. That is when this adventure will truly begin.
Filed under: University of Gastronomic Science | Tags: carlo petrini, Colorno, food, Food Blog, Italy, Slow Food, University of Gastronomic Sciences
Since being accepted to the Italian Gastronomy and Tourism program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, I have been doing some serious research on the school, the past and current students, and generally the life I should anticipate for myself in the coming year.
I have been absolutely thrilled at the things I have found. I have come across some really informative and interesting blogs from other students that have done the same program that I will soon do. Two examples of these blogs can be found at:
I have been making my best efforts to get into touch with these people before my program starts because I have already picked up on some important pointers on how to properly go about eating on my program. For example, on study trips we can expect to eat a lot of food, but not a lot of fibre, so they suggest we bring fiber supplements to eat along with regular meals to keep our digestive tracts happy. Who would have figured??
Anyway, here is a little more information from the website, An example Itinerary of a study trip we might be doing in Crete, Greece.
And here is a list of the classes I’ll be taking:
Anyway, I will be using Grassroots Gourmet to truly get into the nitty gritty of my studies in the next year and I have a very good feeling that I won’t be short on writing material. I even read one Iambic Cafe’s blog that we get to have an face to face session with Slow-Food founder, Carlo Petrini!! That man changed my LIFE!
Sometimes I have to pinch my arm to make sure all of this is actually happening.
Filed under: University of Gastronomic Science | Tags: carlo petrini, food, Italian Gastronomy, Italy, Slow Food, University of Gastronomic Science
Alrighty folks, looks like Grassroots Gourmet is in for another international facelift. After being abroad for nearly 2 months, traveling around Europe and doing almost no work at all besides eating/drinking myself to oblivion, I decided I needed to get my act together and really start planning my life around my interests!
So my final week in Italy I applied to the University of Gastronomic Science (Universita degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche) in Colorno, Italy (about 10km outside of Parma). The school was founded by Carlo Petrini, founder and mastermind behind the internationally known Slow Food movement. Not to be confused with a culinary school, the University of Gastronomic Science combines food culture, business, agricultural and ecologically sustainability practices to create a comprehensive knowledge of Italian Gastronomy.
Anyway, to my absolute delight, I was accepted to this university and will be starting classes in Colorno, Italy on November 18th 2009, the course lasts an entire year!
Click to see what my course list looks like http://unisg.it/pagine/eng/programs/master_in_italian_gastronomy_and_tourism/courses.lasso
I will be using this blog as a space to give detailed descriptions of what I learn in and outside of the classroom. This Masters course is basically foodie paradise. I am either going to come back morbidly obese, or a total yum wine connoisseur. Let’s hope the latter.
But nonetheless I am really excited to be sharing this experience with all my readers! Get ready for foodie paradise in the Italian countryside as I earn my masters in Italian Gastronomy and Tourism!! here we goooo!!
Filed under: Grassroots Gourmet: Abroad
In a couple of hours I will be on a plane to Stockholm, Sweden to begin my Baltic cruise. I don’t know how good my internet access will be but hopefully I will be able to update as regularly as possible.
I’ve been having bread and bread for breakfast every morning here at the hotel because that is the only thing included on our American Express package…. I never thought I would say this but I actually am growing to fear the likes of a slice of toast. Too many carbohydrates. I cant wait to eat fruit again! My god!
See ya on the high seas
Filed under: Grassroots Gourmet: Abroad | Tags: Dorchester hotel, Grassroots Gourmet, indian food, London, travel blog, westminister abbey
Thanks to American Express, my mom and I get a free breakfast every morning at the Dorchester Hotel here in London, which, may I add, is an amazing deal because the bill comes out to about £51 which in US dollars is about $91. A price that is absolutely ridiculous for 2 croissants, coffee, and juice. Nonetheless, what makes the rest of the price completely worth it is our waiter, whose presence we are graced with each morning..
Francois, or so I have named him, because I am way too chicken to ask his name, is our young French server from Nice who smiles at me from across the room..I have fallen completely in love and I don’t even know his name! What is with me and european men, I am dying. I think at the end of my stay at this hotel I am going to leave him with some contact info so when I get back to London on the 30th I can see him again..
This is a totally irrational obsession, but he is a gorgeous Frenchmen, what do you want me to do? Today he waved good morning to me and forgot to pay attention to another server walking toward him with a huge tray of stuff, they ran into eachother bc he was looking my way and the server dropped everything. This is love folks.
Haha! Anyway, we went to Indian food last night which was absolutely delish. Though, my mom wanted to go to an upscale place (one Michelin star) while I would have been totally content at a hole in the wall Curry House. I guess I’ll have to reserve that for another time. We also saw Westminister Abbey, the burial place of celebrities such as Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Mary Shelley, David Livingstone, Lewis Carroll, etc.
OK, that’s all for now, I need to take a cold shower before I start thinking about my french lover again.
Au Revior!
