Parma and Modena

Ciao! This post is about the class field trip that I took with my Food Culture class, and it was one of the best field trips I have ever been on! Those of you who know me well are aware that I have a passion for the culinary world, and so this field trip was right up my alley!

During this field trip to Parma and Modena, I learned a tremendous amount about the processes involved in making parmigiano reggiano cheese, Parma ham, and traditional balsamic vinegar. The trip began at the farm where the made authentic parmigiano cheese, where I learned that the family business there had been going on for almost 100 years. I found it interesting that there are no holidays for the people that work there, because there is too much to do! The ingredients are simple, using just milk, rennet, and salt. The milk is warmed up to 26 degrees Celsius, and the whey is added, which causes the milk to ferment. Next, the temperature is raised to 36 degrees Celsius, and this is how the curd forms. The temperature is then raised again to 60 degrees Celsius, where the solid part sinks to the bottom of the vat and remains there for one hour. The mass is then lifted and placed in a mold. After three days in the mold, the cheese is moved to a salt water solution for 18 days. Next, the cheese is moved to the shelves for aging. The cheese is sold at three different ages, 12 months, 22 months, and 30 months. After the tasting, I decided that I like the 22 months the best! After doing the cheese tasting, we took the bus down to see the farm where all of the cows they used were. It was smelly and there were a lot of flies, but the cows were so cute! We saw the adult ones they use for milking and the equipment they use to do it, and then we also got to go to the section that has all that baby cows, where there was a newborn calf only 3 days old! 🐄

The next stop on this trip was to a Parma ham factory. There are 10 regions that produce the ham, and every ham must begin the process of becoming prosciutto within 5 days of the slaughter. The first phase is that of salting, where the ham sits for twenty days in a cold room. Then, the ham is dried for another 100 days in a room that is between 12 and 22 degrees Celsius. At 6 months, the skins of the hams are greased. After one year minimum, the Parma ham inspector can test the hams using a horse bone. They poke the instrument into 5 specific points on the ham. Typically, the hams are kept stored for two years before sold. This was admittedly my least favorite part of the trip, but I think that is because I am a vegetarian.

The last stop of this trip was to a traditional balsamic vinegar factory in Modena. We began the tour by seeing the fields where the grapes are grown, but unfortunately the harvest was just the day before we arrived so there were not any grapes left in the fields. The grapes grown at this particular farm were Trebbiano grapes. Only seven types of grapes can be used to produce the balsamic vinegar. An interesting fact we learned is that a rose bush is put in front of every row because if there is any type of problem with the crop, it will show up with the rose one month before it would with the grapes. This way the farmers have time to try and fix whatever the problem is before it occurs. The balsamic vinegar is made using only one ingredient, which is cooked grape juice. The rest of the work is done through time and flavor that comes from the wood barrels the juice is aged in. The barrels are stored in the highest level of the house rather than the basement because the changing of the temperatures is what helps with the fermentation process. The exact age of any traditional balsamic vinegar cannot be given due to the way that the product is moved in small portions from one barrel to another, with no barrel ever being completely emptied. The barrels are made of different kinds of wood such as chestnut and mulberry, and this adds the flavor and color to the balsamic vinegar. Glass pipets are used to check the color and fermentation of the product. The minimum aging time is listed as 12 years. Once the vinegar has reached this age, it is poured into a bottle that is only 100 ml, and it is made from a specific shape designed to maintain the perfect flavor.

This stop on the trip was very special because it was just at a local Italian families house. I had time to speak with the woman who gave us the tour, and I found out they only just started selling the vinegar within the last 5 years, despite the fact that her family has been doing this for over a hundred years. I was amazed when she mentioned this, asking what her whole family did with everything they produced, and she said up until they started to sell it, all they did was give it to friends and use it in their own kitchen. When we went down to her dining room to do some tasting, her own mother came out, and had baked us all a rice cake, which was so sweet and adorable, and felt so classic "Italian Nonna". One of my classmates asked the woman if she had any children, and when she said no, I jokingly asked if she wanted to adopt me, and she immediately and seriously offered to let me stay with her family as long as I wanted! She told me if my family came and visited and needed somewhere to stay she had plenty of rooms, and was the most inviting, kind woman I have ever met! It was a true experience of Italian hospitality that I will not forget.

This entire field trip was an amazing day, and I would rank my favorite stop as the balsamic vinegar, then the parmigiano reggiano, and lastly the prosciutto. It felt very special to be able to get a view into this agricultural way of life, where the people who produced these special products were only one piece of generations of hard work and tradition. All of the stops had it in common that they business had been in the family for many years, which made each stop feel very important and historical. These products are some of the most famous that come from Italy, and I can see that it takes a lot of dedication and hard work to continue producing them the same as they were so many years ago.

 

The Amalfi Coast (My First Trip "Fail")

Ciao everyone! My last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind of activity, so I have not had any time to work on any blog posts, but fear not, I have not given up! I will continue working on them when I can, and eventually every week will have a post! This is a fairly depressing post, but the follow up one will be what I did during the first day before I got too sick, and that one has beautiful pictures and fun stories, so look forward to that! 😊

On September 14th, I left for a three-day guided trip to the Amalfi Coast, and ended up only being able stay for the first day. On the bus ride on Thursday night I started to not feel well, but I figured at worst I was just getting a cold or small virus from traveling so much the previous weeks. I brushed it off and tried not to worry about it, because I was too excited for this trip to give it much thought anyhow. We arrived at the hostel at 3 o’clock in the morning, and were instructed to be in the lobby for breakfast at 8:00, before taking a bus to Positano at 9:00. I woke up with a terrible sore throat, along with the fatigue, chills, and shakiness that comes with having a fever. I knew that something was definitely wrong by then, but I was in a strange place that everyone was about to leave to go to the beach, and I didn’t want to miss out on the day either, so I boarded the bus along with everyone else. With the help of a beautiful beach, a positive attitude, and some Advil, I made it until the afternoon thinking that I was going to be fine. Once 4 o’clock hit though, I began to get more sick, quickly. By the time that we were back at the hostel around 5:00, I was in rough shape, and spoke to a guide on our trip about if there was a doctor I could see in nearby Sorrento. After she did some research, she found that there was a hospital about a twenty-minute’s walk away, but I soon realized it was not a very plausible option. I assumed it would be a very long time spent in a waiting room once I arrived, and I did not feel up to it. I also did not have my abroad insurance card with me, and not one of the guides on my trip spoke Italian to help translate between the doctors and myself. There was hardly any service at the hostel we were staying at, and I struggled to get in touch with my parents. After failing to get in touch with them through a phone call, I was only able to text them to ask for their advice. They suggested that I stay at the hostel, drink lots of water, and try to make it through the night. We were betting on a good night’s sleep helping to make me feel better. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I ended spending the night with such a sore throat and achey body that I couldn't sleep at all. This led to me to trying to get in touch with my parents to get advice on a new plan of action, but after trying and failing to reach them I tried to figure things out myself. I finally settled on going to the concierge desk at 5 o’clock in the morning, and getting him to give me the room number of my guide. I went and knocked on her door, and had her help me buy a train ticket back to Florence, where I could see a doctor I knew accepted my insurance, and I knew there were workers in the Fairfield University program who would help me if I needed a translator. The journey home was five hours in total, and by the end I was completely exhausted. I couldn’t figure out how to ring myself in to the building of the doctor’s office, and was so tired and desperate I just started to cry right there on the street. Through my tears I called my Fairfield advisor, and she came right to where I was and helped me get in to the doctor’s office, and she offered to wait with me. In the end, it turned out I just had a bad case of strep throat, so it was good that I came back to Florence because I required a few different types of medication to get better. The entire experience was a huge bummer, because this was one of my trips that I was the most excited for. I have to thank my parents for trying to help me all the way from home, my friends for getting me dinner and water and bringing it to me at the hostel, and my Fairfield advisor for helping me with the doctor. All is well that ends well, and luckily after about a week I was back up and running as usual.

Santorini, Greece

Ciao everyone! Or should I say, "Χαίρετε" (that is "hello" in Greek for any of you wondering. If you're really feeling daring, go ahead and try to pronounce that one). This post is going to detail the trip that I took to Santorini, Greece! In case you haven't noticed already, I am quite behind on blog posts, so just for reference, I took this trip from September 8-10. Caroline and I flew in to Santorini and met up with another Providence College friend, Jackson Gany, and a group of his friends from his program in Athens. We all stayed at an Airbnb that was in the town of Perissa, toward the bottom of the island of Santorini. The hotel was brightly colored, with all blue and orange furniture. It had hammocks hanging outside the main office, and cats that roamed freely. We learned very quickly that animals were more than welcome in Greece, where many stray dogs and cats hung around wherever they pleased, and were treated kindly by all the locals. The hotel was only a two-minute walk from the black sand beach, where it had its own section of the beach with lounge chairs and huts for the customers. Suffice to say, Caroline and I were VERY excited. We arrived before Jackson and his friends, so we spent the time waiting lounging on the beach. I will say this, I picked the wrong trip to forget to pack a pair of beach flip flops. The thing about black sand is that it is HOT. Like a thousand degrees hot. I managed only to cook my feet to a medium well roast, but I will admit I looked like an idiot every time I got up to walk to go in the ocean of to the beach bar. My strategy was to all out sprint to my destination as fast as possible to spend as little time on the sand as possible. The good news is, the beauty of Greece is that people just don't care. I have never been somewhere so relaxed or comfortable making a fool of myself. As I continue to detail my trip, you will see exactly what I mean!

That night, Caroline and I decided to take the bus to Oia, which is the upper part of the island. We initially were trying to make it in time to watch the sunset, but the bus ride ended up taking so long, we were there long after the sun went down. On the plus side, we made friends with a wonderful married couple from the United States, who were with the mother of the wife, because she was from Greece originally. They were so sweet and helpful, especially since the wife and her mother (Yaya, which means grandmother in Greek) spoke fluent Greek. They recommended restaurants to us and helped us find our way through the bus system and the town, and then offered to set up arranged marriages to their sons for us! 😂 Overall, the night did not go as we planned, but not in a bad way!

               The second day in Greece we all took a Catamaran cruise around the island, and Caroline and I were the ones to go book the boat. This was pretty stressful because we were trying to organize an outing for 15 people. The travel agent helping us book it continually told us, “Why are you stressed? You are in Santorini! Go to the beach, have a drink, relax! You are on vacation! I will take care of this for you”. And the following day, when we actually arrived at the dock for the boat cruise, the company asked for the receipt to prove we were the group that purchased the trip, and of course I had forgotten it. My stomach absolutely dropped, seeing as there were 14 other people dressed in their bathing suits ready to go, counting on my to have brought that receipt! Before I even finished saying I didn’t have it but could run back to the hotel to get it, they waved their hands and told us no problem, not to worry. They trusted us. All I can say is, these are my people. I may not have any Greek blood in my veins, but I’m starting to wish that I did! Once we boarded the catamaran, we were beside ourselves with excitement and disbelief that we were actually about to take a private boat tour around Santorini. It was a small crew of only three people, two to handle all things sailing related, and one who stayed in the kitchen and prepared us all lunch to eat on the boat. Sailing along the coastline was absolutely beautiful, and we got to see the cliff line of the island from the water, which was unlike anything I have ever seen before. Our first stop was to sail by the red sand beaches (Santorini has red, black, and white sand depending on the area), followed by a stop at the volcanic hot spring. Yep, you heard me right, I went swimming in the hot springs of an active volcano! It was truly amazing. Because of the materials in the rocks and earth around the volcano, the area has a pungent smell of sulfur. So, while the swim was breathtaking from its beauty, it was also breathtaking from its stench. It can best be described as swimming in a pool of the hard-boiled egg smell. It was fine though, because the view was amazing, and the water really was hot the further into the spring we went! At the shores of the hot spring we found a group of people also exploring, and they were all covered in a completely black substance. It turned out that they had rubbed the black, silt material that makes up the shores all over their bodies! Naturally, as disgusting as this is, we thought this was a great idea and proceeded to paint each other black with the silt as well. Even after swimming back to the boat and scrubbing ourselves in the water, we all remained tinted black for the next few hours! We looked ridiculous but made a very cool memory in the process, and I like to pretend it was just like giving ourselves a natural mud mask. The rest of the day was spent swimming and lounging on rope beds on the boat, taking in the views and soaking up the sun. It was an unforgettable activity that I enjoyed every minute of!

After our time on the boat we went back to the town of Oia. We made it in time to watch the sunset over the classic white houses with blue roofs, and we followed that up with a dinner outside overlooking the water. The food was excellent, and surprisingly I had the best risotto ever while I was there, even better than what I have had in Italy! In general, I cannot rave enough about the food in Greece. Every morning I had fresh, local, authentic Greek yogurt with honey and nuts, and it was the most delicious thing ever! They also had a lot of vegetarian options, which I was pleasantly surprised to find! My favorite meal was bell peppers stuffed with vegetable rice, and I also learned that I love tzatziki sauce! I enjoyed that along with pita bread, hummus, and a roasted almond and red pepper dip that was outstanding! I made sure to get some baklava for dessert as well, and it was heavenly! Greece gets a 10/10 from me as far as food goes…I loved it!

The plane ride home from Greece ended up being another travel nightmare, because our plane was delayed by two and half hours, which caused us to arrive in Rome so late that there were no more trains back to Florence until the next morning. Luckily, Caroline and I did not have classes until late in the afternoon on Monday, and we had friends studying abroad in Rome who let us sleep on their couch for the night. We took the earliest train back to Florence, and were able to sleep a few hours before class. Overall, a great trip and I cannot wait to explore more of Greece someday! I will be back if I can help it 😊