Life After Cooking School
Being Serenaded by An Admirer at the Trattoria
Cooking school boot camp ended yesterday. And I’m still in Italy. I head home on Sunday. I figured it might be nice to have some unscheduled time after the culinary immersion to just hang out in Italy. I didn’t leave the room until 1. Went to a little Tratorria a block from the hotel. And had a lovely 84 year old gent sing us an Italian love song. Boy do I like a country where I am treated like one of the treasures from God instead of in the US where I’m treated as if I have some type of self-discipline disorder for not being a perfect size 8. In Ominvore’s Dilemma, Michael Polen says the US has a nationwide eating disorder. After being here – where these folks eat and eat and eat – all natural, locally raised foods, prepared with no additives, I completely agree with Mr. Polen. We aren’t getting fatter and fatter in the US because we don’t have any self-discipline. We are getting fatter and fatter because we are purchasing crap products with too many preservatives and additives that help the food manufacturers increase the shelf life and shelf stability of their products, but that are literally killing us. Spending five hours a day in the company of great people, enjoying great food and great conversation is the way to live – not running from one meeting to another gulping down whatever food you can quickly get. The US doesn’t just have a national eating disorder, they have a national living disorder.
Cantina in La Buca - a very authentic Italian Ristorante in Zibello.
What is odd is in the US I am pretty much invisible – a standard middle age, rotund short woman of average looks. It’s very strange – I am very well known in my field. Pictures of me appear in all our publications. Many people claim they know me. Yet when they see me in person at meetings, they ignore me – like I don’t exist – until I go up and introduce myself. Then it’s as if – oh my god, this PM “big wig” is standing here in front of me. When five minutes earlier, they just blew me off. Yes we have a problem in the US of what we think “successful” people should look like.
But because of way I look, people actually treat me nicer here. I am reading the book Heat by Bill Buford. In his book, he mentions a restaurant in a town just south of here called Zibello and a restaurant there called La Buca. We had our tour guide Melanie make us a reservation there for tonight. We were warned the woman who runs the place Mariane was a force of nature sometimes prone to storms, but the food was GREAT.
Diesel or Gas - Google on the Iphone Saves the Day. New found friends Fabio and Stefano.
were welcomed with open arms. Mariane, just loved us. She showed us her “cantina” – with all her salami’s, cheeses, proscuitto’s, and wine barrels. She had her son-in-law wait on us since he spoke very good English. We were treated like royalty. Maybe she doesn’t like the skinny US reporters who visit her? She was very nice to us.
The big adventure with going to La Buca was just getting there. We had not ventured out in the car since we got here. And getting here was a very disorienting experience. We left for La Buca right as it was getting dark, and it was raining. We made it there without getting lost – and had an hour to drive around. So for another adventure we decided to gas up the car. At the station, we couldn’t figure out if the car took diesel or regular. After much discussion with the gas station attendant Fabio and his friend Stefano, I decided to google the make and model of the car on my Iphone – both guys looked at each other and said Google – SI, Google and were nodding their heads up and down. Very funny – yes the answer was on google – it took diesel.
One last day in Italy before we head back to the States. I think I might find some type of cooking school in residence back here where I can come live for a couple of months. Who would not want to be where you are just totally loved for who you are – instead of being dismissed by the general population since you don’t live up to some ideal of what others think you should be? I love the Italians.
