My travels through Italy
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I have been traveling to Europe since 1973.
These were business trips and would last between 18 and 25 days.
My travels took my to several countries including Italy and Spain, where I spent most of my time, especially Italy.
I learned very fast that I would not have time to be a traditional tourist, business kept me busy most of the days and weekends, so I decided that the only way I could get any feeling for the local cultures was through the "peasant" food.
Business led me to many small villages and when lunch time came around, I made a point of eating in a local place.
I found myself in many of those kitchens and, languages notwithstanding, I started picking up some of the grandmotherly skills and techniques.
It wasn't long before I started replicating these dishes for our friends in the US and was confronted with many requests to "cater" parties.
I would also find that by asking for a dish "of whatever the chef was most proud" that day, I got many table side visits from chefs, even in US restaurants.
I met Todd English in just such an encounter as well as Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich and several others. Todd took me into his kitchen and we traded stories of small Italian tratorie and the cooking styles they used. He introduced me to several of his chief and food author friends like Michael Ruhlman and Neil Annis.
From all of these associations, I have honed my skills and built a small: teaching, catering and private cheffing business, as a great hobby.
These were business trips and would last between 18 and 25 days.
My travels took my to several countries including Italy and Spain, where I spent most of my time, especially Italy.
I learned very fast that I would not have time to be a traditional tourist, business kept me busy most of the days and weekends, so I decided that the only way I could get any feeling for the local cultures was through the "peasant" food.
Business led me to many small villages and when lunch time came around, I made a point of eating in a local place.
I found myself in many of those kitchens and, languages notwithstanding, I started picking up some of the grandmotherly skills and techniques.
It wasn't long before I started replicating these dishes for our friends in the US and was confronted with many requests to "cater" parties.
I would also find that by asking for a dish "of whatever the chef was most proud" that day, I got many table side visits from chefs, even in US restaurants.
I met Todd English in just such an encounter as well as Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich and several others. Todd took me into his kitchen and we traded stories of small Italian tratorie and the cooking styles they used. He introduced me to several of his chief and food author friends like Michael Ruhlman and Neil Annis.
From all of these associations, I have honed my skills and built a small: teaching, catering and private cheffing business, as a great hobby.
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