Salone del Gusto is a food lovers dream world and should be on the calender of everyone around the world who cares deeply about food. The Salone del Gusto runs in parallel to Terra Madre, and has now come to be two halves of a complete whole. A strong network of relationships is created here on behalf of food that proves that it is sustainable and yet bring pleasure, perhaps more so by its sustainable nature! The Salone del Gusto is educational, because it is about learning, knowing, comparing and discovering, but always in the name of a right to responsible and fully shared pleasure. A festival, celebrating what we eat and the people who make it. The whole of Italy came together in Pavilions 2 and 3, with large signs indicating the home areas of the exhibitors, who presented their specialties alongside the Slow Food Presidia. One could wander through this 'marketplace' sampling cured meats, cheeses, preserves, chocolates, spirits, pasta, seafood and much more, discovering the flavors of all of Italy's regional cuisines under this one roof.
It was overwhelming, as you can see below....
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| Various Salumi on display. |
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| Salamis flavoured with oregano, chillies and peppercorns. |
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| Chillies in all their fiery splendour at an antipasti stall. |
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| Pickled pleasures! |
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| Nduja Sausages and spreads. |
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| Fresh, flavoured and smoked Ricotta Cheeses |
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| Smoked Ricotta up close. |
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| Considered one of the most famous, Calabrian foods, Nduja is a soft, spicy, spreadable salami that originates from Spilinga, the name 'nduja' comes from the french word "andouille", which means "sausage". Nduja is made with pork meat, a bit of fat, salt and a lot of red pepper and is extremely spicy and often considered an aphrodisiac due to its firepower. They say it is also great for the heart but I didn't need justification to try it! |
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| Nduja up close and personal! |
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| Italian Chikki! |
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| I am not sure if this was a traditional cheese, it sounded as if the cheese maker had created it himself. |
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| I just loved how it looked. |
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| I was really surprised at the sheer AMOUNT of chilli I saw all over! This stall had a killer Garlic Chilli spread I tried. |
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| Cheese PLEASE |
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| Cant ever get enough can we, this is the Fondata. |
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| More meat! |
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| Closer look! |
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| Tarfuto - diamonds of the culinary world! |
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| Worth their weight in GOLD! |
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Originating from Brazil, these confections date back to the time of the Benedictine monks and nuns, who had considerable influence in the history and culture of the Troina regione. Made of flour, sugar, yeast, lard, water and ammonia, these cylindrical pastry cases are approximately 15 cm in length and come filled filled with custard of various kinds, throughout the year but are most popular during the Carnival and Easter.
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| Pastry filled with custard |
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| One of my favourite ingredients - Sun Dried tomatoes. Chop them, steep in hot extra virgin olive oil, add salt, chopped parsley and toss with chopped garlic and hot pasta. Tomato Heaven! |
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| Pecorino Cheese stall, Pecorino is the name given to all Italian cheeses made from sheep's milk. Different regions have different Pecorino variants, eg. Pecorina Romano is the name given to cheeses from the Rome area, Pecorino Sardo is from Sardinia, Pecorino Siciliano from Sicily and my favourite because it is speckled with peppercorns. This Cheese maker hade a range of diffenernt ones, produced in small batches from milk from sheep that live in the Terminillo and Lazio regions and feed on organic feed and pasture grass, since 1940, the cheese is produced according to methods used by shepherds from time immemorial. He had me try them all, spearing off choice cuts from the "First Sale", fresh and delicate cheese prior to aging, the " Seasoned Pecorino " matured in cellars upto 1100 meters above sea level and the " Pecorino Aged in Cave" that had been aged in a cave, a process that imparted a hauntingly unique flavor. The impromptu tasting session concluded with a charming and rather flattering invitation to have coffe later. Italian men! SIGH! They can make a girl feel on top of the world! |
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| And this rather special fresh Pecorino studded with tender pistachios, almost had me accepting! |
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| Picante pleasures! |
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| Funghi Porcini, my favourite mushroom. There is nothing like fresh porcini, large meaty slichtly citrussy musrooms, they are delicious. Dried porcini have terrific mushroomy aroma that adds wondrous flavour to stews and sauces and produces one of the finest risotto flavours I have ever tried. |
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| Pretty Squashes... |
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| Single flora honeys |
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| Cheese Oppulence, thats one pillar of Comte, another of Parmiggiano Regiano - note the rind with the stamp? and a roof of Gorgonzola!! |
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| Parmiggiano Regiano again - and yes that is a curtain of small salamis behind him! |
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| A pretty display of the Lombardy regions foods. |
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| Grana Padano flavoured crackers. |
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| Sea Salt |
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| More Salt |
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| Tomatoes being strung up. |
1 comment:
What a delightful place!! So much to look at!
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