Today was interesting.
So I meet up with my professor at ten this morning ready to head to the archives. But instead of going to the archives, he informs me of his plan to go food tasting!? So we while we waited for them to prepare the food we went to a nearby bar, got some drinks (caffe and te) and discussed last weeks readings.
20 minutes later, we headed up the street to this good sized delicatessen/pasta shop(that's the best English description I can come up with). They market them selves as vendors of all natural, traditional Italian food. They have huge hunks of dried meat hanging everywhere and one cut of prosciutto had a little sign on it that said "I'm Italian". You could tell by the classic American pop music that they were marketing their wares for the wealthy and tourists.
However, the presentation they gave was quite good. The owner first brought out a plate full of all the different grains and beans local to Italy. This is how Peter tied it into the class, because I've been studying the grain economy for the last several weeks. After that, he brought out several different slices of cold cuts for us to sample. He explained how each was made, where they came from, and with which wines they went best with. Although I passed on the wine I discovered that peccorino cheese, aged for several months is quite delicious!
After we finished we went to another local bar and talked some more about the reasons why he brought me (Villanova paid) and the rest of the readings. I thought the lesson was very tasteful.
Speaking of food, the lunch ladies went on strike(they must of find out about my stolen sleds!) Thankfully however, there only planning on striking for 1 day. Strikes in Italy are usually very frequent, but also short. My theory is that it just takes them a day to realize that working a couple of hours of a day, with a huge break in the middle, isn't too much to complain about.
