Bocca Buona

Literally meaning 'the good mouth', this osteria is a neighborhood jem. Classic, yet modern, this place boasts a beautiful entrance, outdoor patio, and rustic indoor seating. But their food speaks for itself:

Fried fiori di zucca (fried squash blossoms) stuffed with rabbit

Tomato and burrata phyllo dough torte

Tagliarin, or tajarin, a Bra specialty- they are basically smaller, thinner versions of tagliatelle. This pasta is always fresh, never reconstituted from a dry format.

Another Braidese specialty. These gnocchi ROCK. You can find them at pretty much any food establishment in the area. Homemade, pillowy gnocchi either in a Stilton or Castelmagno sauce (both are a blue cheese).

ITALIA

I suppose I should explain what the hell it is I'm doing in Italy and why I'm eating so well. As of two weeks ago I am officially a student of the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche (UniSG) in Bra, Italy. The home of Slow Food and Carlo Petrini. Please feel free to delight in and harbor pangs of jealous over the following description of my program:

Master in Food Culture and Communications – Food, Place, and Identity
The main goal of this English-language master is to provide students with knowledge about high-quality food
products as well as the communication and promotion of such products based on an extensive anthropological and historical study of food consumption, not only in Italy but abroad as well. The stream “Food, Place, and Identity” of the Master’s Program explores the multiple “geographies” of food production and consumption, focusing on sites ranging from the body, home, community, city, region, nation, and the global, and the individual and collective identities shaped around these "places." In fact, food and food cultures can only be efficiently communicated with reference to place and identity (a notion that we understand not as “fixed,” but being in constant flux and the product of hybridizations). Whether we talk about zero-mile food, local food activism, urban food systems, ethnic food, Japanese cuisine, French wines, or global food policies, we are always making reference to the relationship between food and place (whether “real” or “imagined”), and the meanings this bond inflates into food as well as places. As the popular notion of “terroir” conveys, it is the convergence of place, climate, local human knowledge and sensibilities that determines the quality of foods. This section explores the relationships between food, place, and identity from the perspective of food policy, migrations, tourism, history and memory, and cultural artifacts that range from film to literature.

The campus is located in Pollenzo, an ancient Roman town, and classes are held in a 19th century estate dedicated to furthering the knowledge of agriculture and husbandry in Piemonte.

Luncheon on the grass:

Classroom with a view:

Vi terrò aggiornati!

I'll keep you updated!

Caprese without

So I'm in Italy. Have been for 3 weeks. Getting my shit together to post my copious and heartbreakingly delicious food pics. Please await with baited breath!

Oh, prob should describe the picture...simple enough. Cuore di bue tomatoes which are currently ragingly in season, with a ball of fior di latte mozzarella plopped on top. Drowned in olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, this salad needs no introduction. Just short a couple springs of basilico.