Young Italian Gastronomes Visit BC
HOW OTHERS SEE US:
THE ITALIAN SCHOOL
Yesterday we joined 15 young Italians for a Ciao Chow – a pick-your-own-lettuce lunch at UBC Farms.
The group composed of future winery owners, restaurant chefs, farmers and food journalists were all students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Piedmonte, and are currently on a week long tour of BC’s gastronomic highlights.
After arriving from Italy on Tuesday, the students were spending their first day at the self-supporting farm, to learn about its operations and the ingredients been grown or raised there, and capping the experience with an alfresco meal of freshly picked greens, cheese and bread at a long wooden table set on the edge of the fields.
As you may imagine, it was interesting to hear comments from people who are observing our local agro scene for the first time.
For example they were:
- thrilled by the sight of the two eagles that several times swooped down from the tops of nearby pine trees and flew across the fields. Most had never seen eagles in the wild before.
- curious to know if we knew about the 100 mile diet. Apparently it's very trendy stuff in Italy, only they called it “Kilometre Zero”.
- of the opinion that the amount of open land that UBC Farms had to work with was a absolute luxury. At their school, they only had one tiny plot of garden to work with.
- eager to visit Lumiere and Rob Feenie on their free night off, and crestfallen to hear that the restaurant no longer existed. When told that Lumiere was in the process of being replaced by a new restaurant from New York’s Daniel Boulud, one of them said with complete sincerity, “Oh, I am so sad for you.”
They had not yet had a chance to visit many local restaurants, however they thought the prices of the Italian wines they had seen on the wine lists were “Lika Soooooo CRAZY!!!" That in fact, although it was a very pleasant experience to eat the greens and bread for lunch, it would have been that much pleasanter with just a little pasta and a glass of white wine.
Can’t argue with them there.
Perhaps they will get their chance. The students are on a schedule, arranged by UBC professor, Amelia Oil importer, and Slow Food enthusiast Rebecca Black, that would be the envy of any local foodie.
As of yesterday, they had already taken in the UBC Community Kitchen Project; the Museum of Anthropology; UBC Farm; meetings with Slow Food Vancouver and FarmFolk/CityFolk members; plus a dinner of local seafood and a visit with Chef Robert Clark at NU.
Today they will cover the downtown Eastside, Gastown and Strathcona (including a dim sum lunch in Chinatown); a visit to Jacob’s Well Garden and Community Kitchen; and dinner at Salt Tasting Room.
Coming up is Quince, les amis du Fromage, Barbara-jo’s Books to Cooks, Dinner Works, Go Fish, Granville Island Brewery, Granville Island, The Italian Cultural Centre, brunch at Aurora Bistro, Main Street shops, Steveston Village and Cannery, Terra Nova Farm, Northwest Culinary Academy, dinner at Grouse Mountain and a hike up the Grouse grind.
Then it’s on to the Islands for a ride on a fishing boat; dinner at John Volpe House; visits to Drumroaster, Venturi Shulze, Cowichan Bay Farm, True Grain Bakery, Fairburn Farm, Michael Abelman’s farm on Salt Spring Island, Salt Spring Seeds, and Salt Spring Market; not to mention a few rounds of kayaking and yoga.
We think that at the end of it, they may have a better picture of the BC scene than many of us do ourselves. But then that’s vita for you.