Italian Food

Italian food. Until I went to Tuscany, I have to confess that I just didn’t get the excitement. Pizza….Pasta…Chopped tomatoes on toast. Not only were these dishes I knew I could make myself (unlike, say, steak tartare or the dazzling inventions at El Bulli in Spain ) – but this was the type of food I made as a student.

Or even earlier.

Frozen pizza, thrown into the oven. Pasta from a packet with a pour-over sauce. When Brits think of cheap, cardboard convenience food – they tend to think Italian. And I was no exception…

While this may sound like heresy to Italians, I come here today to beg my forgiveness.

Now that I have visited your country.

Now that I have stepped away from the tourist trail and experienced the real tastes of rural Tuscany.

Most importantly, now that I have had some cooking lessons.

Cooking Lessons in Tuscany

Let’s be honest. This must be the best kind of study. Cuoche in Vacanza come to your home (in my case, the tranquil Casa Gentili) to teach you how to cook authentic Tuscan food.

They bring ingredients. They bring knowledge. They bring equipment – and they bring wine. And if you take your eye off the ball at some point, they carry on without you.

I’m going to show you some of the recipes I learned at cooking school right here on this blog…in a little while.

In the meantime, I’m just going to let you enjoy the photographs – and think about the following words: olive oil, smoky, grassy, garlic, pepper, fresh, basil, family, tradition, eggs, flour, mint, laughter, food…

Enjoy!

Disclosure : I attended this cooking course as a guest of Casa Gentili. All views are, of course, entirely my own. Especially the comment comparing Italian food to cardboard…