The ANNOTICO Report
I remain to be convinced that an American teacher who
had to learn the
skills of Italian Cuisine could be as good as an Italian
who was born into
the Culture.
I don't buy the argument that you have to grow up with
Kmart clothes to
appreciate Armani.:)
You decide!!
Chicago Sun Times
By Maureen Jenkins
August 3, 2005
FLORENCE, Italy -- When tourists think of cooking classes
in Tuscany, they
likely imagine hovering over a chopping board or ancient
stove with a
pleasantly plump older signora, one who'll divulge generations
of culinary
secrets in gently accented English over a steaming bowl
of rigatoni or
zuppa di fagioli. But the reality might be much different.
It might sound like heresy, but native Italians don't
have the market
cornered on teaching traditional Tuscan cooking. These
days, some of the
best hail from places like California, New York -- and
even Wyoming. These
pros prove that Italian chefs can be made, rather than
merely born.
Explains cookbook author and instructor Faith Willinger,
who put down roots
in Italy more than 30 years ago and since then has created
a cooking class
program at the popular Tenuta di Capezzana wine estate
and headed culinary
programs at the famed Cipriani Hotel in Venice: "This
is all stuff I had to
learn. It's not that I grew up with it; it's not natural
to me. If you have
to learn it, you're in a better position to instruct
people on it."
Any overseas cooking class worth its sea salt ought to
equip students with
recipes they can replicate at home, using ingredients
they don't have to
catch an airplane to find. They should let students experiment
with dishes
that challenge them, but that feature foods they can
actually stomach. And
they should offer an inside glimpse at the rich regional
heritage that
spawned the cuisine, giving students a well-rounded culinary
and cultural
tour through the lens of their own.
That's why an introduction to Tuscan cooking, taught by
longtime American
residents of Italy, can be a good bet.
"I know what's available at home" in the United States,
says Judy Witts
Francini, a former San Francisco pastry chef whose Divina
Cucina school
teaches one- to five-day cooking courses in Florence.
"I've cooked with
ingredients in America, and maybe we only have one kind
of artichoke rather
than five." Besides, she says that students of non-native
instructors "get
the insight of what it's really like to live in Italy
from someone who's
also lived in America."
Adds Willinger, the author of books including Red, White
& Greens: The
Italian Way with Vegetables (Perennial Currents, $15):
"I don't want to
teach you something once in a lifetime [that you use]
if you have a party.
I want to teach you to make food that will be part of
your everyday life."
That's why when teaching basic appetizers in her small
hands-on classes,
she drizzles the finest Modena balsamic vinegar over
shavings of
Parmigiano-Reggiano, and why when toasting fettunta,
or slices of crusty
bread rubbed with garlic cloves, she tops it with the
best Sicilian sea
salt and Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil. And it's why
her students don't sip
mere vino da tavola, or table wine, with their freshly
prepared meals, but
with Brunello di Montalcino and the finest Chianti Classico.
"I say to
people, 'Good wine, bad wine -- the same number of calories.'
"I want this day to be a treat, but I want it to change
your life," says
Willinger, whose daylong courses feature simple but sublimely
prepared
dishes like spaghetti with meat sauce and tonno con fagioli,
or tuna with
beans. "You're not spending all your time fussing around
with food. You
learn what a great olive oil is, what a great wine is,
what great chocolate
tastes like. Every single thing you put in your mouth
in this class should
be a lesson.
"If all you know is Kmart clothes and somebody takes you
into Armani, your
mind is blown. That's what I want this meal to be like.
I want people to
understand there is really a big difference" in the quality
of ingredients
used.
Fluent both in the Italian language and cooking techniques,
these
instructors also know what dishes and ingredients translate
best in their
native land. They know their ways around a fruit and
vegetable market as
well as an Italian matron, prepare dishes so authentically
they even get
asked to teach Italians how to cook, and have relationships
with butchers,
bakers and trattoria owners that extend little extra
courtesies to the
American students they bring with them.
Take Divina Cucina's Judy Witts Francini, for example.
When she and her
students stroll through Florence's massive Mercato Centrale
in search of
fresh vegetables, cheeses and meats for that afternoon's
prepared lunch,
she's the toast of the place. At the Perini stand, she
and her groups get
treated to generous platters of assorted antipasti. At
Conti, a gourmet
stand that packs and ships goods worldwide, her guests
sample fine olive
oils and balsamic vinegars while learning from the family
matriarchs how
they're produced.
And at Baroni -- which features prosciutto, fine cheeses
and an extensive
spread of condiments -- the group nibbles smooth pecorino
samples dipped
into a sweet-and-spicy mostarda created by Francini herself.
Stops at the
nearby Casa del Vino for complimentary pre-lunch glasses
of Prosecco and at
a nearby pasticceria follow, ensuring Francini's guests
have all the fresh
ingredients needed for their lesson and lunch, both held
in her cozy
Florentine apartment that's just steps from the Mercato.
Francini has been incorporating market tours into her
cooking classes since
1998. And it's often here, she says, that students develop
lifelong love
for Italian food and culture. "I run into ex-students
in the market all the
time who stock up their [American home] pantries and
make friends with the
people. I have people who come back every year and do
brush-up courses.
They come with me to see what's new at the market. People
are really
learning to source out the ingredients -- tasting real
balsamic vinegar and
not the cheap stuff."
Some Divina Cucina students rent apartments and villas
in Tuscany, inviting
Francini to teach large classes during their stays. Like
any true Italian
chef, Francini follows the seasons when it comes to cooking,
and her
classes do the same. For each day's lesson and lunch,
"We're going to cook
what we find. I really try to stress seasons, because
[the food] is cheaper
and tastes better." So she plays up dishes with white
truffles each
November, hosts her own version of a wine festival in
September, and takes
students to sample newly pressed olive oil during the
harvest each
November.
But at Jeff Thickman's home in the hills surrounding Florence,
groups of up
to 14 learn to prepare regional Italian cuisine from
the chef who trained
at the famed Cordon Bleu cooking school. As down-to-earth
and unassuming as
they come, Thickman not only serves as the personal chef
of Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino conductor Zubin Mehta and his wife during
their time in
Florence, but he also has cooked for Florentine bluebloods
including the
wine-famous Frescobaldis and fashionable Puccis. A voracious
reader and
history buff -- he has a seemingly endless collection
of cookbooks on
shelves that wrap around his kitchen -- he'll even recreate
dishes from the
Renaissance Medici era with a modern twist.
About 80 percent of his students are American, and nearly
all find him
through word of mouth. While private catering is his
main business -- and
has been since he started the service back in 1985 --
Thickman has been
sharing his culinary expertise with students for the
past four years. Many
of the dishes he includes in classes are ones "that the
busy husband or
wife or single person can make in advance that are simple,
but still
impressive enough from a party," such as lightning-fast
pasta sauces that
are still made from scratch. "What I've loved about teaching
at home,"
Thickman says, "is that if somebody mentions a product
they've tried, I can
go into my cupboard or refrigerator, pull it out and
talk about it."
And Thickman's big on helping his guests learn and understand
the nuances
of Italian culinary etiquette -- and it's something he's
learned much about
over the decades by catering for upper-class Italian
families and helping
local restaurants plan their menus and educate their
chefs. He'll explain
why ordering a cappuccino at night is a cultural no-no
(most Italians have
a thing about drinking milk late in the day), as is using
both a spoon and
fork to twirl pasta. "They get to be a part of the culture
-- as much as
they can in the short time they're here," he says.
Students may not be able to buy reasonably priced mozzarella
di bufala at
their local U.S. supermarkets, Francini says, but they
can add Italian
shopping and cooking customs into their American lives.
"Take that step
away from Velveeta," she says. "Expand your palates and
support the local
farmers markets and you'll find what's in season. Start
building up your
relationships with your purveyors. Ask about that cut
of meat. Talk to
people a little bit, which people tend not to do much
anymore."
Not only that, but Francini, Willinger and Thickman and
other American
expatriate chefs figure that by example, they're living
testaments to the
joys of slower-paced Italian life. They're all about
encouraging folks to
savor mealtime, to spend time talking with family and
friends without
always glancing at the clock. (In fact, Francini is a
member of the
Italy-spawned Slow Food movement.) They stress that less
is in fact more
when it comes to Tuscan cooking, and that you don't need
a hodgepodge of
herbs and spices to flavor food. And these born-again
Italians are all
passionate about using food as a bridge between cultures.
It's fitting that earlier this year, the Italy-based San
Pellegrino and
Acqua Panna water brands named Willinger an "ambassador
of Italian cuisine
in the world." And to think it all started more than
three decades ago
because of this then-single American mom's determination
to learn to cook
as the Italians do. "If you are a person who had to learn
all those
answers," she says, "you're in a good position to teach
them to someone
else."
Divina Cucina. Judy Witts Francini offers practical classes
and Florence
market tours. Prices: $375 for one-day class; $700 for
two days; $1,000 for
three days and $1,500 for five-day session. E-mail diva@divina
cucina.com;
www.divinacucina.com.
Faith Willinger. Willinger's daylong Everyday Simple Italian
Cooking
classes are held in her 18th century apartment. Prices:
$570 for market
tour, eight to 10 food courses and wine. Assistant Jennifer
Schwartz leads
Food Lovers tasting, sipping and sampling tours through
town. Price: $285
(includes trattoria lunch). Check Web site for discounts
and special
promotions on classes and tours. Call 39-055-233-7014
or visit
www.faithwillinger.com.
Jeff Thickman. This Wyoming native teaches daylong courses
to groups in his
hilltop home outside Florence. Prices: 140 euros (about
$170 at press time)
per person. Call 39-055-730-9064 or visit www.jeffthickman.com.
Cindy Harding Nannarelli. Native Californian Nannarelli
(who has lived in
Italy for 25 years) and her Florentine husband rent restored
furnished
flats in countryside towns of Marcialla and Barberino
d'Elsa to tourists.
Harding teaches easily translatable Tuscan techniques
to guests. Prices: 65
euros (about $80) for 3-1/2-hour class; 18 to 23 euros
(between $22-$28)
for dine-only guests. Call 39-055-051-5510 or e-mail
hardingcindy@tin.it.
Food Artisans. Cookbook author Pamela Sheldon Johns teaches
classes at her
15-acre countryside estate near Montepulciano. Students
stay in private
apartments on the estate. Prices: 2,650 euros (about
$3,212) for weeklong
Tuscany course, double room, lessons and ground transportation
(other
regions priced differently). 175 euros (about $212) for
one-day workshop,
lunch and wine. Leave voice messages at (805) 963-7289
or call
39-0578-798-370 or visit www.foodartisans.com.
Maureen Jenkins