According to their program’s newsletter, some students enrolled in a special gastronomic curriculum in Italy claim it is still possible to suffer bouts of “food fatigue” there, unlikely as it sounds.
Mind you, second year students in this Italian rooted program often have a chance to further expand their food horizons by traveling to additional places around the world. For example, they might engage in study trips to Brazil, Canada, Japan, and South Africa, that allow them to explore the local gastronomy and culture wherever they go. The curriculum, including additional countries visited, is always subject to change. (Graphic of citrus fruits from Naples, Italy, courtesy of Carol & Mike P, fellow cruise lovers).
The idea of the program is to produce a new breed of gastronomes. Nonetheless, it seems that sometimes food fatigue can apparently set in for even the the most devoted die-hard “foodies” out there.
After all, life is about perception, and we have to accept that maybe some of those students have become jaded while living in and going to school in such a food-focused world.
Right now it is summertime in Italy, and tomatoes and other fresh fruits and vegetables are ripening all over, so hopefully the gastronomes are once again feeling more inspired & renewed in their gastronomic journeys.
To try to help those students feeling in a “food rut” to get out of their comfort zone and re-experience all Italy has to offer, a fruit and vegetable delivery service is actually bringing nature’s harvested fresh bounty right to where the students are.
Students enrolled in the gastronomy science program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (aka UNISG) in Pollenzo, Piedmont, Italy, are able to order boxes of produce to be delivered into town from a fruit and vegetable service, much like the CSA shares are handled with farmers in the US. We learned about this from a blog site for the program. There are blog entries going back to 2009, with a number of pictures as you go deeper into the blog’s layers–we found a fascinating discussion of prosciutto (aka dry cured Parma ham) in there, by the way.
The fruit and vegetable service is called Grupo d’Acquisto Solidale aka GAS, a collaboration between the Slow Food convivium at the University (which focuses on aesthetics, quality, and sustainability), students, and the Piedi per Terra Association.
GAS has the produce available once or twice weekly, including on Monday evenings between 6-8 PM, for both consumers at the university and citizens from Bra and the region.
GAS works with small group of some 9 organic and/or local producers delivering more seasonal produce through this collaboration.
Like a CSA in the US, orders are placed in advance, in this instance by phone or online, however a distinct advantage of the GAS is that orders are by the week and not by an entire growing season as typically CSA shares are in the USA.
The GAS has a website and an ordering page. The GAS is also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GAS.La.Credenza
We thought it might be fun to share an inkling of the current list of offerings, always subject to Mother Nature’s whims, when it comes to actual availability.
Thinking about some recent posts we’ve had on this blog site, how many food sources of anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant substances in the list below can you identify?
– blond onions (by the kilogram)
– catalonia (by the kilogram)
– chard (by the kilogram)
– fresh garlic (bunch of 5 garlic heads)
– horseradish
– laurel (sold in bunches)
– onions (sold in bunches)
– parsley (sold in 80-100 g bunches)
– rosemary (sold in 25 g bunches)
– savage (sold in 25 g bunches)
– spinach (by the kilogram)
– sweet salad (by the kilogram)
FRUITS
– fresh hazelnuts (by the kilogram)
– toasted hazelnuts (200 g vacuum packaging)
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FROM OTHER ORGANIC PRODUCERS
– Asparagus from Sicilia(450 – 500 g bunches, sold by the kilogram)
– carrots from Sicilia (sold by the kilogram)
– cauliflower (sold by the kilogram)
– chickpeas aka garbanzo beans (sold by the kilogram)
– dried borlotti beans (sold by the kilogram)
– fennel (sold by the kilogram)
– garlic (by the kilogram)
– green zucchini from Sicilia (sold by the kilogram)
– Golden Apple Busca (sold by the kilogram)
– Gold Rush Apple Bibiana (sold by the kilogram)
– kiwi from Busca (sold by the kilogram)
– leeks (sold by the kilogram)
– lemons from Sicilia (sold by the kilogram)
– lentils (sold by the kilogram)
– new potatoes (sold by the kilogram)
– Navel oranges from Sicilia (by the kilogram)
– Nuts (sold by the kilogram)
– small asparagus (500 g bunches)
– strawberries from Basilicata Az. Agr. Taverna cestini 500 g (sold by the kilogram)
– peas (sold by the kilogram)
– potatoes Biovalgrana (sold by the kilogram)
– tomatoes from Sicilia (sold by the kilogram)
We hope the above list might help inspire some diversity in your own produce and other grocery shopping this summer.
If possible, whatever you do, don’t forget the tomatoes. 😉