EUROPEAN AMERICAN ROOTS

BACK TO BUCKWHEAT CULTURE TO CELEBRATE SOUTH TYROLEAN AND TRENTINO’S GLUTENFREE WINTER HOLIDAYS

Elisabetta 4 Comments

Traveling around the world is an interesting and exciting experience. Returning to one's roots and enjoying familiar foods is as joyful as experiencing a new voyage adventure. Tasting old heritage foods can be for some of us like winning a free ticket to a super screen movie. I grew up around a South Tyrolean-Trentino family … Continue reading BACK TO BUCKWHEAT CULTURE TO CELEBRATE SOUTH TYROLEAN AND TRENTINO’S GLUTENFREE WINTER HOLIDAYS

HONORING THOSE ANCIENT CARNIVAL TRADITIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL SEASONAL FOODS AND AMERICAN BEEF

Elisabetta 1 Comment

Hard to say when the tradition of Carnival began. The origins of the festival also known as Mardi Gras or Shrovetide are truly lost in time. According to the Italian cultural anthropologist Giovanni Kezich, the story of the Carnival season dates back to pagan times. Today it is a season that includes Shrove Sunday, Shrove … Continue reading HONORING THOSE ANCIENT CARNIVAL TRADITIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL SEASONAL FOODS AND AMERICAN BEEF

SOUTH TYROLEAN KRAMPUS AND NIKOLAUS – ZELTEN AND ORANGE PUNCH

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Once every winter, several townships and villages in the Autonomous Region of South Tyrol and Trentino celebrate the ancient winter tradition of Nikolaus and Krampus. The celebration predates the Council of Trento (1545-1563) and probably the very early Crusades when, after 1095 A.D., Christians and Muslims fought over the Holy Land and the Spice Trade. … Continue reading SOUTH TYROLEAN KRAMPUS AND NIKOLAUS – ZELTEN AND ORANGE PUNCH

SPANISH ANDALUSIA: TO EACH ITS OWN – Aguadulce, Roquetas de Mar, Seville and the Barrio and Mercado de Triana

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If you dream of white beaches and warm weather, book yourself into a place in Aguadulce. There enjoy good tostadas, tapas, gaspachos, sangrias, paella, or migas and bacalao frito. Relax on lounge chairs covered by straw sun umbrellas. Then, stroll through alleys flanked by palm trees to the Ciringuito beach cabanas. In one of them, … Continue reading SPANISH ANDALUSIA: TO EACH ITS OWN – Aguadulce, Roquetas de Mar, Seville and the Barrio and Mercado de Triana

SOUTH TYROLEAN “TOERGELLEN” AT THE GRIESSERHOF IN VHARN, NORTHERN ITALY

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"Toergellen" in the Northern Italian Autonomous Region of South Tyrol is an ancient tradition as wine itself. For locals, "Toergellen" is almost a must-be-done-event during the fall months of October and November. They take family members, friends, neighbors and guests and walk throughout the Alpine landscape. You should try it. Stop and look at the … Continue reading SOUTH TYROLEAN “TOERGELLEN” AT THE GRIESSERHOF IN VHARN, NORTHERN ITALY

Calabrian Stocco: From Norsemen Merchandise to Southern Italian Cuisine

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If you agree with me that: "We Are What We Eat..." (D.R. Gabaccia, 2000, Harvard University Press), who should we believe are those modern Calabrian Aspromonte "stocco" eaters who, after importing today the dried cod from the land of the Norsemen, soak it in fresh Aspromonte mountain spring water, sell it, distribute it, and prepare … Continue reading Calabrian Stocco: From Norsemen Merchandise to Southern Italian Cuisine

ON WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN AND FOOD… SALZBURG, VIENNA, AND NORTHERN ITALIAN ROVERETO

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Settimana Mozartiana in Rovereto

While the international music world celebrates, especially in Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday, there is the small northern Italian town of Rovereto, which has not forgotten another famous 18th century composer prodigy who visited three times the township: the Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27th,  1756, fourteen years before … Continue reading ON WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN AND FOOD… SALZBURG, VIENNA, AND NORTHERN ITALIAN ROVERETO

LA CIOCCOLATA DEI MISSIONARI – Bestiame, frumento, e l’eredita’ di Padre Kino nel Messico settentrionale e in Arizona

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LA CIOCCOLATA DEI MISSIONARI  - Bestiame, Frumento, e l'eredita' di Padre Kino nel Messico settentrionale e in Arizona - Storia e Ricette [Cover price Euros 22] This book authored by Elisabetta and published by Italian publisher Osiride features the passionate story of the Northern Italian missionary Padre Kino (Eusebio Chini) who between 1681 and 1711 … Continue reading LA CIOCCOLATA DEI MISSIONARI – Bestiame, frumento, e l’eredita’ di Padre Kino nel Messico settentrionale e in Arizona

FERRARA – CITY OF DUKES, DUCHESSES, COOKS, FOOD, CULTURE AND PALIO

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Ferrara, once political center of the noble Este family, where Lucrezia Borgia daughter of Pope Alexander VI lived and was wife, mother and beloved duchess, has several places where to learn more about Northern Italian history and Italian regional cuisine. The city was also once the culinary test kitchen of Messisbugo, one of the most prominent … Continue reading FERRARA – CITY OF DUKES, DUCHESSES, COOKS, FOOD, CULTURE AND PALIO

HALLOWEEN’S PUMPKINS, ZOMBIES, OSS DE MORT AND AN AMERICAN THANKSGIVING IN ITALY

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Large, medium, small, carved or sculptured, Halloween pumpkins have reached the Italian peninsula! "It's for fun..." say young Italians who like to dress up like witches, vampires, and zombies... On this I have often wondered how many of those young Italians actually realize that when they dress up as scary characters, ride the local Halloween … Continue reading HALLOWEEN’S PUMPKINS, ZOMBIES, OSS DE MORT AND AN AMERICAN THANKSGIVING IN ITALY