Today began with a lecture by Sabrina about the change from Extensive to Intensive Agriculture - a description of the lecture is below this post. After a brief break and some time to walk around the garden, we met outside for the second part of the morning: a discussion of commodities in the food world. After some negotiation, we decided to switch the format of the hour from lecture to research: we were to research the history and factors contained within the commodities of coffee and tomatoes. We fell to it: I learned considerably more about tomato companies then I had ever expected to. Hint: don't buy tomatoes in winter - they promote modern-day slavery in Florida. Aren't you glad you know that? (Whole Foods tomatoes and hydroponics are fine).
Next up was the most anticipated part of the afternoon: lunch.
We began with risotto with wild mushrooms, which Enzo had gathered in the woods yesterday. Talk about local food. This was great: nice, slightly chewy rice with a pungent fungi flavor and a bit of cheese and milk.
Next was the classic dish of prosciutto and melon: really nice on a hot day! The melons were divine - I had forgotten how superior Italian melons are. They're worlds away from the pathetic things that pass for melons in American supermarkets. The prosciutto and the ham were also delicious - especially good splashed with white balsamic vinegar.
After lunch, we met with Saviana, a biologist, geneticist, and expert in permaculture. Permaculture is a system of agriculture that attempts to mimic systems found in the natural world. Begun by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, permaculture seeks to develop methods of growing food that are sustainable and permanant, decreasing humanities reliance on industrial methods of food production and distribution.
Saviana noted that permaculture is "nothing new" - instead it is a return "back to basics" from our current "technoculture". Permaculture developed in Australia because Australia has essentially no topsoil: it is incredibly old and eroded and thus very difficult to farm in. (This is in opposition to the land in Bolsena, which is volcanic and extremely fertile). Mollison and Holmgren saw that whites in Australia had reduced the original forest to 4% of its original coverage in a mere two centuries. They also found that in 30 years of conventional agriculture- such as plowing the land, and covering it with fertilizer/loam - that the land had been decimated and had caused considerable salt build up. This led to erosion and desertification - not a sustainable method of food production. As it's very hard to recreate soil when it has been depleted, the Australians decided to look to other cultures for methods of sustainable agriculture.
Saviana said that monoculture (growing one thing only) outputs 1 calorie for every 10 calories put into it, whereas in natural land - like forest and prairie - you can put in 0.8 calories and get one in return. By this logic, monoculture is a losing strategy: it may generate money for one person but will cause loss for the general community. Permaculture, in turn, shows how to create a system that will work in accordance with nature laws and change the environment in the most positive way possible.
Then, Saviana discussed "wild food". First, it's rather hard to define what is wild and not wild - we agreed that it encompassed foraging, survival techniques, and instincts. Wild food, then, is food that is grown without the input of humans, and does not necessarily mean "indigenous". It does mean food that has retained the minerals and other good stuff present in unplowed, plain old earth.
Next we discussed the Etruscans, the original inhabitants of Bolsena and the Italian peninsula prior to the arrival of the Romans. Etruscan women enjoyed unusual freedom in their society, in direct contrast to the confined women of Greece and Rome. Etruscans probably came to Italy from Mesopotomia, and their right to left alphabet is similar to that of the Greeks. Their religion was polytheistic and contained quite a few earth goddess figures.
Etruscans did not build permanent villages: their dwellings were made of wood, or carved into existing stone. Surviving Etruscan temples are carved out of rock or natural hollows as well. Etruscans lived close to the earth and followed a natural system of existence, relying primarily on hunting and gathering for their food needs. (Permaculture states that activities against the laws of nature, physics, or thermodynamics are inherently bad).
Next we talked about the nature of life: nature inherently is anti-entropic and resistant to generating waste. Life cannot stop entropy or the tendency towards disorder, but as a system, it can resist it. In our modern culture, we often rely on dehydrated or "dead" foods - which happen to be nowhere near as good for us as "live" and "wet" foods. For this reason, fermented foods (kimchi and pickles) are extremely healthy. Spices such as turmeric and cumin are also very good for human health.
Etruscans also ate seasonal food (didn't have much way in the way of greenhouse tomatoes or kiwis). Seasonal food is good for us: we evolved to prefer certain foods at certain times of year, dependent on our region and the weather we experienced. Therefore, chilis are common in super hot climates (promoting sweating), and meat and fermented foods are excellent in winter, when we need more fats and carbohydrates to keep ourselves warm.
Next, we walked around the Convent's garden, where Saviana identified local plants that were good to eat. In her opinion, it is more important to learn the poisonous plants then to learn all the tasty ones - it's easier just to know what to avoid. We identified purslane, rosemary, wild artichoke, wild fennel, wild carrot, quinoa, amaranth, and other familiar plants growing in the garden - and tasted many of them. (I'd like to saute quite a few of the more unusual greens with some garlic and olive oil and see how they end up).
After the walk, we headed toward her friend's permaculture garden, conveniently located extremely close to the restaurant we visited last night. After another nerve-wracking ride up some typical steep Italian roads we arrived at the house - which had a lovely view of the lake below it. The garden certainly looked wild: apparently a mature permaculture garden is a self-sustaining system, and once it gets going, the owners and gardeners don't need to do much to keep it active. I was particularly taken with a patch of wild daikon: I'd never seen it before.
Here's a bunch of photos of the permaculture garden:
The view from the house was great!
There were lots of lovely olive trees leading down to the water.
Wild daikon.
Amanda poses with unidentified plant.
We had some nice Japanese green tea. Apparently Saviana's friend in town owns a bookstore that dishes out the good stuff....
The academic day done, some of us headed into town for a stroll, taking advantage of the gorgeous and just-cool enough weather. Around 7:00 in Italian towns, everyone congregates around coffee houses and gelato parlors to chat, catch up, and usher in the evening. Not a bad tradition.
For dinner, Enzo started us off with a nice garbanzo bean soup, with parmesan and rosemary harvested from the garden. Another great rustic dish - I liked the earthy flavor of the garbanzos in conjunction with the pleasant flavor of the rosemary.
The main course was a weinerschnitzel like filet of ground veal with spinach (I think he called it "milanesa") lightly fried and served with lemon and a salad. This was delicious: just fried-enough and perfectly tender, with added freshness from the spinach. They've also got lovely tomatoes around here!
Another day done, we retreated to our rooms to shower, as well as prepare for the movie. There's debate about whether Fried Green Tomatoes or Harry Potter will win. Hmm.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I'm hoping someone will make a blog post on Harry Potter's references to food in the near future! We had a very animated discussion about that topic today at lunch. It's surprising how in-depth a food analysis of Harry Potter can get. House elves are much more complex then they may initially appear.....
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