TOURS & CRUISES | ITALY
A non-cook on a cook's tour in Italy
You might wonder why someone like me -- a person who finds cooking to be stressful at best, boring and repetitive at worst -- would sign up for a four-day hands-on culinary program in Tuscany with a celebrated Italian chef.
It's because I found a tour package through the International Kitchen in Chicago that gave my mother and her friend, Irene, the chance to do all that grating and chopping and peeling -- and gave me, as a non-cooking participant, a chance to enjoy the sights and sounds of Figline Valdarno, a medieval market town about 30 minutes southeast of Florence.
Each morning I was left to explore, have a massage or dally in the Renaissance garden at our lodging, Hotel Villa Casagrande, as my mother, Irene and three young American women were whisked away for a three- to four-hour cooking class at the family farmhouse of chef Claudio Piantini -- only a five-minute drive away, in the Tuscan hills.
There, in a setting complete with olive grove, vineyard, herb garden and -- what no Italian locale can be without -- a whole gang of cats, those food fans whipped up the likes of gnocchi in butter-sage sauce, butternut squash tortellini, porcini penne, wild boar and polenta, lasagna, biscotti and a custard dessert made with 14 eggs.
With his students sauteing this or flouring that, chef Claudio served as ringmaster -- overseeing it all, calling on them to stop and watch key steps, answering questions, dashing out to the garden for fresh garnish. As someone who is stressed by preparing a simple supper for two, I had to admire the guy, despite his seeming to have only a passing acquaintance with one of my own dietary staples, salad.
One of the participants, Nicole Johnson, a marketing sales manager working in Dublin, said she really liked his approach: "He demonstrated first and then got everyone involved, not in just one dish, but at least eight dishes a day."
What amazed her, as well as the others, was how simple the recipes were. "Just make sure you include a gallon of olive oil," she said.
Diner's heaven
Of course, it was really simple for me. Although I may not be drawn to cooking, I have no aversion to eating, and was delighted to be transported to the farm each day at lunchtime to observe the tail end of the class and help consume those carbohydrate-heavy and oil-drenched lunches.
"Flour, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, olive oil and garlic -- those are the food groups in Tuscany." That's how Julia Simmons, an entertainment marketing executive who was on a three-month travel sabbatical, put it in an Oct. 30 post to her travel blog, which includes a description of our experiences. (See jscdneurope.blogspot.com/2006_11 _01_jscdneurope_archive.html)
After lunch, one of the chef's assistants -- who also had cleanup duties -- drove us back to the hotel so we could "digest" before heading out later in the afternoon for sightseeing.
The excursion I loved most was a drive through the Chianti region, with a local guide who educated us on the finer points of the well-known wine from that area. As the perfect punctuation to those views of hills and vineyards on a warm fall afternoon, we arrived at the mountain town of Montefioralle just as the setting sun turned the sky to varying shades of tangerine.
On we then went to the medieval market town of Greve in Chianti, birthplace of Giovanni da Verrazzano, who is credited with discovering New York Harbor, hence the name for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. There the chefs-in-training visited the Falorni butcher shop, founded in 1729, while I took a spin around the piazza.
Of course, the town of Figline Valdarno, which I explored as the others did their cuisine thing, offers its own charm. I spent one entire morning shopping at the weekly market when the piazza fills up with vendors selling clothing, leather goods, fruits and vegetables, flowers, cheeses, meats and fish.
Dieter's nightmare
On two evenings, we dined at Torre Guelfa, chef Claudio's restaurant on that piazza. The first night, we enjoyed a steady stream of wines and cheeses, followed by steak and mushrooms; a custard and chocolate dessert; biscotti that we dipped in Prosecco, a sparkling white wine; and grappa, an after-dinner drink -- very high-octane.
As for how many calories each of us, on average, may have consumed in that period, the group-members' estimates range from 4,000 to 15,000 -- clearly too many to be walked off by afternoon sightseeing. And we all agreed that next time it would be wise to take slacks with elastic waistbands. Three weeks later, Nicole said she was still dieting.
At our farewell dinner, we could hardly believe we were about to go our separate ways -- my mother, Irene and I heading to Florence, Cinque Terre and, winding up our trip, Stresa on Lake Maggiore.
The person who summed up the experience best was Jessica Altieri, at the time a New York University journalism student studying for a semester in Florence, who had been coaching us in language and cultural etiquette.
Her favorite comment for almost everything those few days was just one word: "Perfecto."
Cooking courses:
Rates for three cooking classes at the farmhouse of chef Claudio Piantini, four nights at a hotel, four breakfasts and dinners, three lunches, afternoon tours, transfers to and from Florence: $2,035 to $2,175 a person, double occupancy, depending on high or low season. Non-cooking companions pay $175 less. Six-day programs also are offered. See theinternationalkitchen.com.
I found the International Kitchen by doing a Google search. Here's a sample of other sites for cooking vacations: foodvacation.com, culinaryvacationsinc.com, frenchcookingclasses.com, italiancookerycourse.com, cooking-vacations.com and epiculinary.com
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