You know these moments when you find an unexpected treasure? An antique gold rimmed Rosenthal plate for a buck in the garage sale, for instance. I had this sensation when I stumbled across Michael Ableman's book "Field of Plenty" in a used bookstore some time ago. It is an enchanting set of stories about real farmers across the US, making real food and creating great products that make consumers like you and me happy. Michael, an old school farmer himself, sets out one summer in an old camper to see for himself if there are other likeminded, quality driven farmers that strive for natural products. And he writes about these encounters with the love only a farmer can have for the land and the products it bears. The stories are matched with great pictures and recipes from the farmers his trip has brought him to.

A must read for food believers! A feel good book that leaves you happy and hungry for the next farmers' market. And the best: I just checked on amazon.com and they are having a sale on this book! Enjoy the read!

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No, contrary to what you might think this is not another great recipe for Italian food (no need to be sad about that, will post some soon enough).... This is your guide to actually make food where it all begins: in the fields of a farm!

A great many people always look at me with this dreamy look, "oh, agricultre...I always wanted to work on a farm for a couple of weeks." So then, go, what are you still waiting for??? Just join this fabulous non profit organization named WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and before you know, you are picking peaches in South Africa, or harvesting rice in Indonesia, or making Cheese in Ireland and and and. Yes, you can come to Italy, too.

The trick is to become a memember of the national WWOOF organization of the country in which you want to work (for example the annual membership fee for Italy is 25 EUR). As soon as you have paid your membership, you will get a directory of all associated farms that swap room & board against your helping hands. And the best thing: as it is cultural exchange, all visa and insurance formalities are taken care of. Go to http://www.wwoof.org/ for more info!

And if you want to come to Italy, consider joining Cosimo in laying the groundwork for the new olive oil!! Read Matt's account on his time with at Cosimo's farm: http://www.mattartz.org/category/travel/page/2/

Last week was the week of the “Salone del Gusto” in Turin, in Italy. Organized by Slow Food as the showcase of artisan food, it was supposed to be a celebration of producers that handcraft traditional products, grow their food with care and are committed to keeping food traditions alive.

So, did the Salone del Gusto achieve this mission? I tend to give a negative answer. To me, the Salone del Gusto has lost its focus and I mourn the spirit with which it was run in the early days.

Slow Food certainly needs to be credited with the fact that it has created a huge PR machine that get’s the word on artisan food out there. A look at the long lines of people waiting to buy a ticket Sunday at 10.30am was the best proof – tickets that at a 20 Eur price point are everything but cheap – the same amount can buy you three tickets to the movies or a dinner in a Pizzeria, including an appetizer and a desert, just to give you an idea. It is a great achievement to get that many people curious about food and wanting to experience the Salone del Gusto.

Some of the exhibits that had been developed were splendid interactive and educational experiences. The region of Emilia-Romagna for example staged a show that communicated the value of such a basic staple as our daily bread. Three actors on stage five times a day, involving passers-by to get their hands “dirty” in flour and dough, explaining the process of bread baking, the properties of natural yeast and getting people to listen and smile. I am trying to convince technology to let me post the video for you to get an idea of the spirit that was buzzing around the stand, with everyone chanting “uno-due-tre, il pane lo faccio da me” (one-two-three, my bread I bake myself).

Certainly no doubt about the exhibits of the so called “Presidia” – these are groups of artisans collaborating in order to grow plants/raise animals threatened by extinction or to produce traditional foodstuff whose recipes would otherwise be forgotten. The underlying philosophy is that of “if you want to save it, eat it”. So Slow Food is promoting these foodstuff in Presidia, creating a demand and a market for these foods and hence incentivizing more artisans to join in the production. The Presidia presentation was a big celebration of local tastes and cultures: from Sicilian beans to French ham made of a black hog to vanilla from Mexico – producers were explaining their products, exhibiting their projects and discussing their food history and culture with the visitors. It was all that Slow Food is.

Besides these highlights, the Salone was one big market where all sorts of food producers had paid a lot of money to sell their products to the masses. And while it is absolutely legitimate to give a small butcher shop with exceptional products the chance to present his mastery in the “street of the butchers”, it is absolutely not acceptable that industrial producers are allowed into the event, exhibiting monster-sized prosciutto vacuum packed in shiny and colourfully branded aluminium wraps. That is NOT Slow Food. It is prostitution. As are the collaborations with the big industrial food brands such as Lavazza Café. They are one of the main sponsors of the Salone del Gusto, so all other small coffee roasters are banned from being present. And that in a country that has such a rich variety of coffee tastes and such a rich history of brewing this delicious hot, strong and black drink.

As far as I see it, Slow Food has found a cash cow and they are milking it to finance their other activities, such as the Terra Madre convention that took place in parallel to the Salone and gave farmers and chefs and other professional food people from all over the world a chance to discuss the future of sustainable food production. Which is a worthy cause and which I support with all my heart. But the fact remains, that the Salone has lost its soul and this is a pity, cause Slow Food risks to loose its position as “artisan food champion” and legitimate lobby for artisan food producers and consumers! Slow Food will certainly need to start a discussion on how to move ahead and to decide its mission statement. I, as a long time follower of Slow Food, have my doubts about where we are going with this.

On a recent trip to Florence I was drawn into the local outlet of an international fast food chain, which is conveniently situated within the train station. Being the sole destination for tourists that do not trust Italian food (unfortunately there are still a lot of them, but that will be the topic for another post), I am sure it is the most successful restaurant in the whole city - economically speaking.

Curiosity guided me through the doors: I wanted to eat a Hamburger. I wanted to see how long it would take me to eat 400 cows. Or the meat of 400 cows. A recent statistic I read in one of the many food magazines that are sent to me on a weekly basis confirmed that the average meat patty contains the meat of 400 cows. I found that a) very impressive and b) very frightening. I was even more frightened at the sight of this thin burger patty in front of me, which weighted a maximum of 200 grams. I tried to map out a pattern of 400 squares on its surface, but I quickly gave up. 400 cows for 200 grams of meat. That is half a gram per cow!

Shaking my head, I wondered where our food production has gone to.

But then the confusion set in. When do we know that we have crossed the line towards industrial food production? Let me give you an example: to produce our Sangiovese wine, we harvest two hectares. A total of 10,000 vines, which carry about 12,000 kg grapes, which in turn can be transformed into 9,600 bottles of wine. In realty, to produce a single bottle of wine, we would just need 8 vines, just as one cow would have been plenty for a beef patty. Of course, this is an extreme example, but is there a difference between 12,000kg of grapes going in to a bottle of wine and 400 cows going into a meat patty?

I guess the question at hand is: were those 400 happy cows? Cows that were raised in the open, had the chance to munch on some grass and run around and play, when they felt like running or playing? Did they have someone that gave them a name? Or were they raised in the dark, chained to concrete floor and fed with hormones to grow fat in the right places?

In order to make the right decision on what food products we buy, which ones we choose to nourish not only our body, but also our soul, we need to know where our food comes from. Who is raising the cattle, growing the vines and milling the grain. We need to be sure that our alimentation is in the hands of proud craftsmen that work with integrity. The famer that raises healthy cattle in an healthy environment, a butcher that buys his meat from a trusted farmer. Then, and only then, 400 cows in a burger patty might be acceptable.