Cheese cheese and more cheese

The cheese is aged anywhere from 1 to 6 years and each has a unique flavor.

Earthquake in 2012

In 2012 the first eathquake to hit the area in 500 years destroyed the dairy production area and millions of euros worth of cheese within a 5 minute time period.  It took 10 months to rebuild and start producing cheese again resulting in major economic loss for the area.

Castle Torrechiara

Today we visited Castle Torrechiara, built in the 15th century.

Making cheese

All the cheese is hand made
And labor intensive,

60 % of the parmesan cheese sold in america is not truly parmesan cheese, in order to be considered real it must have the stamped seal of authenticity

The process of making cheese

Today we toured 4Madonne to learn all about the process of making parmesan cheese.

Went on food tasting tour of traditional cicchetto

Wonderful way to taste and understand traditional regional dishes, learning background and stories of how dishes evolved.  A fun suprise, another member of the tour was a teacher from L.A., it was great , we talked about the similarities and differences teaching in different parts of USA, and our tour guide talked about education in Venice. 

Baccala

One of Venice notable dish is called Baccala Mantecata which is softened, dried, salted Baltic codfish that is prepared in olive oil, garlic, parsley and creamed in a blender.

Venice

First stop on this culinary journey is Venice. Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. Venice consists of 117 bodies of land connected by more than 400 bridges over its 150 canals.  I will be observing ways in which food brings together people, shapes a country, culture and this region.

VENICE

Dining alfresco

My first impressions of food in Venice

From the moment of arrival it was evident that food is an intricate part  of the Venice culture.  Celebrating  food is a way of life. 

Water taxi

After geting to the  airport in Italy,  we the boarded a water taxi to get to  Venice.

Waiting for the flight to Venice

Wild ride to the airport. So much traffc. A huge thank you to Connie and Peter - Neighbors, friends and fellow teachers. Thanks for enduring the bumper to bumper traffic. 

Ciao

Bags are packed, arrangements have been made, research has been done, and excitement is building.  Wednesday is the big day.  I am so thankful to the Fund For Teachers for providing me with this learning experience grant!  I am eager to be sharing this adventure with all of you.  I admit I have not blogged much in the past, so not only will I be learning about the food and culture of different regions of Italy, I will be learning about blogging from a foreign country.  I will warn you now, as I have been warned, there will be places and periods of time in which I will not have proper access to technology, which may result in gaps in my blog entries.  I will do my best to check in as often as possible.