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This is a letter Daniel’s mother (in
Jeffersonville, Georgia) received, along
with a copy of
Essentials of Classic
Italian Cooking, from her nephew
(in San Francisco, California) when she
returned from Italy with us last Summer. It
captures the essence of so much of what I
think Italy, the people, the food and the
culture are about, and the ethereal effect
they seem to have on the traveler. When I
hear someone say, “Italy is the most
beautiful country I’ve ever been to,” I
understand they’re not speaking necessarily
of a visual experience. Here in Jack, Jr.’s
story all of the elements intersect, like
the center of one of those many small towns
he drove through. The food: an afternoon’s
destination set in place by a search for a
plate of risotto. The topography: it is
always important in Italy where you are and
why people often say, “What part were you
in?” It usually determines, as in Jack’s
story, what you’ll eat! The people: this
part of Jack’s story thrilled me, because it
is quintessentially Italian, that a
conversation about food could spark a drive
through the Italian and Swiss Alps, and that
the afternoon was big enough and his host
thought it worthwhile enough, to lay all
else aside and pile into a Fiat in search of
“some rice”. And it was worth it, as some
27 years later, via Ivrea to San Francisco
to Jeffersonville to Sulmona to Macon, we’re
still talking about an afternoon in Italy.
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Photo: Beau
Cabell
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RISOTTO
p. 248:
Risotto with Asparagus
I’m crazy
about Risotto but it can be a lot of
work. My friend Maria, who is from
Barcelona, Spain, cooks it the old
fashioned way, as described in the
book. I didn’t know anything about
Risotto until I was in Ivrea, Italy
around 1984 on business for Olivetti
Computers. My business associates were
quizzing me about the various Italian
foods I was familiar with…not many, at
that point in my life! When they
discovered I had never eaten Risotto, a
very Northern Italian dish, they
insisted that we take my rented Fiat on
an early evening drive into the Italian
Alps where a famous Risotto restaurant
was. It was supposed to be nearly a
full moon, so the views of the snowy
mountains would be spectacular. So
about 45 minutes later I was riding up
this very narrow road to some village
perched along the mountainside. We
drove through several small villages and
the road we were on went right through
the middle of these towns. When we
finally arrived at the right place, I
parked the car and we walked to this
building with no signs or indication
whatsoever that it was a restaurant.
They knocked on the door and a woman
looked through the peep-hole and
announced that they are full for the
night. After a long-winded exchange, in
Italian of course, my friends convinced
her to let us eat in the bar. Well, we
entered and the bar seats were the best
seats in the house. They did not face a
bar at all, but instead a huge panoramic
window onto the Swiss Alps! It was
almost dark, but the moon had already
risen and was shining light all around.
So my friends explained to the cook that
I had never eaten Risotto before and to
make me something special. Well they
did indeed. They brought me three types
in separate bowls. It was good. After
dinner, we drove further up the mountain
to a view point where we could see the
Matterhorn. I don’t think it would have
been more beautiful in the daytime, than
it was in the moonlight. I will always
remember that evening and my first taste
of Risotto. I started off that evening
thinking, “We’re driving 30 miles into
the mountains to eat some rice!”
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