Under the Tuscan...Haze?


     What do breweries, basil, and hot springs all have in common? In Tuscany, they're all heated by geothermic energy. While wandering its piney hills, the enchanting smell of spoiled eggs fills the air as clouds of stinky gas plume into the horizon. Truly, a picture book setting. Even though the trip was permanently marked with the scent of sulfur, the sublime landscape made up for it. We traveled to bakeries, olive oil mills, wineries, and dairies; all the while, that luscious smell still lingered. I liked it. I liked that it made Tuscany seem less picturesque and more gritty. For a people that choose to omit salt from their breads, hundreds of years after the salt tax was lifted, it seems fitting that they can choose to look like a rose but smell like a ... donkey.

     Toscana

(Donkey dairy farm)

(No salt, ancient grains)

(Olive to oil, all in two days!)

(Pits, skins, and everything else gets reused) 

(Saffron bulbs)

(Geothermic basil)

     This has been a really busy week, and its going to get even busier with the opening of this year's Terra Madre convention. I plan on going for a few days to check things out, look for swag, and visit some shops in Turin. There will be posts about food again soon, but until then, enjoy: