Like everyone who traveled to get to the event in Bra, Italy, I came with an empty bag, which was stuffed with heavy blocks of cheese when I left
Last week, while the rest of the food world was speculating over who should replace the great Sam Sifton as he ascends inexorably to editor-ship of the New York Times, the trajectory I've long considered appropriate for former food critics (I've got my own favorite for his successor, but I'm hoping, not telling), I was on a semi-annual gig teaching writing at Slow Food's University of Gastronomic Science's master's program. I also got to stay on for two days to sample the endless varieties of cheese at Slow Food's event called, simply, Cheese, which for four days every two years turns the center of its founding city, Bra, into a day-and-night festival that brings back not just former university students but the world's big-cheese cheeses (surely I'm the first to think of that). If you're anywhere near Turin, Italy, today, head over! The revelry went on past midnight during the two days I got to be there. Writing and cheese, naturally, were on my mind -- and in my bags coming home.
Seeing so many talented students gathered at the same time reminded me that I've wanted to point out for a while now that some of the Life Channel's most interesting pieces have come from graduates -- including just last week Pascale Brevet's provocative piece applying the principles of Slow Food to fashion (she long worked in the fashion business -- like many students, she's a career-changer) and Jesse Dart's description of the challenges facing young farmers in Italy who haven't inherited land, which is unaffordable, but who want to in their parents' eyes throw away their educations by raising food. They face many of the same problems that confront young farmers in this country, but in Italy, surprisingly, the food movement is young and undeveloped compared with here, even if the food traditions remain much stronger and clearer than ours. And a few weeks ago we had Daisy Freund on how animal welfare can result in measurably better pork and, of course, jamon and prosciutto (did you know about pale soft exudative, a consequence of abuse? Read her piece). She's now managing a restaurant in Rwanda staffed entirely by orphans of the genocide, about which I hope she'll be sending us dispatches. Students do interesting things, before and after they sign up for the master's year (much of which is spent traveling).