Festival of Old Tastes

My host family owns a farm in the country where they have various animals (sheep, cows, horses, and chickens), grow vegetables, and produce olive oil and cheese. (On a side note, my host family would say "we're going to campagna this weekend", or "Fabrizio will be in campagna for a few days", and I always thought "campagna" was the name of the nearby town or the name of the region - like how someone might say "the Kootenays" or "the Okanagan". Nope, "campagna" means "country" or "countryside", the way someone would say "the country house" or "the farm is in the country".) The house in the country is very rustic, but I really like it. It's super quiet, and it's good to get away from tv and internet for a while.

On Saturday night we went into town to the "Festival of Old Tastes". It reminded me of Rossland during the sidewalk sale or Golden City Days. Everyone knows each other, and the street is filled with people eating and drinking, and looking at what was for sale. There are the usual street vendors selling scarves, belts and jewellery, but there were also people selling artisan biscotti, liquor, olives, oil, and sausages. The festival is about celebrating the old ways of doing things - rasing and growing organically, producing olive oil and cheese with the traditional techniques, cooking and baking with less refined ingredients. I got to taste some really delicious cookies, several kinds of olives, and though not an ancient food, crepes with Nutella. I also met many people, including the mayor (possibly). I enjoyed learning more about the region and its livelyhood - combining my loves of food and history.

Olives

Sausages