Welcome to our fresh new Cabinet of Curiosities, the source for your monthly food digest and discovery of all things curious about the world of Italian food culture!
This year, alongside the newsletter, you’ll find short Morsels of stories and insights on Instagram. Both the social Morsels and the newsletter will follow a monthly theme that has the purpose of focusing our narration and uncovering even more in-depth stories.
April is the month in which tender green leaves break through the bleak and barren surface of winter, when the first fruits of the year appear and trees burst in blossom. In Italy, April marks the beginning of primizie season - all the tender fruits and greens, from peas to asparagus, wild nettles and garlic. This month’s Cabinet of Curiosities is dedicated to the art of foraging, an ancient practice, perhaps one of the most ancient, as it is a method of gathering food that humans have adopted since the beginning of our existence, and that has thankfully survived to our times.
Foraging for curious taste buds
A visual essay by Jacqueline Stofsick: storyteller with a love for baking and discovering what’s around the next corner
“Collecting wild herbs is a revolutionary act for our times because it allows us to reclaim our true wild nature,” Alessandro di Tizio explains, in the woods of San Michele, not far from Bra, Piedmont.
On the 25th of April a group of foraging aficionados gathered for a special outdoor workshop that invited curious taste buds and stirred souls. The six-hour course was led by Alessandro, an Alumni of the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo who is now Mirazur’s Forager and part of the Research & Development Laboratory of the three-Michelin star restaurant on the French Riviera.
We discovered how wild herbs are used both medicinally and in culinary practices, and the history and traditions around foraging. Following a walk in the woods to gather a great variety of ingredients, we headed back to Bra, to Casa B, to fry up the floral findings.
The scented elderflowers were dipped in batter and deep fried - the most widespread traditional practice for consuming them in Italy - and the nettles sautéed with garlic and olive oil, to be enjoyed as a side dish.
Alessandro’s words resonated with each of us, serving as a vital reminder that in the act of foraging lies not just a culinary adventure but also a journey of reconnecting with our true wild nature.