Our esteemed friend Nancy Harmon Jenkins recently journeyed to the heart of agricultural Italy: Campania. While there, Nancy visited Pasta Faella, Casa Barone, and DaniCoop. Nancy, it was such a joy to see the true Italian motherland through your eyes! Here we are reposting a few highlights of Nancy’s trip:
In Gragnano at Pastificio Faella:
“In Gragnano… historically The Place for pasta in Italy. Lots of reasons why, many of which have to do with the history of Amalfi as a maritime republic on a par with Genova and Venice, something we tend to forget today. Loads of great history here–may I live long enough to do more investigation. This trip was just a taste of the surface.”
In Agro Nocerino Sarnese at DaniCoop:
“And these are the beginnings of genuine DOP San Marzano tomatoes–the only true San Marzanos in the world, grown by small producers in the incredibly fertile fields of the Agro Sarnese in Campania. By July 15th they will start to be ready for harvest, then packed into tins stamped San Marzano DOP and shipped off to a waiting world.”
On the slopes of Mt. Vesuvio with casa Barone:
“These are the famous pomodori a piennula, DOP small, very tasty tomatoes grown on ashy slopes of Somma/Vesuvius. What interested me is how there has been no attempt to clear greater terrain simply because, as seems obvious, there’s a terrific amount of information and genetic support being exchanged among the tomatoes, the fig trees, the walnuts, the bosco that surrounds them, including the wild growth. Anyone who doubts this should go back and read Michael Pollan’s New Yorker article last December, ‘How Smart Are Plants?’ “
And last but not least, we just had to re-post this, because it made us chuckle:
“In support of Mayor de Blasio: Italians do too eat pizza with knife and fork.”
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