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Travel green the agriturismo way
August 14, 2007

I feel lucky to live in northern California, surrounded by small organic farms. Abundant varieties of freshly picked produce can be reliably acquired at my local farmer’s market. Yet I have never had an extended visit to any of them. Ironically I had a chance recently to stay and dine at a family farm in Sestri Levante, Italy.

We arrived at the city after dark. Judging from the number of switch backs the taxi took, I guessed that Villa Casaggiori perched on top of a fairly steep hill. When I stepped out to the small veranda from our room the next morning, what immediately filled my sight were rows of grapevines and fields of vegetables cascading down the hill. The landscape expanded into the calm sea; its blueness melted into the sky at the horizon. This is one of the 1500 Italian Agriturismo establishments. Breakfast was simple – bread rolls freshly baked on the farm, ham cured on the farm, milk produced from the farm, and fresh fruit, you guessed it, grown on the farm. After breakfast, we wandered up and down the hillside, trying our best to take it all in. It turned out to be a difficult task, as the rich fragrance of the vegetation, the incredible color explosion, and the cacophony from domestic animals filled our sensual space. “Alive” was the only word I could describe it.

Later I learned that Agriturismos were subsidized by the Italian government in an effort to help small, family-run farms to survive in the environment of factory farming. To qualify as an Agriturismo, a farm must be run by farmers whose principal income derives from farming. I chewed on farm subsidy as I greedily inhaled my lunch – freshly homemade prosciutto ravioli. So Italian government subsidizes to make sure that family farms thrive in the large-scale corporate environment. They grow produce and meat, supply the nearby towns, and attract worldwide travelers. All the while, the family farmers care and preserve the land. On the contrary back home, the US government subsidizes corn – city sized cornfields. The subsidy creates an eerie mono-culture, depletes valuable top soil, and strips the power from the family farmers and hand it to large corporations. As a result, we have high-fructose corn syrup making its way into 60% of the grocery store shelves. And we have cattle, chickens and even salmon fed an unnatural diet of corn. In general I am not a huge fan for any government subsidy; however if subsidy is the way a government decides to dispense its resource, Italy gets a thumb up, and US gets a thumb way down.

Meandering around the hillside all day, I worked up a good appetite. My sister in law lived in Italy for years and kindly warned me about typical dinners at an Agriturismo. “You will get 5 courses of incredible food with wines flowing,” She

said, “Don’t eat all day.” The evening sun filtered through the huge windows in the rustic dining room. I sat in my seat, a rough-cut wooden bench, facing the dark green fields and now purple sea. No fancy waiters or delicate china. Just the workers from the farm floated in and out of the dinning room, carrying mouth-watering dishes after dishes, all grown, made, and cooked right on the farm. Cold appetizers, hot appetizers, pasta dishes, meat dishes, and finally dessert and coffee. I won’t attempt to describe how sensational the meal was; I would only do it disservice. You will have to go there and devout it yourself. Oh yeah wines, I could only describe them as red and white since there were no labels on them. They were just wines small batched from the grapes on the farm. They were uncomplicated, flavorful, and sunny wines, wholly reflecting the character of this family farm.

It was one of the most memorable meals I have ever had. It is local food at its best.

As I reluctantly bid farewell to this lovely farm, I thought about the organic farms around my home. Many of them are in the Santa Cruz mountains, near Big Sur, or in Marin coast land, all places possessing incredible natural beauty and inspiration. I hope one day our family can spend a day on a working farm and enjoy a healthy, hearty and homemade meal there.

If you are interested in Agriturismos in Italy, there are plenty to choose from. Many of them are in Tuscany and Umbria, the gentle, rustic, and charming land of culinary delight. Visit a couple of good websites to see more:
www.agriturismo.net
www.ricksteve.com

See other local food entries:
‘Tis the season for heirloom tomatoes
Bay area local grass-fed beef
Best dairy products from local farms

CindyW at Organicpicks

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