Jim and Julia's agnolotti

Here's a second guest post by Jim Dunlop our proud Scottish friend and guest to Turin Epicurean Capital 2016 with his lovely wife Julia - proud Lancastrian.

You can read Jim's first guest post about how to pair Lake Orta with Piedmontese wines here. In fact, When they participated to the third edition of Turin Epicurean Capital, they both said that what really makes our regional food and wines unique is the landscape: our secret ingredient ;)

Take careful notes of the places they went for Julia's birthday, the specialties they enjoyed and the wines they savored!!

Interact with them on Twitter about their many interests, especially: Italy, art, books, Toro (soccer), wine and food!!

Jim: jimofayr

Julia: juliadarwen

TurinEpi July 23

Just like any other good thing in life, Turin Epicurean Capital 2015 came to an end on July 23. 

The third day of the second edition started with the round table facilitated by Maria Pasquale who started by sharing her amazement about Turin during her first time last April. The topic of her round table easily outlined from her memories and the magic happened again: the round table participants were so carried away by their talks that the interpreters were literally left out and after checking with the audience, it was decided they didn't need to translate such long pieces of conversation.

Chef Giachello's research of flavors

Restaurant La Smarrita is a culinary symbol in Turin; located in Palazzo Salmatoris in the super central Piazza Carlo Alberto, this is where the Kingdom of Italy was born in 1861 and where Count Camillo Benso of Cavour, the first Italian Prime Minister, had his office. In fact, he just needed to cross the square to get to Palazzo Carignano, the very first Italian Parliament.

Today, La Smarrita strives to keep the Langhe culinary traditions alive in the heart Turin offering authentic seasonal specialties paired with the best wines of small selected local producers. 

The commander in chief of the kitchen is Chef Marco Giachello, a Turinese at heart, or "DOC" as you would say in Italian, borrowing the high quality certification of Italian wines (controlled designation of origin).

Chef Giachello majored in cooking from high school and worked his culinary career up from the lower levels of restaurant kitchens, to the top of the best Turin's restaurants. 

His passion for food and local products was shaped by his maternal grandmother, nonna Teresa who just like his mom, was a very skilled cook. Growing up, Marco would spend the summer in the Langhe wine district at his maternal grandparents' who had a small vineyard, tiny orchard and a small vegetable garden. Most of what they cooked and ate came directly from their land and nonna Teresa would craft amazing traditional meals!