ITA Turin Epicurean Capital 2015

Il conto alla rovescia e' cominciato e tra meno di un mese inizia la seconda edizione di Turin Epicurean Capital - Torino Capitale Epicurea!

Siete pronti?

Turin Epicurean Capital 2015

The count down has officially started and in a month there will be the second edition of Turin Epicurean Capital. Are you ready?

living Turin style

Diana Zahuranec of Wine Pass who took part to Turin Epicurean Capital 2014 has decided to create Blogging Piemonte an online community of bloggers based in Piedmont and blogging in English.

We met in May and picked the first topic: authentic life in Piedmont.

After 11 years living in the Midwest, even though I am a Turin native, I did have to sit down and think about what this topic meant to me. This is how I came up with a list of things I missed while overseas and those that have always been part of my Turin way of life as a native.

10 things to live Turin style 

1. social eating and especially eating local cuisine, more particularly at the risotto restaurant where they have a glorious menu of risottos that changes according to what the season offers:P 

10 dos and don'ts in Turin

Our Twitter friend Serge the Concierge invited us to write this post following his dos and donts section about Turin!

Naturally, there are many things to do and see here, but these are the basics.

Thanks Serge!!

Dos

1. Spend at least 5 days because Turin is amazing and 1 day isn't enough.

Bicerin at Al Bicerin Café

Campari: the aperitif from Piedmont

Aperitif lovers, Campari, Vermouth and Negroni aficionados of the universe, once again you owe your favorite cocktail to Piedmont! In fact, the world-famous Campari drink takes its name from Gaspare Campari, the man who registered its recipe and founded its company.

Campari posters

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!

Bialetti's coffee revolution

Moka Express

Coffee has been an Italian passion since it arrived to Europe and everything revolving around it has become a rite.

Of all the Italian cities Turin is definitely the one where more coffee brands originated - think of Lavazza, Vergnano, Costadoro, just to name three, and where you can enjoy your coffee break in a different historical café each day of the week.

Given the local passion for coffee, it doesn't come as a surprise that even Bialetti, the famous Italian percolator brand is from Piedmont!

Now a wider industrial group, Bialetti as a brand took its name from Alfonso Bialetti, the original founder of the company in 1919, in the Northern part of Piedmont.

Following the trends, back then Mr Bialetti produced aluminum products and it was only in 1933 that he completed Luigi Da Ponte's design for a modern stove-top coffee maker.