Savory

Okay, so this entry isn’t exactly next in chronological order, but I have all the pictures ready to go and can’t wait to tell you the story (and besides, it’s my weblog and I don’t have to go in chronological order if I don’t want to. mwah hahahhahaaha). Anyways…

A few weeks ago Carmela (of the circolo) invited us to go meat shopping with her. The special thing about this particular trip was that the market we went to was actually a local farmer’s house. They raise animals (all sorts!) and when they need money (or perhaps for some other reasons that remain secrets), they butcher one of their animals and sell it to the community (read: friends and family).

So, it’s 9:30 on a Wednesday night and we’re driving up one of the treacherous winding roads that weave through the Piemontese hillsides. These roads are actually two way streets, but there’s no way to tell until you see another car heading straight towards you (very skinny, no lines, barely paved). After a while we pull onto another road in even worse condition which turns out to be the farmer’s driveway. (It’s dark folks, electricity is costly here!).

I am seriously not exaggerating when I tell you that we were greeted by twelve barking dogs. (How many can you find in the picture at the top?) And I’m sure they had more somewhere else (in fact, there were two more strictly house dogs inside). The whole family greets us with Buona Sera(s) and kisses (when saying hello and good-bye everyone gets two kisses–one on each cheek, usually air kisses).

Ines

We go inside to their living room where they’ve set up a 10 foot table and a meat slicer. The table is covered with various and asundry cuts of meat (veal to be exact). Carmela (wearing orange in the previous picture) and the other woman that was there immediately starting picking which cuts they wanted and piling them in a big plastic bucket and some random bags. When they were finished there, Ines took us into the garage, where they had set up another ten foot long table that was also covered with meat and bones (note the nooses and wall of tools in the background).

We went through the same process in this room and when we were done making our selections the son (who looks unlike any 27 year old I’ve ever met) brought out the grinder and grinded up the parts we needed ground.

The Son & The Grinder

Then we headed back into the living room where he took out a big saw and started hacking though the bones we had chosen to take home for stock. Ines (the farmer’s wife) started cutting up the bigger pieces of meat we had chosen and tied them with string so we could more easily use them for roasts, etc.

When that was all done, we hauled all our purchases into the garage and put them on the scale. I was suprised to discover that the meat was not especially cheap.

After shopping they took us round back and showed us their sheep and goats who had just had babies the day before. This is by far the most memorable food shopping experience I’ve had here. I mean, I visited every open air market in a two hour radius last week, so I’ve got some shopping experience under my belt, but this night of meat…we just don’t have anything like this in the United States…do we?

P.S. For an update on my social life, see Roomies Around the World.

Remember Little Caesar’s “Pizza, Pizza!” campaign? Well, you may not know it, but you Shrimp Scampi lovers out there are following right in Caesar’s footsteps when you order that molto tipico Italian-American dish.

Scampi in Italian actually means “shrimp”, so when you order “Shrimp Scampi”, you’re really ordering “shrimp shrimp”!

Next time you order, try doing it in Italian; instead of asking for the Shrimp Shrimp, you might say:

Prendo i scampi, per favore. Or

E per me, i scampi. Grazie.

Here are some key markets you’ll need to familiarize yourself with if you plan on food shopping in Piemonte (remember to pronounce all the ones with “ia” on the end like you would pizzeria):

Supermercato — Profoundly uninteresting grocery stores with a limited selection of goods.
Bottiglieria — Buy wine, water, beer, juice, and other beverages here.
Caseficio — Cheese producer
Confetteria — Candy shop
Drogheria — Dry goods (from cereal to soap); selection varies from town to town.
Latteria — Dairy shop; fresh cream, butter, yogurt, etc.
Panetteria — Bread shop
Pasticceria — Pastry shop: cookies, cakes, and chocolates are available at most of these stores.
Pastificio — Pasta store
Pescheria — Fish monger
Polleria — Poultry store: Birds galore, most still wearing feathers.
Salumeria — Salami: cold cuts, etc.
Tabaccaio — These stores do sell tabacco, but also sell salt, stationary and stamps.
Torrefazione — The store of a professional coffee roaster. Buy whole beans, grind as needed.
Paninoteca — Sandwhich shop
Mercato — An open market found one or two days a week in big cities.