faq

* Please read these before you write me, as you’ll likely find the answer already below. You’ll waste less of your own time.

*Leggete sotto prima di scrivermi, visto che molto probabilmente la risposta già ci sta.

In Italiano. (English below)

D. Come mai scrivi solo in inglese?

R. Sono titolare di una scuola di cucina nel centro storico di Lecce, e come insegnante l’unico modo che ho per guadagnarmi la pagnotta è la mia scuola di cucina: trovo gli studenti tramite l’internet. Ho creato questo sito con questo scopo. A seconda della richiesta, molto probabilmente entro pochi mesi ci sarà una versione italiana.

D. Posso venire a cenare con gli stranieri gratis?

R. Si. Basta che parli l’inglese (la maggior parte degli studenti è anglofona).  Durante la settimana lavorativa, invito gente della zona a venire a mangiare con gli stranieri. Non accettiamo fumatori o chi non può spegnare il telefonino per tutta la durata del pasto. La mia scuola è il mio lavoro. Le serate con gli amici sono un’altra cosa.

D. È vero che insegni ai bambini a fare la pasta fatta in casa?

R. Si. Mandatemi un email se volete che vostro figlio faccia parte del prossimo gruppo.

D. Quanto costa?

R. Niente. Lo faccio gratis perché è molto importante per me che la vera cucina Salentina si tramandi alla nuova generazione nel rispetto della tradizione.

D. Ho tanti bei ricordi di quando da piccola facevo la passata, etc. Vuoi che ti scriva e te le racconti?

R. No. Non m’interessa la nostalgia in sé. Scrivimi solo se vuoi condividere con me solo ciò che fai oggi, ma se vuoi solo rimembrare i vecchi ricordi, condividili con la tua famiglia.  Se cerchi ricette di una volta, fammelo sapere. Ma per l’amore di dio, non scrivermi pagine intere ’sulle cose di una volta’ se non le fai ancora oggi. La cucina salentina è talmente importante per me che vi faccio questa sobria domanda: ‘Come sarà la cucina salentina quando saranno morte tutte le nonne?’ La nostra cucina è una barca a remi: ora che i vecchi sono stanchi tocca a noi giovani portare avanti la barca!

In English.

Q. How can I learn more about your school?

A. Click through to my site. www.awaitingtable.com. You’ll know in 45 seconds if my school is for you or not.

Q. How long has it been open?

A. We celebrate 7 years this year. We’d love to have you come to our birthday week.We roast a whole pig each year.

Q. What was your job before opening the school.

A. I taught high school in Bologna. But I’ve done just about every food job there is. I decorated wedding cakes. Baked bread. Waited tables. Cut meat. Sold wine. Picked grapes. Picked olives. Picked artichokes.

Q. How can I learn more about your new wine school?

A. This October we’ll be debuting our new wine programme, which aims to educate the outside world on the unknown but sublime auctoctouns  (indigenous) grapes of the ENTIRE south of Italy. Each year I also travel the entire south of Italy by bicycle, tasting, researching and writing about Southern Italian wine. Check out my wine blog to learn more.

Q. I hear you have you an olive oil programme?

A. Yes. I’m very proud of it and it represents the first time that much of this information is available to to the average consumer, as opposed to squirrled away in tech manuals and industry-only website. (In case you don’t know, the large-scale olive oil industry enjoys a corruption unequalled in any trade save narcotics.) Regardless of what the label professes, it’s statistically likely that you’ve never actually tasted olive oil pressed from Italian olives. The fraud is massive and measured in tanker ships. We started our programme as a reaction to this, but rather than starting yet another impotent watch dog agency, we decided to head directly to the consumer. Once the consumer is educated enough to what to expect, all of this will stop.

By partnering with an international olive oil colsultant, we’ve been able to create a programme that draws from a variety of disciplines: part cooking course, part olive oil tasting panel, part tour of the groves with prosecco glass in hand, but all consumer-education, from seed to salad. The Cook, The Contadino and The Extra Virgin is now its third year.

Q. What is Walt Tuscany World?

A. Is a concept more than an actual place. It’s this fixation on Tuscany, which, by the way, is only ONE out of the twenty regions of Italy.  Each year hack journalists claim to find ‘the new Tuscany’,  a silly concept, as sophisticated travellers seek the different regions of Italy, each region with its own merits, faults, culture, history and of course, food and wine. Just so we are clear, I worked a lot in Tuscany while I was a student in Umbria. I travelled Tuscany by bicycle extensively. I love Tuscany. As I do the rest of Italy. Simply put, ‘Walt Tuscany World’ represents the prettying up but dumbing down of Italy. And it happens to happen much more in Tuscany than anywhere else.

Q. Can you help me arrange my holiday in the south of Italy?

A. Yes and no. If you come to my school as a student, I’d be delighted to help you make arrangements. Each week we pull down the maps and help folks plan the rest of their time in the Salento and beyond. If you don’t come to my school, consider a guidebook or a travel agent, although the second option is really not in line with Southern Italy. Ask your agent if he or she has ever even been to the South.  If in doubt, please re-read the second sentence of this paragraph.

Q. Can you help me buy a house in the south?

A. No. If you can’t arrange it yourself, you probably shouldn’t be moving here.  The easier the process becomes, the more this place loses its sense of place.

Q. Can you tell me where I can find these in ingredients near my home?

A. No.  I don’t know the world’s grocery stores. I’ve posted sourcing links to help but I’m writer, teacher, photographer and sommelier but not a retailer. Those that come to the school gain further access to sourcing info, but as always, I’m delighted to refer you to those that actually sell food for a living. I’m not holding out on you. I simply don’t know.

Q. Can you recommend some good books?

A. Yes, I’m crazy about the South of Italy and I’m eager to lead you towards a better understanding of this place.  I rarely spend much time in English-speaking nations so I’m often behind on what’s available in English but if you know of good English-language books on the subject of the South of Italy, drop me a line.