3 days of food, music and fun for a unique festival.

As the majority of you, this year I could not attend this beautiful event, La festa della Pasta, the Pasta Festival that took place in the Campagnia region last weekend. In these days I was craving and just waiting for some pictures from the event. I was curious to see  what happened in Gragnano during the celebration.

If I was thinking that the last Festival could have been hard to overcome, these pictures from this year just told me the contrary: there was food, there was an enormous amount of people, there was music, special shows, magic in the air and of course the best pasta in the world with its never ending tradition.

With the help of the government of the region and with the participation of the Slow Food organization, the party was at its best! It's always nice to see people working in the production of this precious food, their family and friends, sharing all this with the people in love with the good food and who appreciate this fundamental element of our culture.

Here some pictures that from the italian blogger Giovanna Esposito and from Alessandro Savarese for E-comunica. Thanks to both of you for your beautiful images that catch the real vibe of this great party.

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2, 3 and 4 September 2011 in Gragnano

Are you thinking in a last little holiday before the autumn begins? are you looking for a bright place, good food and an amazing atmosphere?

Maybe is the case for you to consider to spend some days in Gragnano, near Naples and on the stunning Sorrento's peninsula. Gragnano is especially known in Italy and abroad as the hometown of the pasta, reason why every year there takes place this great Festival. This year the party will start on the 2nd of September for a three days celebration of this important ingredient, everyday on our tables, but also all the tradition and culture behind it.

If last year the theme was "the truly pasta's charm", this year the theme will be "the pasta's madness" and I can only imagine what this is going to mean. 

Usually in fact the festival includes lots of different shows, concerts and workshops open air all around the city, but there will also be three big guests: for this edition they will be the famous italian Circo Nero, Simone Cristicchi e Mario Biondi.

We are really excited by this event that puts together, tradition, amazing shows, music concerts, and where you will have the chance to try the real PGI pasta from Gragnano with all the people who actually make that and leave in the city. 

It's a very unique experience in an amazing environment, and the best way to visit the Campania region. You will find all the latest news here in some days, or just leave a comment to this post and I will answer as soon as possible.

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A quiz and some tips to know a bit more about pasta.

Following the recent Oxfam survey that shows the pasta be the favorite food ever, we decided to play a bit with you.

Do you think to be a real pasta lover or an expert of italian pasta dishes? Here there is a little quiz (from the International Pasta Organization) for you and some interesting information: do you know the country that eat and produce more pasta? can you name all these shapes of pasta?

If you didn't guess all the name, don't worry. Here for you are some tips to help you a bit. As The National was reporting today: "The suffix often provides an indication of size: "oni" suggests large (as in conchiglioni - large shells or spaghettoni - thick spaghetti); "ette" or "etti" denote something small (as in spaghetti or cappelletti - small hats) and "ine"or "ini" suggest tiny (hence spaghettini )." Being italian I never thought about this, but now i can see this could bee a good start for you all.

This could be another easy tip to get the right pasta with the right sauce: "Slim, fine pasta (for example spaghetti, spaghettini, angel hair, linguine, linguettine) is best served with a smooth, quite thin sauce. This allows the sauce to coat the delicate strands, without overpowering the flavour of the pasta completely. Thicker ribbons of pasta (fettuccine, pappardelle, fettuce, perciatelli) can stand up to heavier, more substantial sauces, such as ragus or rich, creamy dressings. Shaped pasta (conchiglie, conchiglioni, orecchiette) or types with holes or ridges (fusilli, rigatoni, penne) work well when the sauce is chunky or if the there is a lot of it, as the pasta then holds the sauce"

And finally some other little curiosity: in Italian, fettuccine means ribbons; stelline means little stars; and capelli d’angelo means angel’s hair.

I think now you are ready to surprise your guests when you will cook pasta for them next time.

And if you want to have more news, stay tuned because you will see soon all the picture from the harvest.

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In Gragnano to discover the great “Poor Man’s food”

A new TV show started last week on BBC 2 and his protagonists are two of the most recognized Italian chefs in England: Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo.

The program, Two Greedy Italians is about cooking,  some new recipes and tips from them, but there is something more: the mission of the two men in this occasion is also to going back to Italy after they left more than 40 years ago to see what has changed in the Italian culture and how the way Italians eat now.

The first episode took place in Bologna, one of the best places in Italy for the good food, traditional recipes and great ingredients. Here between comic scenes, traditional stories, some old secrets but also some new discovery, the chefs have had a great time.

What’s next?

Tomorrow night  at 8pm on BBC 2 the couple will end up in Amalfi, in the Campania region, looking at “how poverty in the area created Italy's best-loved cuisine and how 'poor-man's food' ended up making the same region rich.”

And Gragnano, near Neaples, the pasta making town,  it’s a place they could not miss. They choose Gragnano and Pastificio dei Campi, to speak and discover more about pasta, its past and especially its present.

And if you still don’t know this city, this pasta (PGI) and the history and tradition behind it, maybe you should watch the Two Greedy Italians with Giuseppe Di Martino who will explain everything about his Pastificio.

If you would like to try this pasta there is a company based in London were you can buy it online with same day delivery for London and next day delivery all over UK: Food in the city. Enjoy!

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Pasta from Gragnano: still made in the old way and in your kitchen everyday

Today I want to give you some other learning about pasta and especially about the Pasta from Gragnano. I translated this article published on an italian newspaper and I hope this will give you a better idea of what we mean for high quality pasta when we speak about these product.

"It's easy to say pasta. In fact, is produced everywhere since long time. But if we are talking about the pasta from Gragnano, then we know that we are dealing with more than five hundred years of history and tradition.

It belongs to the category of dry pasta and is made in various shapes - now 340 - many of whom belong to the local tradition: the "candles", about two feet long, the "mafaldine" created in honor of Mafalda di Savoia, the " Tripolini "dedicated to the colonial conquest of the Libyan cities of Tripoli and the pasta Piedigrotta, inspired by the eponymous party in Naples. Anyway the most famous  shape remains the "Paccheri.

The historical texts and literature about the "Pasta from Gragnano PGI,"(deservedly received on the 28th August 2010) show that the production of "Pasta Gragnano" dates back to the XVI - XVII century and is closely linked to historical events that have occurred over the years in the territory of Gragnano. Here is the root of the typical product of our territory, the ancient town famous for the quality of the macaroni, located in the Valley of the Mills in the south of the Gulf of Naples. But what are the requirements before a product may dare the nominee?
In first place the Pasta from Gragnano PGI must be made solely from flour made from durum wheat. The mixture uses water from the springs of Mount Faito. The product must have the following characteristics: a homogeneous appearance with no white or black spots, air bubbles, cracks or cuts, mold, maggots or parasites. The section of fracture should be glassy, and the colour, a pale yellow.

And then a roughness which feature the use of bronze dies. At cooking, the "Pasta Gragnano" PGI has a firm texture and elasticity, homogeneity of cooking: uniform, holding a good and long cooking, a stickiness absent or imperceptible.
 

The production process is, after mixing and kneading, extruding through bronze dies, giving the desired shape. The procedure in bronze gives the pasta - even the smooth one - a rough surface that makes it particularly suitable to hold sauces and condiments.

The next stage of the production is the drying process, which varies depending on the shapes and in any case is at a temperature between 40 and 80 ° C for a period of between 6 and 60 hours in static cells to drain or tunnel where it circulates hot air. Completed the process of drying the paste is allowed to cool and within 24 hours should be wrapped, without being carried, to allow a perfect preservation."

Do you want to know more? Just write a question in the comments and I will involve the real people from Gragnano and from Pastificio dei Campi to answer.

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Introduction to the pasta world and the next recipe

This twitter tale comes from an italian blogger, Massimo D'alma, who tried to put together a myriad of Twitter messages published in the night of the 23rd of January 2011 by @giudeicampi,Giuseppe Di Martino, owner of the Pasta of the Fields, as well as president of the consortium "Gragnano City Pasta." 

The pasta born and became what is now, thanks to its "capacity" to be a supply of food, being originally dry. 

Even in the Roman era the "lagane" with chickpeas, as told by Ovidio, were and are strips of pasta from durum wheat semolina cooked in a soup of chickpeas and vegetables. 

This "dish" cooked in the Roman time even before the 3rd century AC,  used to be made exactly like today in the south of Italy.  "De re coquinaria" of Apicius gives you the recipe for "lagane and chickpeas".

But let's start from the beginning: during the period of maximum expansion of the empire, Rome had hundreds of thousands of citizens, the wheat used to came from the colonies and was stored, without treatments in town's silos. 

Few months after the harvest, these silos were starting to swarm with insects that were eating all the cereals, which were mostly durum wheat coming from the south of the Mediterranean from Sicily, or Lebanon or Egypt. 

If grains were strongly attacked by insects, the silos were opened and the wheat given to all: great parties, social peace obtained and emptied silos ready for the next grain coming from other parts of the imperial world. 

The same was happening in northern Europe, where the harvest was made just before the autumn in a lower temperature. Here too people were hoarding and retaining the wheat. 

These obtained free of charge, should be kept for the dark times, and then ground it. In fact this mechanical action between stones could kill the insects and their eggs, but was making it impossible to maintain, because, to avoid friction burn between the stones the corn was wet. 

The flour obtained, was then mixed with water and then rolled out, dried and then cut into strips or rectangles, becoming free from infestation and food for storage and easily transportable. 

In Herculaneum and Pompei were found jars with grains that were used in the creation of "pulses, vegetable soups and leaves". These were then enriched with"lagane" broken, which, releasing starch, thickened soup and made a meal of slow-release energy, or as we would say today, with a low glycemic index. 

Alternatively, these were used to prepare some mix of sweetbreads, vegetables and meat cooked, with a final look very similar to our lasagna. 

So the pasta as we know it comes from the need to store grain, but the Roman Empire could not do it, "in a centralized way", and found the way to get it done in the home. 

There is no doubt that this was not a rural but a urban need especially developed in the south: the harvest is done mostly in the south of the Mediterranean in May and June, when is hot and it'sand it's more common the development of insects' activities. Pasta was born in the urban summer in the south of the Mediterranean, and more than 1000 years before Marco Polo!

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Respecting the brand philosophy in the packaging design

Posting some amazing pictures from the Salone del Gusto event in Turin, I can’t help myself; I just have to show you the packaging and display set up at the event by Pastificio dei Campi.

When it comes to events it’s always important to show your products from their best angle. In the case of Pastificio dei Campi it’s also a good opportunity to show off the artistic work behind the packaging.

Once you have seen the beautiful and creative packaging idea behind it, it’s not that easy to forget about the brand and the amazingly good pasta.

Pastificio dei Campi has a very strong link between the pasta and the packaging, a design created with great attention. Behind the idea of the packaging a necessity to come up with something solidly built that at the same time would allow the perfect conservation of the pasta. At the same time a dream and an idea to tell the story about a 500 year old pasta tradition and the creation process and at the same time something that would give the purchaser an image and a face of the creators behind the pasta. This dream and idea was realized by the images and phrases written on the 6 faces of the cubes. 

Why the cube? For different reasons: first because in the transport they can be stuffed in a better way and it also makes the shipment safer and easier. It’s also makes the exposition in the shop nicer as it distinguish itself from other more traditional pasta packages. On top of all that the box packaging makes it easier to keep the pasta fresh after the opening.

What differentiates the boxes between is just the size; apart from that they are all designed in the same way. The only thing that personalizes them is the small ribbon with the name of the shape of pasta and the cooking time, the ribbon also works as a guaranty seal. This packaging is shock proof to keep the pasta protected at all times, but it also gives you the possibility to see the product when the box is closed.

The box is carried out in a thick paper material that allows the pasta to breath and to keep away condenses that could destroy the product and the packaging. Our pasta needs care and attention; this is one of the main reasons for why every box is made manually with precision. A final benefit of the box is that it’s to be reused as a container for other products.

Have you seen what a nice stand they created for this Salone del Gusto edition? And each cube and pack is so beautiful that it always tend to leave everyone impressed. You can’t imagine the compliments I receive every time I bring this pasta to my friends.

Here I leave you also a short video of the event to give you a real feel of the mood of the festival in Turin. I hope you will enjoy and that you will be able to participate next time.

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