Italian Food Lovers

The Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library never ceases to amaze.

Did you know that library houses over 4,700 historic menus from the 19th and 20th centuries? And did you know that they are all available for public view should you make the very worthwhile trip to visit us in Parma, Italy?

And in perhaps even more exciting news for our friends on the other side of the Atlantic, many of these menus are available online.

Hidden within the Gastronomic Library section of the Academia Barilla website, you will find a wide array beautifully decorated menus that mark Read more…

The latest surprise after redesign the Italian Food Lovers blog is that our new blog interface became more flexible, and we love it! Not only we can change the content of the featured boxes so to offer more features from the home page, but we can also change the mood of the blog according to the change of seasons! Sweet!

Read more…

Of course we are very proud of this, so a blog post is due. Last week Mimi Murphy of Gourmet Magazine listed the Academia Barilla Culinary School in Parma, Italy among the “world’s best cooking schools”!

Gourmet Magazine, who categorizes cooking schools around the world according to characteristics such as “Adventure”, “Healthy” or “Relaxed” in its Gourmet’s Guide to the World’s Best Cooking Schools, actually ranks Academia Barilla among the top 5 cooking schools in the world in the category “Luxury“. Because, as reported by Gourmet magazine:

“What brings the act of cooking to life? For some, it means stepping into a world within a world. Each experience, whether sumptuous (a French château) or simple (a palm-fringed Indian island), should have a certain glamour about it, a certain sense of style.”

The article published by Gourmet Magazine about our Culinary School is very nice, with comments from author Mimi Murphy such as:

“I picked up some over-the-top flourishes, like a “recipe” for a parmesan wafer: spread grated cheese on wax paper, microwave for 20 to 30 seconds (let cool for a few more), then drape around the bottom of a glass to form a cup”. (from: What I learned)

Or also:

“How easy it was to customize a class—via email—based on what I actually liked”. (from: Biggest surprise)

Please visit the link that follows if you want to read the full article on Gourmet Magazine, which includes an exclusive recipe for a Cream of Artichoke Soup with Porcini (the recipe Mimi Murphy learned and cooked at the Academia Barilla Culinary School).

Thank you Mimi and Gourmet Magazine for the wonderful article!

As we reported a couple of months ago, Academia Barilla partnered this year the GNAM Festival, the cultural event promoted by City of Parma and Solaris Fondazione per le Arti dedicated to the celebration of Gastronomy in Contemporary Art.

In the frame of GNAM’s cultural initiatives in and around Parma, a photo exhibition has been set up at Academia Barilla Culinary Center in Parma, Italy, a collection of photographs by Marcello Geppetti (24 photographies total), a “master paparazzi” who immortalized with over a thousands of unforgettable celebrity shots hundreds of moments of the Italian “Dolce Vita” of the 50’s, ’60’s and 70’s. The exhibition, opened to the public since April 16, will be accessible at the Academia Barilla Culinary Center until November 16, 2008.

We blogged about the exhibition a few months ago but, due to publishing rights on the photographic images of the exhibition, we have been asked to remove the images published in our previous post… =(

Never mind, we have a new set of authorized pictures that we are happy to share with you, showing the set-up of the exhibition, just to give you a feel of the ambient created by Geppetti’s work at the at the Academia Barilla Culinary Center.

The address to the Academia Barilla Culinary Center is Largo Piero Calamandrei, 3/A (c/o Barilla Center), 43100 Parma, Italy. Please call +39 0521 264060 for further information and opening hours.

This is definitely the best time of the year to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden. The mild climate, the summer light and the awesome settings of the garden’s landscapes surely invite for a day of nature exploration and discovery, long walks, bike rides, or to enjoy one of the many learning workshops and events offered by the Chicago Botanic Garden.

This is also the time of the year when, among the other events and attractions, the Botanic Garden also presents the Garden Chef Series, a lineup of top Chefs with a full calendar of cooking demos every Saturday and Sunday starting the last week of may, and closing the first week of October.

Barilla America, the presenting sponsor for the 2008 Garden Chef Series, will showcase the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend, a weekend of Italian cooking programs and special giveaways at the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden this Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27. Barilla USA and Academia Barilla sponsored also last year’s edition of the Garden Chef Series - you might remember our blog posts from last year’s edition.

This year, Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Mario Rizzotti, the participating Chicago top Chefs and their respective teams, will give demonstrations using fresh Italian ingredients such as those found in the Fruit & Vegetable Garden.

Among the participating Chefs is Chef Doug D’Avico, who is already participating in our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network.

In addition to plant and recipe giveaways, the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend will offer family activities and tastings of gourmet olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pasta, traditional Italian cheeses and other Italian gastronomy delights.

The event is free but seating is limited, so please make sure to arrive early.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is easy to find, located approximately 20 miles north of Chicago at 1000 Lake Cook Road in Glencoe, Illinois. Google Map below for driving directions.

We have already received a number of gourmet recipes from the Chefs of the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend that we will be sure to share with you after the event.

So be ready for yummy dishes and top Chef tips for the preparation of Farfalle Piccolini Salad, Sautéed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta, Crescenza Ravioli with Parmigiano Reggiano and Truffle butter sauce, Lobster Bread Salad, Chicken Parmesan with Campanelle Pasta and more - all on our Italian Food Lovers blog, stay tuned!