Benvenuti Al’Italia

The study abroad program that I am in is the UNH-in-Italy summer program. It is a five week long program with the first week in Sicily and the remaining four weeks in the city of Ascoli Piceno. I am taking three classes while I am here Nutrition 595- Mediterranean Diet and Culture, Italian 425- Intro to Italian Studies and Inco 596 which is the ecogastronomy course that will consist of field trips to better understand Italian food culture and the links to the environment. I enjoy that all of my classes are tied to each other. We have talked about food and it’s significance in all of my classes with each one emphasizing a different aspect. Nutrition 595 highlights the mediterranean diet while Italian 425 highlights regional foods and practices along with the evolution of the diet over the last century and then Inco 596 (or ecog as I refer to it) highlights aspects of where the food has come from.

The first week in Sicily was full of field trips to various places. We went to a baking class to make pastries with Maria Grammatico, we learned about traditional tuna fishing in Sicily, we visited an olive farm where olive oil is produced and learned about the anti-mafia movement (Addiopizzo) in Sicily, we got to explore a salt farm where sea salt is harvested, the final trip we took was to a winery where we got to taste the typical Marsala wine and got a tour of the winery.