A new university for the 21st century

Imagine an "international research and training center, working to renew farming methods, protect biodiversity and maintain an organic relationship between gastronomy and agricultural science."  Well, it exists.  The University of Gastronomic Sciences, with stunning campuses housed in Unesco World Patrimony sites in Bra and Colorno, Italy, was founded in 2003 by Slow Food and the Italian regions of Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna.  Initially the brainchild of Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food, the university is a shining success story of innovative thinking and sheer genius in fund-raising and organisation.

Most of us are familiar with the Slow Food movement, a world-wide association dedicated to changing the way we think about food.  What is Slow Food?  Obviously, the opposite of fast food.  Slow Food is biodiverse, sustainable, produced and cooked with care and love, and eaten slowly, with pleasure, deep appreciation, and in the company of friends and family.  Slow Food is about the value of food and eating as a basic human cultural activity.  Slow Food is the opposite of industrial food.  Now, I don't know Carlo Petrini or the process he went through to found the University of Gastronomic Sciences.  But I'm willing to bet that, in considering the dilemma of how to get people to appropriately value food and all it entails, he realized that one must begin with the young--with education.  That's why Alice Waters, another primordial Slow Fooder, works with schools--creating school food gardens and revolutionizing school lunches.

I discovered the university a couple of weeks ago, when I accompanied a group from my part of Haute Provence to visit the biennial Salon del Gusto and Terra Madre conference at Turin.  The Salon is the world's biggest trade show of artisanal food producers, while Terra Madre unites producers from all over the world with chefs, journalists, and anyone who wants to attend for a 4-day series of workshops, lectures, and demonstrations.  For anyone passionate about good food, this is the ne plus ultra of events.  The following day, we had slated a visit to the University.  I didn't really know what to expect.  I knew the University was associated with Slow Food, but I guess I expected more of an adult-education effort, rather than a full-blown, accredited university.

The approach to the university was already mind-blowing.  The school is housed in the Agenzia di Pollenzo and the Cascina Albertina, two neogothic "farmhouses" that are part of the Pollenzo Palace, a Unesco world patrimony site that was once the farm of the Duke of Savoy.  These structures were entirely restored and renovated  to house the classrooms and offices of the University.  Also part of the complex are a 4-star hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant and the Wine Bank (much more about it in a moment).

We were given a guided tour of the University, including a visit to its sensory analysis laboratory.  Here, students go through several semesters of intensive training and development of their senses.  Why?  Well, to appreciate and differentiate excellent food and wine, you must hone a finely developed sense of taste, smell, observation, and so forth.  Here, students sit at individual consoles, isolated from each other so that they don't influence each other's perceptions.  A small sliding door in front of the each student allows him or her to receive--without any other sensory clues--the fruit, wine, meat, cheese...to be analyzed.  Light color in the cubicles can be manipulated to cancel out the effect of color on a sensory decision.  For instance, if a a selection of red apples are to be analyzed for taste alone, this red light would cancel out nuances in their skin color.  We're talking high technology applied to the development of Taste with a capital 'T.'

The three-year degree course provides its students with a thorough background in history, humanities, science, technology, economics, management, and communication.   Course titles include History of Cuisine and Gastronomy, botany, Enology, Animal Production, Food Policy, History of Agriculture, Aesthetics, Food Communication, Marketing of Quality Food, and so on.  Now, don't you wish this university had existed when you were in school?  Well, it's never too late.  You can always go back for a Masters in Gastronomy and Tourism or Food Culture and Communication!  For the undergraduate, €19,000 tuition includes room and board, a laptop computer, and all expenses associated with the extensive field trips required of the students (they travel all over the world).  Classes are taught in English or in Italian with translation.  Students are from all over the world and many scholarships are available.

Next, our guide handed us off to the Wine Bank, which is not part of but is closely associated with the University.  The students spend a lot of time in the Wine Bank.  Now, I had absolutely no idea what to expect of a Wine Bank. Apparently neither did the other members of our group.  There was an audible intake of breath as we were ushered into a labyrinth vaulted brick rooms, branching off in many directions and having one thing in common besides the graceful arches of their brick ceilings:  wine.  Wine, wine everywhere.  The entry salon was lined with floor to ceiling, wooden shelves filled with bottles of all the different wines housed in the wine bank.  Anyone can buy the wines of the bank here, but the question:  Where to start?
The soft lighting and lack of windows (this is a cellar, don't forget) add to one's impression of being in a secret world apart.  Okay, but just which world?  Just what is the Banca del Vino?  Well, it started with Slow Food's realization that the majority of Italy's finest wine producers had neither the space nor the facilities to properly age their wines over more than a couple of years' time. The Wine Bank was created to build up a historical memory of Italy's finest wines. 




In the climate-controlled labyrinth of what was once the Duc de Savoie's wine cellar, the wines of Italy's 300 best producers are stacked and grouped by region.    Besides providing a state of the art cellar for wines, the purpose of the Wine Bank is education about the culture of wine.  Hanging banners bear the names of the regions and a map of Italy with the region highlighted in color.




And, children, how to we best learn about wines?  By tasting them!  Just beyond the initial salon where the wines are offered for sale, is a tasting classroom.  (Remember, those lucky university students spend a lot of time here.)  Long tables are set up in front of a lectern and a large screen for computer presentations.  And on the occasion of our visit, this room had been prepared for our very own tasting.  Documents were neatly laid out at each place, along with 11 sparkling glasses arranged in a shining semi-circle.  We were rubbing our eyes.  Did this mean we were going to taste 11 wines?






Yes, it did!  We were treated to a spectacular presentation by a local wine producer, and the 11 wines we tasted were all his own.  Imagine the luxury of tasting 11 magnificent wines while having them interpreted and explained by the very man who had put his heart and soul into producing them.  Oh, and did I mention this was happening before lunch?  Luckily we were provided with plenty of crisp flatbread!

Before leaving the Banco del Vino, I bought a slew of Slow Food  cookbooks that were collections of traditional recipes from Italy's best trattorias and osterias.  They were in Italian, but I can stumble my way through Italian, especially with a dictionary at hand.  And most especially when it's a matter of a recipe!  (My French is far from perfect, but boy do I know my gastronomical terms!)

You can call ahead to reserve a tour and wine tasting at the Banco del Vino, and I suggest if you're going to Italy's beautiful Piedmont, not to miss it.  Alba, with its white winter truffles, is not far away.  Turin is delightful, and Cuneo has one of Italy's most incredible farmers' markets on Mondays.  Take a plunge into the deep gastronomic culture of northern Italy.  It's a deep dive!  Who knows, maybe you'll end up taking a year off from your life to pursue a Masters in Gastronomy!

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