This food is not even a food. It is like a culture in itself. It is more important, I think, how it is eaten, when it is eaten, than the food itself.
Today on our show we spend some time in the kitchen with Italian Food Historian, Simone Cinotto, making an historic sauce served with seasonal vegetables.
Dr. Cinotto was a visiting scholar last fall with the Indiana University Food Institute. He joined us here in The States, from the University of Gastronomic Sciences, in Pollenzo, Italy, where he's a professor of Modern History.
I invited him to spend some time with us in the kitchen, preparing a traditional dish that is well known in the region of Italy where Cinotto spent his childhood.
But first, we head out to a farm in South Central Indiana to glean some peppers with the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.
The Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington Indiana serves as a distribution point for food pantries and soup kitchens in a 6 county region.
They have their own garden, which is more like a small farm, where they grow rows of vegetables from March through October. They also take volunteer crews out to local farms to glean produce from the fields.
Last fall I went out with the gleaners and spoke with Sara Swan. At the time, Swan was the food bank's Garden and Gleaning Coordinator. She had brought a group of volunteers out to Harriman Farmsin Spencer, Indiana.