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| Cooking demonstration by Chefs Margarita Fores and Carla Brigliadori |
I
just couldn’t pass up an afternoon celebrating Italian music and cuisine that despite
having a swollen and sore left foot (and feeling dazed because of medication
for that), I tossed all caution to the wind and headed over to the Gallery at Greenbelt
5 for La Cucina all’Opera: A Taste of
Music.
This
event, dubbed as a unique literary, musical and gastronomical journey through
the taste of major Italian and other great opera composers and singers, was
presented by the Embassy of Italy, Rustan’s, the Philippine-Italian Association,
and the Calata Corporation on the occasion of the launch of Casa Artusi Philippines. Gracing the event were Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno who
gave the welcome address and Casa Artusi President Giordano Conti who gave the
closing remarks.
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| Margherita Spinazzola |
The
first half was devoted to the presentation of the book The Operatic Kitchen: Music and Food in Emilia-Romagna by Giancarlo
Fre who unfortunately passed away back in 2013. But present instead was the
book’s English translator Margherita Spinazzola who provided an extensive and
insightful talk regarding the book that successfully melded the unlikely
pairing of Italian opera music and food linked together by the region of
Emilia-Romagna.
The
book featured brief accounts, anecdotes and tidbits about various Italian opera
composers like Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Pietro Mascagni, Vincenzo
Bellini, and Giacomo Puccini. And scattered along the pages are various
traditional Italian recipes that somehow had a link with whoever musician was
featured in the chapter. I initially found it odd how non-Italians Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, Richard Wagner and Maria Callas got featured in the book, but Spinazzola told us that their musical journey included stops in Bologna ,
the city at the heart of the Emilia-Romagna Region. I also learned through her
that the release of this book, originally titled Cucina all’Opera: Musica e cibo in Emilia-Romagna
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| Chef Margarita Fores |
Another
highlight of this event was the cooking demonstration by Chefs Margarita Fores,
Casa Artusi’s first franchisee and Carla Brigliadori, Casa Artusi’s Executive
Chef. The two made piadina and pasta from scratch using the matterello, a kind of rolling pin that
Chef Brigliadori joked is also used for hitting husbands. The duo prepared a
duck ragout sauce for the pasta in which I, seated at the second row, was able
to get a clear whiff of the aroma of the simmering sauce. And this made me and
probably everybody else at the Gallery very hungry.
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| Patrick Pulumbarit, RAd, Emanuela Adesini, Margarita Fores |
Thankfully
as the evening approached, everybody’s hunger was remedied as a sumptuous
buffet was served featuring what the duo cooked and a whole lot more. While
everyone was feasting on the food and wine, music by Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, and Pietro Mascagni were performed by a handful of musicians
from the strings section of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately, I
couldn’t have any of the wine that was served since I was under medication. Carla
Brigliadori also happens to be a sommelier and it was torture for me when she
described the various notes one could derive from tasting the wine.
The Operatic Kitchen isn’t available in
retail outlets but copies were given away to lucky people whose names were
drawn in the raffle and for those who were able to answer questions related to
Italian culture. The book in itself is an easy read and it’s not required to
read it from cover to cover. One could just choose a chapter/composer like what
I did when I dove straight in to Giacomo Puccini. This chapter touched upon the
composer’s penchant for hunting and then quickly segued to a recipe that called
for some wild boar meat. Whipping up a Wild
boar stew in red wine in the near future may not be possible for me, so I
just let myself be content by playing a recording of Puccini’s Turandot.
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