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Aquerello—Passion for Excellence Meets Healthful Innovation…in the Form of a Rice Paddy

Entering the grounds of the Aquerello rice farm, I felt transported to another time—a simpler, more beautiful time. Antique bikes lined the courtyard walls; traditionally dressed women joyfully worked away in the rustic, naturally-lit kitchen; all doors and windows were kept wide open to let in the country air. At first blush, it appeared that the Rondolino family had perfected the art of “shabby chic.” I quickly found, however, that their property’s aura was more a statement of life philosophy than fashion. In every detail of the estate, interaction, and product, Piero and Maria Nava Rondolino’s values shown through with refreshing purity: simplicity, soul, and excellence mixed with unmistakable sophistication—a combination which left me utterly intoxicated with serenity and nostalgia.

A stark contrast to the estate and grounds, Aquerello’s processing facilities embody modernity and innovation. It is there that the once traditional rice farmer developed his patented product, Aquerello rice. As we learned, despite the availability of a variety of rice, the final products are more or less the same—dehusked grains of various shapes and sizes. Aquerello, however, has the unique quality of being the world’s only 100% white rice with 100% of the nutritive value of brown rice.

The Aquerello product first began to develop when Piero found himself munching on the discarded rice germ (which is dehusked with the bran during processing) during his daily work.

Mesmorized by the fulfilling, sweet taste of the germ, Piero dreamt up a way to naturally re-melt the germ back onto the dehusked grain. The end result? Nutty, firm, fulfilling, simply delicious rice, which now finds itself on the menus of some of the most premier restaurants in the world, including Chicago’s own Spiaggia and Alinea.

Despite Aquerello’s growing reputation as “fine dining” or “luxury” rice, Piero and Maria Nava care very little for the airs of prestige. Their passion, in actuality, lies more in enhancing the tables and diets of people like you and me. Aquerello, like the grounds that produce it, embodies those same values that the Rondolinos so deeply touched me with: simplicity, soul, and excellence mixed with unmistakable sophistication.

Baladin

Despite its setting in the rustic village of Piozzo, La Casa Baladin is anything but outdated. Low lighting, jazz music, and modern art set the mood for Teo Musso’s micro-brewery/guesthouse with unmatched art and sensuality. By all appearances, the man is nothing short of a rock-star. As I observe Teo and learn his incredible story, I can’t help but fall in love. He is, in the most enduring of senses, a pure embodiment of an Italian cliché—sexily rugged yet refined, passionate, exceedingly sensual, and above all, intensely loyal to family.

Teo Musso’s passion for beer originated in his adolescence, where he would brew his own beers to compete with the products of his father, a wine-producer. After nearly three decades of experimentation, trial, and overwhelming Italian opposition to his vision, Teo has pioneered the micro-brewery movement and made waves in his dream of connecting cuisine to beer. In effect, he single-handedly created space on the table of Italian restaurants for beer and made it possible for the Italian micro-brewery movement to go from 2 to nearly 400 producers in a time-frame of about 10 years.

Even more visionary yet is Teo Musso’s ability to artfully challenge conceptions of beer through innovation. For instance, he has created wine-inspired flat beer, which he ages in the previously-used barrels of some of Italy’s best wine producers. He has also manipulated the fermentation process to create a beer whose taste resembles smoky whisky and another which could easily be mistaken for a fine sherry. To top it off, the entire chain of Baladin beer (from raw materials to distribution) is entirely independent, sustainable, and 100% Italian.

Driving away from Piozzo, I feel distinctively privileged to glance into the Baladin world. We can find hope for the future of food in Teo Musso’s example. Not only did he go from nothing to pioneering an industry, but he has proven it possible to maintain 100% dedication to the good, clean, fair model of production. Teo Musso is, in every sense, an Italian (and Slow Food) hero.

LavAzza: The Italian (and Slow Food?) Icon

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day at the headquarters of Lavazza Coffee. For those of you who may have never heard of Lavazza, it is a huge single-product operation which has become iconic, currently serving as the “official” espresso of Italy.

Lavazza actually started as a small family grocery whose owners had a passion for coffee. Lavazza made headway in the Italian coffee industry first by selling already-roasted beans and later by bringing the concept of coffee blends to Italian tables. With the economic boon of the 1950s and the subsequent rise of Italy’s consumer culture, Italian espresso secured its world-wide notoriety and Lavazza became iconic.

Today, Lavazza has a yearly turn-over of 1.1 billion EUR and is the world’s #1 single-product company to import coffee beans. Lavazza’s success and passion for the finest quality of Italian espresso made it possible to develop 50 training centers globally. Together, the centers train 26,400 people annually about quality coffee production and espresso preparation techniques absolutely free of charge. In the name of preserving quality by thoroughly educating the baristas of the world, Lavazza sees maintenance and staff costs of the facilities a small price to pay.

My experience involved lessons in coffee history, tasting methods, and coffee innovation based on collaboration with El Bulli’s renowned chef Ferran Adriá Adrià. Coffee caviar, solid cappuccino, and coffee air were only a few of the artistic innovations of taste and science that I experienced.

Although the quality, production, design, and innovation of Lavazza thoroughly impressed me, I could not help but wonder about the company’s affiliation with Slow Food (my school), whose mantra is “Good Clean Fair.” While no one could ever deny Lavazza’s goodness, the company did not appear to be anywhere near Clean or Fair. In fact, when one of my classmates asked about Lavazza’s interest in the Fair Trade movement, he received a frank, “Well we have one product…but really it’s just marketing.” Even more, the fact that I alone threw away over 10 single-use cups in my 5 hour visit, paired with my exposure to the blatantly highly wasteful production facilities left me with the conviction that Lavazza has a long way to go before they could deem themselves Clean.
Discussing my concern with university staff with me, a little hole was poked through my idealist bubble. The simple fact of the affiliation is that Slow Food, as a grassroots non-profit, has a limited platform on which to voice its causes without the backing of big iconic companies like Lavazza. So, in the name of gaining a certain mainstream credibility, Slow Food has sacrificed a bit of its integrity. Here’s where I struggle. What, ultimately is better—maintaining 100% integrity to cause but remaining limited in bandwidth, or allowing for a little bit of political wriggle-room in order to reach more people? The answer, I find, is more layered than I imagined.

Whether through the lens of a “double walled” cappuccino glass or in the hallways of my university, harsh realities of the activist world will inevitably continue challenging my visions, practices, and conceptions of “goodness.” Despite the inherent heartbreak I will face along the way, I remain hopeful that these challenges will lead not to the defeat of my dreams of creating change through food, but to a more realistic, pragmatic vision of how to work towards them in a broken world.

The Slow Road

The last 5 years of my life have been a beautiful, intense whirlwind of cultural, spiritual, and intellectual exploration, ultimately taking me on a wild ride. I eased my way onto the road by living with an elderly couple in the south of France while studying at a local university. Accelerating ahead, I moved in with Italians found on the internet as I undertook a gelato apprenticeship and did cultural study in Rome. Hitting “metal to the pedal” I journeyed to Chile as a missionary, living and working in a small coastal town. (Not to mention side trips to visit friends throughout Europe and climb Machu Picchu) To say I’ve taken the path “full steam” would be the understatement of the century. Although my exploration continues, I’ve opted for the slow road on the newest leg of my journey as I head to the Piedmont region of Italy as a graduate student of gastronomy at the University of International Sciences.

Gastronomy. For most of you, this means that my “education” will center on eating “high cuisine,” and understanding the fine dining food, experience, and industry. To a certain (and very minimal) degree, you’re on the right track. The purpose of my gastronomy course, however, goes far beyond understanding foie gras and Barolo. Gastronomy, as I am here to more fully understand, is far more holistic, including the politics, history, sociology, anthropology, and sciences involved in food systems.

Here’s a glance at my journey towards becoming a “gastronome”:

“The gastronome is a new type of professional who understands the connections between food production and consumption, from agriculture and zoology to processing and distribution to cookery and communications. Gastronomes safeguard society and the environment, and build food-system sustainability while acting as cultural interpreters between food-world communities. As leaders in making change and creating successes in food and wine tourism, product and regional marketing, project management and food innovation, gastronomes add value along the entire length of the food production chain.” http://www.unisg.it/pagine/eng/why_unisg/what_is_a_gastronome.lasso

The idea is to learn how to move from merely having a great appreciation for food to possessing a thorough understanding of the cultural, political, environmental, and economical aspects of it in order to work towards a better, more sustainable, just, clean global food system. It’s likely that the road will be very long and full of congestion and conclusion—as much as I would love to strap on a sort of super-hero apron and single handedly save the world’s food system, I know that I cannot. Yet, I am hopeful that my year in gastronomical training will leave me with a “conductor’s license” to transport communities towards more flourishing realities. As I forage through vineyards, farms, ecosystems, and seas, I invite you to come along for the ride. So take a deep breath and buckle up—you might be thrown about more than you’d think.

***More information about the University of Gastronomic Sciences: www.unisg.it
***Slow Food International: www.slowfood.com