Figu aka the best cheese I’ve ever tasted- presented gorgeously wrapped in a fig leaf

This week began with my discovery of the most wonderful cheese and ended with a Sicilian afternoon barbecue. Giacomo Gatí is a self taught breeder who brought back the Girgentana goat back from the brink of extinction and created a market for her cheese earning him a Slow Food presidia. One thing he experiments with is using vegetarian rennet for his cheeses, including a fig extract for his incredible and unique figu. He poetically spoke about the importance of quality pasture and well adapted heritage breed in order to produce high quality milk and therefore a superior cheese. Another artisanal producer and Slow Food presidia, the sisters at the Barreca dairy, make a stretched Provola higher in the the mountains blending the tradition they learned from their father and grandfather with modern technology. It was inspiring and interesting to see each of these cheesemakers (with a delicious product) come from a place rooted in tradition and their values of a excellent quality honest product mixed with innovation and creativity. And how they build upon it to plan for their succession.

In the second half of the week we were able to watch a true artist at work. Emmanuele Cottone is a fifth generation butcher and among the most renowned in Palermo. His reverence and respect for the sheep from the property that he worked on was evident, making the point “It took her two years to grow so you need to respect her.” Smile, speed, elegance. He worked with a grace that any master does when doing something he loves. He prepared a variety of cuts: shoulder for sugo we had for lunch, chops, shank saved for Easter, offal, sausage cut with a knife not ground, and a lamb deboned in 12 minutes and seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary and rolled like a porchetta – 8kg! – saved for our final party.

Eating Stigghiola with Shannon. Look it up. Better here than on the street in Palermo.

The cookout was a delicious and fun way to close out an intense week and to give us food for thought. Why is it important to think about why we eat meat? How do we make sense of this type of sacrifice? Does this decision to eat meat influence our relationship to the natural world? Questions important for not just the meat we consume but everything.