This week began thinking about gardens. They’re a way to connect botany with the public and history with the present, made clear when we visited Kolymbetra and the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. This place dates back more than 2500 years where citrus and agriculture flourished because of a subtropical microclimate nestled in the Mediterranean climate. Because of Sicily’s history of many invasions, their species are diverse and rich: citron! Portuguese sweet oranges since 1500! Lemons since 1000! These gardens, were thought to be nearly perfect due to their closed form, function, and consumption. It was a lovely day for a walk and samples of lots of citrus.

That contrast to Tuesday made it that much nicer- because we were hit by a freak snow storm. We had to change plans to forgo the foraging trip (the farmer in me wanted to brave the weather and scout out wild fennel and greens) to instead visit a local ceramicist and sit by a wood stove learning about and painting hand crafted tiles (rough, I know).

We talked (and ate) about the upcoming feast of San Giuseppe, the patron of Italy and a significant cultural if not quite religious holiday today. There are a few important traditions including the property of three to represent the holy family, and using up a bit of last year’s harvest going back to its pagan roots as an agricultural feast to celebrate the beginning of spring. We ate soup with three types of beans, greens, spices, and herbs with a side of three starches.

Cinnamon, black pepper, clove

Olive oil, orange peel, red pepper

Chickpea, lentil, white bean

Artichoke, cardoon, wild fennel

Pane di sangiuseppe, pasta, impanate

Listening to Mary Taylor Simeti was a treat to learn more about the history of Sicily through the lens of food and tradition. Sicilian culinary history is oldest in west because of many invaders who didn’t eliminate old food traditions, just brought new ones. They introduced the staples we think of: tomatoes, sugar cane for all the sweets, citrus, spices, and so on.

Gastronomic world has lost the perfume of the sauce

We finished our last day of class by cooking with Ciccio Sultano, a Michelin chef from Ragusa. He carried such charisma and passion in the kitchen. It was a delicious and happy kind of day eating, chatting, laughing, more eating. Perfect way to end the last day.

Sea salad -“in this case the protagonist is the sauce”, Chicken with harissa sauce, spaghetti with grated botarga, black boar stuffed with truffle and fried lentil, deconstructed cassata, cafe granita