Adventures in Fooding

Virginia Tech has one of the top University food programs in the United States. Every year when the higher-education rankings come out for the next generation of desperate high school students needing a degree from somewhere, there’s at least one list concerned with the creature comforts. And food is pretty critical. I remember during my own college selection process one sibling regaling me with the story of his own process; he went to the counselor and when asked about what sort of school he wanted to attend, his response was “I want to go where I can eat Lucky Charms every day.” Good advice, although I prefer Captain Crunch.
And so, for the past two-and-a-half years I have enjoyed the glories of Tech’s food program; West End is pretty much the best thing to ever happen to gastronomic tendencies. But now I live in Riva, and that’s changed some things.
Villa Maderni houses just under 60 students, all in varying stages of travel, and all in need of feeding multiple times a day. In order to address this need Virginia Tech employs two gentlemen: Luigi and Gaetano. These two work in the kitchen, preparing the lunch and dinner menus.
Breakfast is provided on a limited scale, offering the absolute basics: bread, yoghurt, fruit, cheese, and Nutella. For lunch we’re offered a salad bar and some form of pasta or pizza. And then…dinner. Every night is roughly the same model: first course of soup, second course of meat and potatoes, and dessert. In truth, I may not come home after this.
I’ve been gone for a month, and I do miss certain elements of American cuisine. I lament the loss of Chipotle from my diet, and the discovery of Dr. Pepper in the Co-op sent the entire Villa into a tizzy. The discovery that I could possibly get on a military base to acquire U.S. products, and then distribute Doritos and Dr. Pepper to the masses to secure my place as a benevolent god was met with much support. The food is great here, but it’s all Italian, all the time.
As for the food itself: The food pyramid has been rearranged as far as I can tell. The major Canton Ticino Swiss food groups appear to be: carbohydrates, fruits/vegetables, meat, and Chocolate. The chocolate category is divided into actual chocolate and Nutella. Nutella may actually be the greatest thing to happen to the universe, but I gave up chocolate for Lent, so it’s a little difficult to talk about right now.
Bread and pasta form the basis of my carb laden diet. The Villa bread is spectacularly delicious, and is augmented by two servings a day of pasta, rice, potatoes, or pizza/crepes. Ravioli, tortellini, spaetzle, canolini, lasagna, risotto- all perfectly prepared, with a range of sauces and fillings. Fruit and Vegetables come along by necessity, as contorni or simply a snack of kiwi. The meat is something else. So far I’ve had four meals of veal, goulash, roast chicken, roast beef, fish, and notable meal of Rabbit. But nothing comes close to last Tuesday.
In honor of Mardi Gras, the final night of the Carnivale season (side note, Bellinzona throws one heck of a party) the Villa hosted the first “Wine and Dine” night. Daniella, who runs the day to day of Villa Maderni has taken a few sommelier classes, and is happy to share her knowledge. This resulted in a delicious meal to complement Bianco Rovere, a white Merlot from Ticino.
I know what you’re thinking: Merlot! That’s a red wine! What’s all this silly “white” and “bianco” nonsense? Let me explain: first- bianco and white are the same word, so that was a redundant complaint. Second- the color of a wine comes from the skin of the grapes and tannins and a whole lot of other important scientific details. It is possible to remove the skins of the grapes during the production process to keep a Merlot white, rather than red. This happened in the 1990’s, when the red wine market collapsed, and in order to avoid replanting all the grapes in the region the Ticino wine makers got creative with the process.
Enough history: the meal! We enjoyed a first course of vegetable Terrine; rather, I say we enjoyed, when the incident was more of “I’ll eat it, I don’t know what it is, it tastes kinda funny, and the texture is weird. But I’ll eat it.” Went very well with the wine, and followed by the single greatest meal of all time:
Rosemary roasted beef with Parmesan shavings, mixed vegetables, and bacon-wrapped roast potatoes. Matched with a delicious wine, and chased by dessert of apple streudel. I don’t think I can adequately describe the glory of this meal. The meat was so tender and juicy, with just a hint of rosemary flavor to give some spice, and the parmesan is so creamy and rich on top of everything. The potatoes were golden and buttery, wrapped in bacon, so smoky and delicious. Vegetables were there….break up the meat-fest that made up the meal. The struedel had such a flaky golden crust, and such sweet, crisp apples. It’s been nearly a week since I ate this, but the memory remains that this was the best meal of my life, and I have eaten very well in my lifetime.