India in Cesena: samosas, curry, tikki and biryani for all!
During the first weekend of October, Cesena (a city approximately approximately 100km from Bologna) hosted the most important celebration of international food in Italy: the Festival Internazionale del Cibo di Strada (International Festival of Street Food).
This 8th edition had the institutional sponsorship of Slow Food and embraced dozens of participants from all around the world as well as representatives from many Italian regions.
This time, neither Brazil nor the United States participated, but many hermanos from South America were present, including the illustrious presence of the huge Argentinian barbecue (accompanied by the lovely Quilmes beer),
Argentinian bbq with Quilmes
the Peruvian empanadas and the Venezuelan arepas.
From Venezuela: arepa with chicken and avocado
The event took place in two different squares, the Piazza della Libertà, where the stands were organized and the Piazza Giovanni Paolo II, the “Food Truck Area”. Along with tasting many snacks, those who came had also the opportunity to also participate in conferences and gastronomic workshops.
Foto from Pizza e Mortazza Apecar – Roma, with pizza and mortadela
It’s interesting to note that an event like that is not something trivial here in Italy, since most part of the Italians turn their noses up at food that does not “taste like home”. Thus, considering that many deem “exotic” typical dishes from other regions of the country, can you imagine being surrounded by typical dishes from Romania, Japan, Mexico and India?
Therefore, a party like that not only works as a great “business card” for skeptical individuals to get to know (and to try) delicacies that normally would not be their first choice, but also has a sort of didactic feature, since can open the mind to new gastronomic experiences.
And, of course, everything can be done with “baby steps”, even mixing new flavors with those already familiar. That is, a little bite of Indian samosa here, a pizza there; a guioza and a piadina; an empanada and a Sicilian canolo and so forth. (The size of the lines confirmed exactly my point: the longest were the Indian, the Mexican, the one from Palermo and that from Napoli.)
From India: samossa filled with potatoes, greens and spices
Moreover, the choice of the street food is ideal, either for “theoretical” reasons or practical ones. First, the street food (even if no one knows exactly what that means) is maybe the most genuine expression of popular food from a certain place – and, since it’s cheap and served outside of restaurants, is more accessible to everyone. Thus, presenting menus from different countries means giving a little taste of what is the real daily life there.
On the other hand, speaking of more practical issues, it’s possible to taste many different options (because the portions are not gigantic) and, since the most part of the dishes can be eaten with the hands, one can easily eat while walk from a place to another – and there is no risk that the little plate falls from the lap or that the plastic knife doesn’t cut well…
Puglia (Murge): Il Fornello della Murgia – a sea of sticks to fill the wonderful breads of the region.
Thus, initiatives like that one – that are growing all over the world – have the potential to become much more than just a trend; they can open new gastronomic horizons and, why not, bring a little bit from the streets of the world to that place just around the corner.
India: the hit of the event
FloCiBO 