A Cook's Journal Vol. 3

Chronicling My Time in Italy in 2001

In the intro I wrote for my first post in this series, I talked about how sifting through all the stuff and detritus of my life after closing my restaurant after a 15-year run has brought me to a period of self-reflection.

I’ve been appreciating the opportunity for the long-form perspective vantage point that reading my own writing from 25 years ago offers. Sharing it here and reflecting on it is a way for me to work through my feelings about the closure of my restaurant, take stock of where I am in my career in the culinary industry now as a 55 year old chef, AND potentially make a little money to pay my bills! Bammo. Three birds, one stone. Thanks to those who choose to support me by subscribing.

Handwritten menu Trattoria Da Francesco 2001. Writing by Giovanna, the server

In 2001, I worked as a line cook in a small, independent restaurant in Bologna run by a mad Sicilian giant of a chef. Trattoria Da Francesco served a menu of traditional Sicilian staples featuring many ingredients that Chef Francesco Di Natale had hand-delivered via train messenger (his cousin) straight from his hometown of Siracusa.

To the Bolognese locals, more accustomed to their eggy rich pasta fresca drenched in rich butter, cream, and cheese, the lighter, brighter Siclian fish-based dishes accented with citrus, capers, olives, sundried tomatoes, and wild foraged herbs we were serving over bronze-die extruded pasta asciutta were an exotic novelty. Bologna is a university town and for many of our customers, going to a Sicilian restaurant was like someone in Madison, Wisconsin going to a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant. It felt like an exotic experience for them. Something from outside their culture. Which was eye-opening for me since I felt like I was from outside ALL of it.

This experience really helped me as a young cook to understand how varied culinary regional differences can be within even one small country.