Last class began in the Rosch Recital Hall, where author Sara Goldrich-Rab talked about her latest book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream. Most of the students were present at the talk, before we moved to Kasling Hall where we enjoyed cooking Pasta alla Carbonara. At first the students were skeptical about the quantity of pasta (4 boxes/pounds plus one gluten free package), but then they enjoyed carbonara quite a bit as in the end we ate up everything. We prepared the original carbonara with pancetta plus a vegetarian version with zucchini: both were delicious! One of our students was able to enjoy the gluten free version leftovers later on. While the students were happily eating and talking about the menu for the final dinner, Dean and I prepared a surprise for them: a Nutella blind tasting test!!! We were intrigued by a video posted on YouTube and we said: why not? Everybody simply loved the idea! We enjoyed the Nutella test together with Italian breakfast cookies (Mulino Bianco is actually an institution in Italy) and the fette biscottate, which actually did not find favor with most of the students. Are you wondering how the test ended? Well, 7 out of 17 students including our interns didn’t get it right, but 10 out of 17 were able to recognize the Italian Nutella! Isn’t that wonderful? Next week will be our last class of the semester. Dean will teach us how to make tortellacci (a version of tortellini), but before that we will enjoy a sweet surprise in time for the Holiday season that is approaching. While thinking that this will be our last class, we are still looking forward to the final dinner, when we will cook all together, sharing the meal with our special guests. After December 10th, the class will go out into the world with a bag full of knowledge, practical skills and, hopefully, fond memories for the years to come! By Chiara De Santi
This week, our course was also featured in the Campus Report!
Italian Food Culture in Practice (at Fredonia) 