SINS OF GLUTTONY Specialities and irresistible events

You can resist everything, except delicious temptations! Gluttony has the best over you. When it calls you, you can do nothing but comply with it and satisfy it. So here is a trip in the circle of the greedy with the typical Piedmontese specialities, the stories told by experts and the most important gastronomic events.

SPECIALITIES

1. Garlic / Bagna Caôda
This is a strictly forbidden sin, a palate's delight; you must keep from it in case of a romantic dinner and close encounters. Garlic has always been banned by those people who fight for clean air - that is a good (or at least not so bad) breath; it also keeps away, thanks to its olfactory and healing virtues, devils and diseases.
You must have garlic, in particular, dunk in bagna caôda, or in many other typical Piedmontese dishes: in salsa verde (a parsley sauce), in soma d'aj (toasted bread with oil and garlic) and in salami. It also goes with "tomini" and calf tongue. A suggestion in case you cannot resist temptation: if you have planned an evening out with your friends, put it off! Otherwise withdraw into meditative silence.

2. Cheese
The "principles" of Piedmontese merenda sinoira are usually displayed on a cutting board and are always served with a fullbodied glass of wine.You can choose from various kinds of cheeses, real miracles made from milk: from the mild taste of toma to the more intense taste of gorgonzola.
Queen Margherita was a keen supporter of the former,while the supporters of gorgonzola, in spite of its mouldy smell, would have it in every dish (either rice or polenta), or on bread, or with grape jam.
This clash of opinions has been going on for ages... just taste and decide which side to take!

3. Meat
Sinful and irresistible temptation. Some examples? Raw meat, served as a starter or a second course, or the fine chamois or roe deer meat, typical of our region. Moreover you can't forget wild boar meat, often served on our tables with polenta, and cold pork cuts.
Among the most tempting ones we have "salama", a cooked salami typical of the Asti area, and the always present salame all'aglio (garlic salami), where the union of two 'sins of gluttony' is really great.

4. Wines and spirits
Unless you belong to the unhappy category of teetotallers, you can't miss matching this profane rapture of taste with a glass of good wine. There are so many good quality wines, both famous at home and abroad, you might fall in love with.
One of the most popular white wines is Moscato d'Asti, a sweet, dessert wine which goes back to the beginning of 1200. A real nectar!
Moreover there are lots of red wines, famous for their full-bodied taste, among which Barolo, Barbaresco, Grignolino, Dolcetto, Barbera (feminine gender, according to the Piedmontese dialect) and Nebbiolo. Full-bodied red wines, with a strong spicy aroma, which wonderfully match with meat, inebriating your palate thanks to their taste. Particularly worth mentioning is Asti Spumante, the most exported Italian wine, to prove that temptations have no borders.

5. Chocolate
The last sin, but not the most deadly. "Chocolat" (the film) teaches us that trying to resist it is useless. Its sweetness and deliciousness are for everyone, depressed and not depressed people, a source of comfort and great happiness, especially if it is Turinese chocolate. The first is gianduiotto, the famous handcut Turinese chocolate. Born during the 1865 Carnival to pay homage to Gianduja, Turin's Carnival stock character, it is now one of the most desired chocolates in Italy, equal to Nutella and Ferrero chocolate, the famous brand name from Alba. The most 'corrupt' people, obsessed with cocoa, mustn't miss CioccolaTò, a chocolate exhibition which is held in Turin every year. And last but not least Bicerin, the sweet gianduia chocolate liquor.Now let's stop this idle talk and let's eat! Enjoy it!

Experts

At the Mercato dei contadini (the farmers' market) in Piazza della Repubblica, behind the food market, two cattle breeders tempt a lot of faithful Turinese customers. They are Walter and Daniele. The former is loved for his cold pork cuts, the latter for his mountain pasture cheeses. You cannot stop the sinners' procession, especially on Saturday mornings.

Walter's cold pork cuts
Walter welcomes you with fiendish eyes and an extraordinary Piedmontese accent, a glass of wine, some grissini and a taste of ham.
He always lets you taste his specialities with Roero red wine before selling them. He was born in 1967 of a family of stock breeders. "My mother, Carla, prepares salami and sausages and is very jealous of her recipes, while my father breeds the animals.We have got about 100 pigs and 60 calves."
Going to the market is a ritual for him: waking up at 3.00 AM, an hour's trip to Turin, where he meets Daniele, who has already settled down with his cheeses! The deliciousness and cheap prices of his products make his stall a sort of a cult place and lots of customers are spellbound by his garlic, walnut, truffle and barolo salami, mocetta, cooked Piedmontese salami, cooked ham and cured ham, roast sucking pig and already seasoned raw meat: they watch, taste, drink and meditate.

Daniele's cheeses
A devilish beard, bushy eyebrows a grey pony tail, and the peak of his cap down, Daniele proudly shows his mountain pasture cheeses: they have irresistible shapes, colours and smells.
Every morning he leaves his cattle (he loves them very much) in Val Cenisia. The market life is very hard, of course,and he would rather stay in his valley. But duty calls: his customers queue up around the counter, carried away by the smell of his cheeses.
These city sinners feel like being surrounded by Piedmontese nature. So, looking at his tempting stall, Daniele says the names of his cheeses: "Scapoira, Val Cenisia toma, Serias, Reblochon... and also robiole, tomini, paglierine, ricotte... The cattle are bred just like in the past. No industrial production. My cheeses are really excellent".
All the customers are spellbound, ask questions while he casts a glance at them, as he is sure "to catch their eyes". And this is exactly what happens!

The events

A good company and a calendar of the main festivals and "sagre" (gastronomic events): this is what you need. You'll be spoilt for choice if you want to commit a sin of gluttony in good company!

Salone del Gusto
Lingotto Fiere, October, even years: organized by Slow Food in order to rediscover the wine and food traditions of the region; an exhibition, a market, a feast of colours, smells and tastes for the ordinary public and the professionals of the field.

Salone del Vino
Lingotto Fiere, Turin, October, old years, guided tasting of local products, conferences, meetings, taste workshops, gastronomic matching for refined palates, and much more for wine-lovers and professionals of the field. Since 2005, a greedy novelty held at the same time: "Dolc'è", an exhibition of patisserie and chocolate art. Sweet wines made from raisins, fortified wines and everything to combine with the most refined and irresistible patisserie creations.
Moreover on the occasion of the "Terra Madre" project, the food communities from all over the world meet here with the aim to preserve food traditions from globalization and support local food producers.

CioccolaTò
Turin, spring period: a show promoted by Turin Province; the most renowned chocolate manufacturers, both from Italy and from abroad, exhibit the traditional specialities and the novelties of this sweet sector, the most loved by gluttons.

Ivrea Carnival (TO)
The festivities begin with the ceremony of the transfer of power to the General (Ivrea Carnival stock character). Masked parades, fireworks and popular dinner parties, where beans and vin brulé are served, until the most spectacular moment: "the battle of the oranges". History, tradition and a bit of collective madness. Be careful, try not to get hurt!

The fair of peppers Carmagnola (TO)
Carmagnola, end of August: a large "salle à manger"held in the main square in order to taste the local delicacies, but above all to compete with "peperonata" (a dish made of tomato sauce, onion and red or yellow peppers, which is difficult to digest).

Tuttomele Cavour (TO)
November: hundreds of different kinds of apples on show sold to the public, typical Piedmontese products, guided tours through the local orchards, themed menus in the restaurants and tasting of apple fritters.