THE TASTE OF A MULTI-ETHNIC CITY

Interview with Chef Kumalè, a chef and world cuisine expert,(www.ilgastronomade. com), by Silvia Calvi of www.digi.to.it.

What are your gastronomic suggestions to the young people who are going to come to Turin from all over Europe?
Along with Milan and Rome, our city boasts a national record in the "ethnic" field, both for the large number of ethnic restaurants and for their quality. Indeed you can easily "have a journey around the world" by strolling along the streets and bazaars of San Salvario; moreover you can smell and taste international aromas and flavours while browsing through the many stalls of Porta Palazzo.
The itinerary of a young tourist should really start from this area to discover alternatively traditional cooking habits and new ones, local and foreign dishes, the former taking inspiration from the territory, the latter bringing new ideas to our cuisine. A stroll through the farmers' market during a misty winter morning will enable you to enjoy the taste of a place like "Porta Pila" (Porta Palazzo), deeply rooted to its genuine rustic Piedmontese traditions, which have remained unchanged for centuries.
But if you go round the corner and get into the closed food market - especially where they sell cheese and cold pork cuts - you'll realize how deceptive your first impression was. A panorama of "soppressata" salami, "caciocavallo" cheese and "pecorino" cheese will unfold before your astonished eyes, a clear synonym of the Mediterranean diet which started to appear on Turin's gastronomic scene in the sixties. Traditions from Basilicata, Sardinia and Apulia came to the north along with the FIAT labourers, sealing the union between the South and the North which still characterizes our eating habits, as well as the ones of the young Turinese.
But you haven't heard the last of this! Getting out of the food market, just look around to discover the huge quantity of ethnic food in every corner of piazza della Repubblica: colourful stalls selling every sort of spices, Arabian restaurants, Chinese restaurants and Rumanian specialities seem to be the natural completion of what was previously described. So my advice is: get carried away by this great gastronomic variety, by touring around these coexisting multi-ethnic roots. There are many ethnic or traditional restaurants in Turin which are worth a stop for a meal.

What about some addresses?
Don't be frightened by the shop signs printed in strange alphabets, follow your curiosity and allow your palate to try unusually pleasant experiences. To couscous lovers Porta Palazzo offers a lot of very good restaurants, which place Turin second after Trapani for the diffusion and the high quality of this speciality.Without leaving this neighbourhood, we recommend you "Le Grand Maghreb" (piazza della Repubblica, 24) and "Cartagine", where you can try delicious Moroccan specialities at reasonable prices. On your way to San Salvario, exactly in the posh central area, you can find the renowned "Kirkuk Kafè" (via Carlo Alberto, 16/b), wellknown among people who are keen on Turkish and Greek cuisine. When you arrive in Porta Nuova area, don't miss "Gran Bazar delle Spezie" (via San Pio V, 2F).
This delicatessen is suitable for all palates. Still worth mentioning in San Salvario, "Mar Rosso" (via S.Pellico, 8/b) - for those who love African cuisine - and the cheap but good sushi bars, which are really numerous in this district.

So, when does food turn into conviviality and cultural open-mindedness? What is the ideal way of having a meal? What are the advantages of choosing a "multiethnic" meal?
I'll refer to an interview with a primary school pupil, who was asked if he liked eating couscous at his school canteen. I still remember that I was surprised by his reply. He said: "Yes, but I prefer the couscous my mother prepares and serves with agnolotti". Isn't it a sure sign that food can diminish the gap between different cultures? Sitting all at the same table to eat dishes from different countries is the first step for getting to know each other much better. A typical example is "kebab", so popular among young people that it can well compete with McDonald's in the field of street food. Now kebab is one of the gastronomic habits of the young Turinese and a Piedmontese version of this speciality can also be eaten: in fact at the well-known sandwich booth in piazza Adriano you can have a tasty kebab sandwich exclusively filled with meat branded COALVI (an association of cattle breeders). This is only an example of the mixing of cultures in the culinary field today present in Piedmont, where it is also possible to have sushi and couscous cooked with local products.

If you had to choose an international easily cooked dish, which one would you suggest to our readers?
I think that Taboulé, a French-Maghrebi dish with "pied-noir" origins, is the perfect example of integration carried out through cookery and culture. Perfect match of Provencal ingredients and tradition with typical Arabian cooking methods, this speciality, a colourful dish to be served cool, is particularly appreciated in summer. The ingredients for a single home-made portion are 50-80 g. of couscous, a "cuore di bue" tomato, some lemon juice, a handful of "Taggiasche" olives, two leaves of parsley, some peppermint from Morocco, a green or yellow pepper from Carmagnola, raisins, a red Tropea onion, extra virgin olive oil and salt. First soften the couscous semolina in water with some lemon juice, so that it doesn't go lumpy.
Dice the vegetables and then mix everything seasoning with olive oil as if it were a cold salad. The dish can also be presented on lettuce leaves with some side cold sauces to be added at will.
A really fresh, young and tasty recipe which, thanks to all its genuine Italian local ingredients can carry the mind and the heart of the tasters across the sea and over the Alps.