Heute haben wir einen ganz besonderen Gastbeitrag für Euch. Der Amerikaner Mark Leslie erzählt uns von seinem Italienisch Sprachaufenthalt im Hause des Lehrers in Siena. Was für ihn mit einem normalen Italienisch Sprachkurs anfing, entwickelte sich zu einer wahren Leidenschaft der italienischen Kultur und Küche. Nach seiner Sprachreise in Italien, schrieb Mark ein Buch über die Italienisch Küche mit dem Namen "Beyond the Pasta" und führt regelmässig Blog zu seinen Erlebnissen in Italien.
Hier ein kleiner Eindruck aus seinem Aufenhalt in Italien (in Englisch):
Beyond the Pasta: Recipes, Language & Life with an Italian Family
Landing in a foreign country to live with family of strangers can seem like a daunting experience; however, after five minutes of being in the home of the Italian family I lived with for the month of August, standing next to Nonna (the grandmother) in her kitchen, nothing could have been more welcoming.
At my very first cooking lesson, Nonna, whether conscious or not, wowed me. Her first culinary trick was to show me how to de-bone a chicken while still leaving it whole. The process made me think of what an alien from outer space might do to a cow in a field in Iowa: remove the bones without ever cutting the cow open. I thought about sleeping with one eye open after seeing her expertise with a small paring knife.
Nonna is a very patient and thoughtful teacher. She does speak a word or two of English but nothing more than “okay,” “here,” “you,” and “more.” She never resorted to using the English words until it appeared obvious that I was completely lost. I knew it is going to make for an interesting learning experience.
Our lesson started with lots of pointing and “Guarda!” (“Watch!”) or “Capito?” (“Understand?”) The whole “extraterrestrial” skeletal extracting process took about twenty minutes. It involved making a series of cuts around the ends of the drumsticks, breaking joints and slowly extracting the bones from the flesh without ever cutting the carcass into pieces. For those who are squeamish, remember that in order to understand food, you have to get your hands into it. I am very comfortable in a kitchen and am confident enough to jump right in and get my hands dirty. Cooking is more than just taste. It is about using all of your senses throughout the entire process—that is how a nonna cooks. Nonna is a master of chicken anatomy and, although I might not be bashful in the kitchen, she certainly intimidated me with her skills.
As the weeks went on Nonna, her family and I developed more than just a friendship. Food was the gateway to a deeper understanding of our two cultures, the similarities and the differences, but beyond that, it was also an act of sharing that affirmed the fact that cooking can be an open expression of the heart. Over the course of that month, we fell in love with each other – the type of familial bond that can now never be broken.
In learning classic Italian family recipes from Nonna and a basic knowledge of the language from her daughter, I now have the taste and the ear for the Italian culture. But the most incredible thing I came away with from my now not so “daunting experience” was that I was given the gift of looking into the soul of a family and a nation.
Buon viaggio e buon appetito~
Mark
Hat dich der Artikel auch auf den Geschmack gebracht? Dann lies mehr über Mark Leslie, seine kulinarischen Erfahrungen in Italien und die vielen wertvollen Einblicke in die Kultur Italiens auf seinem Blog www.beyondthepasta.com. Oder überzeuge dich selbst vor Ort bei einem Italienisch Sprachaufenthalt.
