Real chicken soup (no, that's not Campbell's!)

Chicken soup the way we do it in the old country.
Nothing goes to waste. In fact, are you crazy? Throwing the stuff
away that adds the most flavour?! Don't be scared of that chicken
head and feet: it's all part of it, as is chicken breast fillet.

First we enjoy the stock with beautiful handmade pasta

And some more...

Then the Italians teach us foreigners a little trick:
add a splash of red wine to the broth

What can I say? Italians looove chicks!

To eat not too much, not too little, but just enough

I'm in Italy: the land of the good, the tasty and the plenty. If I was an actress who had to put on a lot of weight within a very short period of time I would definitely come here. There's not one moment in the day that one cannot eat in this country. Where ever you go, whatever you do, there is always food involved. And you know what? I love it! I've been here for just one month and my obsession with food has increased to the point that there are few moments in the day that I don't think about food. It's like a mad, all consuming love affair. 


But like passionate love, there comes a moment when you snap out of the warm, fuzzy day dream that has been dominating your life lately. I mean, you love being around the object of your affection, but really, you need a moment for yourself. Call it a breather. Before you overdose, you must lay off the excess and administer the right medicine in the appropriate dosage. But how do you go about it? Do you do it the tough way and go cold turkey? Or do you try to manage the situation by tempering your obsession?

I have to say it is kind of a luxury problem. Never in history did we have so much food so readily available as we do now. And what do we really need to do for it? It's not exactly like we are ploughing the land for twelve hours to then go home and take care of our six children. When my grandparents were young they had meat once a week and they would go out of their minds when it was someone's birthday and they could have cake. Only my great grand father was allowed to have a breakfast of several eggs, strong coffee and a shot of eau de vie. But this man was built like a giant with hands the size of shovels. It kinda makes sense when you think about it. 

I don't eat meat every day either. However, the reason for that is not that I can't afford it. In between such luxuries as holidays, seasonal clothes shopping and expensive tuition fees I am still able to find sufficient financial resources to eat well. I choose to eat animal protein in limited quantities because I believe it's healthier for a human being like myself to eat mostly vegetables, legumes and fruit. In Italy I'm in the right place as there is loads of fresh produce and the peasant kitchen is all about making do with what you have and that definitely isn't steak every night! 

So what is a girl to do when she's invited to a dinner with almost exclusively Italians? It's nothing special really, just four courses with the very best ingredients and lots of love added to it. The only thing is that the second course is served twice, for who's interested, which means everybody. Don't get me wrong, I love a good pasta, but after one plate I've had more than enough and I'm already struggling with the main (which is also a considerably large portion). And here you can't cheat with salad either, as it is served as a separate course. Even gelato doesn't come in size small, so I generally eat half and hope that my grandmother will forgive me for throwing away food. What would my grandmother do in my place? A trip down memory lane teaches me that she was one of the worst perpetrators of force feeding in my childhood. Food is a gift and must be cherished!!! 

Right... I wish she was here so I could show her the excess of food that's available these days. It wouldn't matter anyway. She lived through the war, she knew what it's like to go hungry and she was a trooper. You can't explain gluttony to a veteran like her. Just to get things straight, I'm not into diets or weight loss. A real woman eats and has curves. Full stop. What I'm philosophising about is whether we actually NEED to EAT so much. Which leaves me with one option really. Defend myself at the table for the remainder of my stay in Italy. Because I'm just going to do it my way. I will eat, oh yes Siree!!! Just not too much, not too little, but enough.

How OrganicSassy fell in love with food

My passion is Food. Real Food. Honest Food. Food is what defines us as human beings, as cultures, as identities. I believe quality Food is not only a primary life need; it is our birth right. Food is about flavour, best enjoyed in its unadulterated form. An Italian saying I whole heartedly agree with is: “Good food brings you a little bit closer to God”. Who that god might be can be left entirely to personal interpretation, but the point is that Food adds an extra dimension to life which I would not want to forgo in any case. I have been in love with Food all my life, even though Food and I got off to a rough start.

Food and I met on a cold winters day in 1980 in the picturesque city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I was born with an allergy to artificial food additives causing a nasty skin rash (eczema). Not exactly a great way to fall in love with Food, but my Hungarian mother, who is from the countryside, always cooked everything fresh and from scratch. However, when I would eat elsewhere (processed foods are extremely popular in the Netherlands) I would have a terrible outbreak of eczema within hours. Several visits to the hospital taught us what we already suspected; Food was playing a dirty trick on me!

During the holidays we usually went to my grandparents in Hungary, where all summer I took great joy and pride in harvesting fresh fruit and vegetables for the lunch and dinner table. My grandmother cooked on an old fashioned stove for which we had to chop wood. She would trade her fresh produce for a live chicken from the neighbour and dissect it in front of my eyes. Nothing in her kitchen went to waste and everything she made was delicious. Including offal that is. This wasn't just a big adventure for me, it also taught me the true flavour and true value of Food.

Back in the Netherlands I would ask my mother why Food there tasted so differently compared to the Food in Hungary. Chicken was tasteless, tomatoes were watery and sour, milk wasn't creamy. I missed the fresh produce, so I started my own little vegetable patch, every week digging out the carrots to see how much they had grown and carefully putting them back in the soil afterwards. Eventually I started questioning why and how the food industry could be allowed to sell products that were harmful to our health and wellbeing. No one could answer my questions. 

When I was eleven years old I read Anita Roddick's book about The Body Shop and I decided that I wanted to do work through which I could give back to the earth, animals and the community. Not much later, during my adolescence, I read about philosophy, history and politics. I never joined or supported any particular political movement, but I strongly believe that altruism and a strong social safety net should be the cornerstones of a civilised society. I convinced my family and friends to choose fair trade and organic products wherever possible. They did back then and still do now.

Not surprisingly, I got into the kitchen at a very young age and never really got out. I love growing Food, shopping for Food and the process of preparing Food to share with others. However, I didn’t become a chef as life had a different scenario in store for me. It all started with Slow Food and reading Michael Pollan's books. They gave me answers but also created more questions. I had to DO SOMETHING! Two years ago I started my own business in food marketing focusing on the niche market of local organic and artisanal Food. Today I am in Italy where I study at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. My love affair with Food was built to last...