My 15 Minutes of Fame.

or shame. I'm not sure. I blacked out. I couldn't tell you what I said. 

When we were organizing the Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto weekend, we were asked to sign up for our preferences on which meeting we wanted to attend to write a report about. We were also offered the opportunity to pick three different Taste Workshops or Meetings with the Makers in which we were asked to help out. For each of the three, if any, we had to write a little excerpt on why we wanted to participate and what we could contribute to it. I requested Hot! Hot! Hot! (I love spicy food), The Master of Barbaresco: Alberto di Gresy (I love Barbaresco), Luciano Pedettris 257,235 Cheeses (I love cheese).  Apparently I had done complimentarily well on our cheese exam and may or may not have been an influential factor in being chosen by our cheese professor, Cristiano de Riccardis for the Luciano cheese-maker one.  I was thrilled, but I was informed that the meeting was on Sunday at 7pm and the bus was leaving to go back to Colorno at 6:30. An opportunity not to be missed, I decided to stay. A couple days later, I received a hieroglyphic email from de Riccardis, but from what I could decode from the Italglish was that I had to speak in front of the attending audience for 15 minutes. 15 minutes?! me talk in front of people?! about parmigiano reggiano?! holy crap. not only did I have to pay for an extra night in Torino and find my own way home, I had to present in front of people? I thought I would be helping pass out cheese samples and pour some wine. Elbow scratching and hair pulling ensued as I made my way to the library to do some cheesey research. 

Eventually, Sunday arrived. 7pm arrived. I sat up on the little platform stage next to our professor, the cheese-maker and his wife, and a head guy from the Parmigiano Reggiano Consorzio. The crowd trickled in, maybe about 20 or 30 people, mostly middle-aged. As I read over my scribbled notes from the paper I had written in preparation, I laughed at the absurdity of it all.  de Riccardis introduced the cheese maker, who has been making cheese every day for 47 years, except for 6 days when he was sick, and Sunday, his 7th day to attend this meeting. He was so nervous and he's hilarious in his quirkiness, however, it wasn't quite so communicated through the translator.  He also appointed Naama as official photographer and would beckon her over to pose for pictures. Luciano talked about dedication to, pride in, and love of cheese making, then his wife chatted away about how such dedication to cheese making has had its hardships on personal and family life, and then the guy from the Consorzio took over and unfortunately described the tasting session, which is de Riccardis forte - he's the king of cheese and describing what he tastes and smells. Then it was my turn. I remember apologizing for being so nervous and then describing how my opinion of Parmigiano Reggiano has changed since living in Italy. But I don't have a clue what I said. I thought that I was going to go first and was ready to chat away, but going last and watching the audience throughout the hour, I felt as though I had to gage what they wanted to hear from me - regardless of what I had prepared. So, I think I tried to wrap it all together, to make sense of why we were listening to someone talk about his long dedication to cheese making and why I was even invited as a speaker.  de Riccardis was nervous throughout though because many head-of-the-department important people from the Consorzio were there and they wanted the cheese to be portrayed in a certain way so we had to be careful about what we said. I don't know if I said the wrong or right thing - I don't even know what that means in Consorzio terms - but Luciano beamed at me afterwards and invited me to visit his farm. 

being introduced.

Cristiano de Riccardis: Cheese Expert.

Posing.

Luciano Pedrettis: Cheese Maker.
such admirable dedication.

Parmigiano Reggiano and
wines from Camillo Donati in Arola, also near Parma.

hoping the audience is looking at the slide show behind me.
and hoping the translator is reading my paper instead of
translating what i'm blabbering about.

trying to remember to say parmigiano reggiano instead
of parmesan b/c the consorzio wouldn't approve.