Food.

I have already in my one month of being here experienced many wonderful foods. I have never eaten so much and I have never felt better in my life. Today I had another amazing food adventure that I doubt I will ever forget. I debated whether I should just write about this experience along with the others from my day or whether to write about it seperately. I think it deserves its own post.

Today we travelled to a little town called Panzano in Chianti for lunch at Dario Cecchini's restaurant "Solociccia". Solociccia means "Only Meat" and that is what we ate for 3 hours.

There are only two seatings, 7pm and 9 pm, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and one seating at 1 pm on Sunday for lunch.

There are a few different tables in the restaurant, each sit about 20 people, we sat upstairs and were the first ones at the table:

It was beautiful.

You do not order from a menu you simply eat what Dario decides to cook for that day. There is a menu of what will be served but I chose not to look at it and instead be completely suprised at what would appear and how long the meal would last. I didn't read it till I got home. On one side of the paper was the menu and on the other side was this:

This is the home of a butcher.

All that you will eat is the fruit of my work and that of my family.

You will not coose from a menu, though you will be treated well, and with great respect, if you return the favour. You will eat at the communal table, together in "convivio".

There will be six meat courses, chosen at my discretion, with seasonal vegetables, white beans with olive oil, focaccia, bread, cake, coffee, a quarter liter of our own wine, and after-dinner liqueurs.

All of the above is to be had for 30 Euro, with nearly 2 hours at our table, at the end of which you will turn over your seat to the next guests. We do not serve steak.

That pretty much explains the whole meal and the experience.

I am filled with great hope when I eat with a group of people who do not know each other but can spend 3 hours enjoying each other's company with no akwardness and no fear. It is there sitting around a table full of food and laughing people that I truly know everything will be alright
In the middle of the meal Dario came out to shake all of our hands and say "Bon Appetito" and...

"EAT MEAT!" He is a character.

I was so sad to leave that room. And to leave that security and happiness I felt for 3 hours. I would have gone in and done it all over again right away.

But I still feel that hope. I hope that I will be able to eat at Dario's at least once more, I hope that you can too feel how amazing it is to be surrounded by strangers and food, and although it is a tall order, I hope the world can realize that everyone needs to eat and that this is what makes us all the same, as James Beard said "Food is our common ground, a unversial experience".

Bon Appetito.