Trips through flavor
A trip through Piemonte flavor continues with another product: the truffle, the precious tuber, star of the autumn season, to which numerous fairs are dedicated. The most anticipated event is the Fiera internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d’Alba (International Fair of the White Truffle d’Alba). Survivors of nights spent in secret gorges and valleys, present the fruit of their searches, true treasures from the earth, ready to thrill the five senses in a dish from the typical Piemonte cuisine.
Dedicated to connoisseurs in Borgo San Dalmazzo in the Cuneo province, the Fiera della Lumaca (Snail Fair) has been held for almost half a century, an event established by Emanuele Filiberto (Emanuel Philibert) in 1959. Also in the province of Cuneo, the Sagra del Porro (Leek Festival) in Cervere and the Fiera del Cappone di Morozzo (Fair of the Morozzo Capon) hold shop. The Fiera del Cappone di Morozzo, in particular, has ancient origins and is a wonderful event to honor the castrated young cock which has made the area between Cuneo and Mondovì the regional capital of the capon. Another typical product promoted every year in September is the pepper, the undeniable “star” of the Sagra del Peperone di Carmagnola, in the Torino province, an event enriched not only by opportunities to taste, but also by the cortege of the Re Povron (King Pepper) and the Bela Povronera (Little Pepper Beauty). Torino, instead, is the exclusive destination for chocolate lovers all year long, but for the Cioccolato event, one can taste it in all of its varieties at a delicious chocolate kermis that attracts all ages.
Finally, to “reveal” Piemonte cheeses to the world is the initiative “Le strade dei formaggi” (“The Street of Cheeses”), a series of tourist, gastronomic, and cultural trails on the hunt for the regional DOP delicacy, celebrated also as Cheese, the largest international review dedicated to quality cheese, a large market which includes hundreds of producers coming from five continents and who, in Bra, offer the best of their production.
The culture of food rooted in Piemonte has seen, over the years, the creation of structures to give young people new opportunities in the wine and food sector. The Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche, with its seat in Pollenza a few kilometers from Bra, is the only one of its kind on the world scene and has, as its objective, preparing graduates with high scientific and humanistic knowledge, able to work in production, transformation, distribution, and the promotion of food and drink on the international stage.
