Truffling, Slow Food, and Eating Through Italy with Chef Art Smith

A trip to Tuscany and Piedmont to truffle-hunt, attend the Slow Food festival, and eat mind-meltingly good Italian food and embarrassing amounts of truffles with my pal Art Smith, led me to write an essay about the experience for the terrific online travel magazine Roads and Kingdoms. Adding to my good fortune, the piece was shortlisted for an Italy Magazine blog award.  Voting is over, but you can read it here.  Grazie!

Me, truffle hunter Mauro Greco, Art Smith - mystery location in Tuscany

Olive harvest outside Livorno

Lots more coming from my Italian adventure with Art Smith, but a quick peek at the Tuscan olives we helped to harvest... You can see that I am a natural at raking the trees of their fruit. Learned from our hosts at Lucini that the best time of year to pick olives is the mid-fall, just as they are turning from green to black. Most pronounced peppery olive flavor, and most nutrients.