Homemade pasta is a very common dinner for families of Cagli, Italy. Photo by Sarah Gizzi
Della Terra Alla Piata
From the ground to the plate
Story by Matt Dixon
From large family meals all the way down to the smallest cup of espresso, Italians use only the freshest and finest of ingredients. Locals usually buy fresh fruit, meat, and bread in specialty stores daily for their meals, which traditionally include a large lunch known as pranzo and a small dinner late in the evening.
Gina Orazi, 63, prepares fresh pasta for her family.. Photo by Sarah GizziBecause Cagliese are concerned about the quality of their food, local vendors and shop owners cater to this desire. Bruno Pogliori sells fruit and vegetables in a small marketplace in town. Fruit arrives daily from southern Italy by refrigerated truck, and most of it is sold in a day or two. Any fruit that is not sold that day is kept in a cool, dark place. If the fruit isn’t sold within two or three days, it’s thrown out (about 10 percent). The fruit is not refrigerated overnight because repeated temperature changes would ruin it.
The fruit comes from southern Italy because the land around Cagli and the Marche region does not produce fruit well. The changes in humidity and temperature make it difficult to grow fruit in the area. If it gets too hot too quickly, the fruit can dry up leaving a bad harvest
Various cooperatives for each industry maintain the high quality of the food. The Cooperativa Agricola tra Coltivatori comprises 20 cattle farms from the area surrounding Cagli. The meat from these 20 farms not only feeds the regular customers of the butcher shops but also the local hospital, nursing home, and firehouse.
Because these farmers sell their meat as a group, each farmer takes a turn collecting cattle from all the farms on the way to the slaughterhouse. Before animals are slaughtered, a veterinarian examines them. He checks the overall health of the animal as well as the presence of steroids, hormones, or other chemical enhancers. In the Cagli area farmers do not use any steroids: everything is grown naturally, even the grain used to feed the cattle.
In the fall the pigs graze on acorns, and they are fed grains throughout the rest of the year. They are not allowed to eat anything other than grains and acorns. Because pigs, as well as cattle and sheep, are raised naturally, the meat they produce is high in iron. This high iron content comes from the iron in their diets and produces very dark meat. While the high iron content is the sign of a quality product, recently some customers have begun to prefer lighter colored meat and some butchers use a process the lighten its color.
During the mad cow scare, the meat from the butchers of the Cagli cooperative was sold out for three years. Because the farmers were able to guarantee the high quality and the origin of the beef, their product was in high demand.
Produced by Maggie Wilson
In May the cows are taken up into the mountains where they can graze. Although the cattle are fenced in, they are allowed to roam and live as natural a life as possible, which makes for great beef.
Since 1956 the Coldiretti, a union of farmers, has been active in the preservation of their craft and craftsmen. This cooperative distributes funding from the European Union to farmers based on factors such as the crops they grow and the farming zone they are in. The funding helps keep farmers where they are, which helps ensure a legacy of quality and also keeps the cities from becoming overcrowded. The cooperative also provides a pension fund for farmers. Alessio Ferri, a local administrator for the Coldiretti, says that if a farmer’s wife, for example, would like to open up a store or a business of her own, the cooperative would help get her started as long as she stayed in the area of the farm.
The area surrounding Cagli produces mostly grains and legumes such as sunflowers, lima beans, and grass for cattle. Truffles are also a part of the area’s produce. Because it is mountainous, farming is considered extensive agriculture as opposed to intensive agriculture where more crops can be grown in a smaller area of land. Ferri explains that the land in Fano, a large town on the east coast of Italy about 30 miles away, can produce over twice as many crops in the same amount of space.
A combination of family and food makes for the perfect meal. Photo by Sarah Gizzi
The Coldiretti also helps fight political battles to protect farmers and their products. Only about 1/3 of all foods sold as being grown in Italy actually are. Part of this has to do with the way products are labeled. When a wine is named after a region it was not produced in, it is not authentic. Food produced in Italy with non-Italian ingredients is also difficult to classify. One kind of mozzarella produced in Italy is actually made with milk from Germany. The Coldiretti fights for proper labeling and certification of Italian-made products to protect not only farmers but consumers as well.
At the Macellaria, or butcher shop, a certificate on the counter lists several things about the meat: the age of the cow, the date it was slaughtered, the farm the cow came from and the origin of the type of cow. This certificate lets the customer know exactly what they are getting.
While locals have a particular appreciation for freshness, they do not rely on just vendors and merchants. Many Italians take freshness into their own hands by having small private gardens for herbs and a few vegetables. Emidio Orazi has a small garden in addition to about twenty chickens that he feeds grain certified by the Coldiretti.
Maria Enrichetta Pompili better know as Ketti and owner of Alimentare, a wine and cheese shop in Cagli, knows a thing or two about freshness. She has taken courses and earned certifications for coffee, cheese, and wine from various organizations. Ketti also helps guide customers through tastings held at the restaurant. Her customers and many Italians, have the same appreciation for quality in the restaurant as they do at home. As she says, eating food is about quality, not quantity.
Web production by Charlotte Sieggreen
