TurinEpi 17 mindful eating

After plunging into fashion with Adriana Delfino, the Turin Epicurean Capital 2017 program listed a sensorial aperitif with psychologist Dott.ssa Lucia Andriolo at Associazione Qubi'.

Dott.ssa Lucia Andriolo giving us some technical information. Photo by Alberto Bonis

A sensorial aperitif is an aperitif where all our 5 senses can individually rejoice and we can follow them getting a deeper insight about food at 360 degrees.

Lucia gave us some information about how our bodies and brains elaborate food, how we create food memories, why certain foods have a bigger impact than others and why we, as animals, respond to certain stimuli like smell, color, taste, texture and sound.

Following Lucia's instructions Margherita Frari had prepared food samples to guide us through the individual senses and then through a mindful eating session.

Margherita Frari serving the pinzimonio sample. Photo by Daniela Brusaschetto

The first sense we explored was hearing: Lucia told us we can hear externally and internally and food makes high and low frequency sounds like the snapping of a grissino breadstick from Turin and the crinkling of a crisp carrot in our pinzimonio (in Italy we like to dip fresh raw vegetables into an EVOO and vinegar or lemon juice sauce).

Naturally our senses are all connected and sounds involve textures and colors or shapes.

Then we explored how our sight influences our choices with two fruit juices: usually people are more attracted by bright colors, like an orange juice but once we close our eyes, our palate opts for less acidic components like pineapple.

Our sense of smell was enticed with a tiny portion of traditional Piedmontese hand chopped Fassone beef paired with a ginger mayo.

Here we had the peppery hint of ginger contrasting with the creaminess of the mayo and the soft density of extra-lean raw Fassone beef. Such a high quality and lean teenage beef meat you don't need your teeth to chew it!

To single out our sense of touch, Margherita prepared two textures: a cannellini and garbanzo bean cream with crispy sausage. 

For the taste we had a sweet and savory combination that is quite uncommon in the Italian cuisine, but luckily we have many cheeses and honeys, and that's what Margherita prepared for us so that we could look at the colors and the shapes; we could sniff and touch, feeling the viscosity of the honey and the firmness of the cheese. Finally it was our tongue's turn to feel both textures and tastes and our sense of smell got enticed twice: externally and internally 😋

Finally, Lucia guided us through a full mindful eating session with a special food that grouped up all the qualities of the foods we had analysed separately and consequently all our senses!
Bar Gelateria Miretti donated us their special Malvasia wine sorbet made with Cascina Gilli Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco DOC wine.

This is a special Malvasia wine made with 100% of Malvasia di Schierano grapes that in nature are rare and highly aromatic. It has a very special red fruit and floral aromas, a gentle effervescence and it's ruby red!

Cascina Gilli Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco DOC

The sorbet magically keeps both aromas and the effervescence of the wine making it the perfect food to do a mindful eating session.

    

It often happens that we are stressed and distracted and we end up overeating or eating things we don't really feel like. Mindful eating is a zen practice that brings us back to the present and to our food. So during Lucia Andriolo's sensorial aperitif we closed our eyes, concentrated on our breathing, then our stomach and slowly, one by one we awoke our senses singularly till savoring this wine sorbet with such a full awareness that... we satiated our bodies and souls!

After the aperitif, the Turin Epicurean Capital guests stayed at Qubi' as Margherita had prepared a sumptuous buffet of meats, salads, cheeses, tapenades, desserts and wine.

just some of the many delicacies Margherita Frari prepared for us

some of the Turin Epicurean Capital 17 guests in a convivial moment

Everybody had an amazing time, our senses were definitely awaken and we all finally had the time to sit down all together and enjoy our time together.

As residents, we call this: THE Turin experience 😉


Thank you Lucia Andriolo for guiding us through our senses and expand our food appreciation!