Salone Del Gusto 2010 - Torino, Italy

I was privileged to be able to attend Salone Del Guston in Torino, Italy this past October.  Salone Del Gusto is an exhibition of those sustaining the artisnal food trade.  The festival is a celebration of what we eat, and those who make it!

The festival included the following themes:

• Marketplace
• The Slow Food Presidia
• Enoteca
• Street Food
• Cocktail Bar

The Marketplace the exhibitors were themed by their regions and the regions where the foods were procuced.  Of course I was biased to one particular region...ITALY

Slow Food was a term I was not familiar with, but when I was explained the termniology of Slow Food I immediately inducted this new word into my food vocabulary.  The Presidia which are considered smaller producers of sustainable food such as cheeses, cured meats, sweets, vegetables, grains and other foods protected by Slow Food. 

Slow Food is a global grassroots organizaton with supporters in a 150 countries who link the pleasure of food with a communal and environmental committment.

Enoteca, the wine tasting pavillion, was remarkable...nothing like a permeable wine to cleanse your palatte after sampling a diverse mix of food. I felt like I was in an infinite wine bar with more wine than I could consume in an entire lifetime.

Street Foods - there was an array of vendors from every where including my country of choice ITALY, China, Sweden, France, Spain, and each had their spin on street foods...many of them being exotic in nature.

The Cocktail Bar, happened to be many of the attendees favorite.  The had bartenders from around the world showcasing their talents, throwing and catching liquor bottles and then making fabulous concoctions of liquors, liquerosas, fruity cocktail and exotic cocktails with ingredients I couldn't pronounce.