The Food Valley, the area between Parma, Piacenza and Reggio Emilia is a triangle where it is easy to get lost among unique tastes and tastes, able to create an experience of the palate with a thousand shades that can continue at home. Here are the places and cooking classes to follow in the Tourist Destination Emilia where you can learn the secrets of the Food Valley gastronomy.
Emilian cooking schools
At the Castle of Gropparello, on the hills of Piacenza, the fantasy that inspired the birth of the first emotional park in Italy has always extended to the stoves. Throughout the year, workshops and masterclasses are organised to create real taste professionals.
In particular, in a territory like that of Piacenza – one of the most rich areas of DOP meats in the country – there was no shortage of a course to learn how to taste the salami and the local sausages correctly.
At the cost of 10 euros per person, you can cross the drawbridge from newbies and then go out as great knights of taste, in possession of all the notions necessary to distinguish the characteristics of a great product, thanks to the knowledge transferred in sessions of tastings and analysis organized in collaboration with the Consorzio dei Salumi Piacentini.
For those who have always dreamed of being with their hands in pasta, Maestro Travel Experience and Parma City of Gastronomy instead dedicate a fun group lesson to learn the secrets of the first handmade dishes that typically open dances on the table of Tourist Destination Emilia.
Produced by an authoritative local cook, TASTYCOOK is an authentic Italian cooking experience, a full immersion between doughs, teas and good food in which to learn all the stages of the preparation of culinary classics such as peat tortelli, the stuffed pasta of the Parmesan tradition with ricotta and bietole and fresh tagliatelle with the characteristic ingredients of the territory. Needless to say that the closure – as from script in a city that works so much but also loves to eat well – is reserved at the time of tasting of the dishes obtained, accompanied by an excellent local wine.
From 16:00 to 18:00 every day between Monday and Friday, with meeting at Maestro Travel Experience in Parma (Via P. M. Paciaudi, 2/E, 43121), TASTYCOOK offers two hours of good mood and excellent cuisine at the price of 45 euros per person, including lesson in Italian and in English held by a professional from our bakery, ingredients and use of all the necessary tools, diploma of participation, apron wine in homage.
From what world and world, the most visceral and meaningful experience of a territory is the one that is made in close contact with who that place lives it every day.
The Cooking Experience proposed by Food Valley Travel & Leisure in Terre Emiliane brings taste explorers directly to an ancient family house on the green hills south of Parma, where balsamic vinegar has been produced for over 20 years and where Stefania has found the ideal place to work while enjoying herself and others sharing her experience in the kitchen, the result of a passion handed down by the grandmother – teacher of cakes – but also of the many trips in the culinary world.
The result is a private half-day cooking course in a unique and authentic environment for a minimum of two participants, at the price of 125 euros per person, including lunch based on prepared dishes, in combination with cold meats, two wines of the territory and homemade cakes.
Ideally following the Po with the tail of the eye, the real foodies then have the opportunity to take part in an authentic tour of taste between Piedmont and Emilia Romagna, or better between Alba and Parma, Creative Unesco City for Gastronomy.
In an alternation of temptations for the palate, chicche d’arte per gli occhi and sweet notes for the ears, Barolo, Barbaresco and Culatello di Zibello, Parmigiano Reggiano and Tartufo Bianco d’Alba, Nocciola Piemonte and Prosciutto di Parma tend the red thread of this full immersion of 7 days and 6 nights between typical flavors that cancel the borders of provinces and regions.
In program a cooking course with preparation of local menu, a lunch and two dinners in characteristic trattorias with tasting and drinks included in Piedmont, visits with tasting to a famous wine cellar in the hills of Barolo, to a small producer of cheese, to a winery of Piedmont IGP and the magical Castle of Grinzane Cavour, recognized UNESCO Site.
The Emilian side of the experience instead includes a lunch at a producer of Culatello di Zibello and a dinner in a typical Verdian Covo, visits to a dairy of Parmigiano Reggiano, to a producer of Prosciutto di Parma, to a maple specialized in the Balsamic vinegar of Reggio Emilia and an ancient cellar of Culatello di Zibello.
To complete the offer, also a lunch with tasting in the villa, a dinner in a restaurant in Parma with creative menu and participation in the cooking school "Mani in pasta" with final dinner.
Also in Parma, those who wish to rediscover the union between history and food and wine tradition cannot afford to miss the tour "Fornaio, Sommelier and Pasticciere in two days", organized by Parma Incoming in the ancient capital of the Duchy.
From the rudiments of natural bread making to rediscover the pleasure of working the flour and the mother yeast with their own hands, to the illustration of the notions to recognize and taste the colorful notes of the wines of the Colli di Parma, the one that is prefigured is a two days in a style of life centered on quality, that deepens the sweet secrets of the pastry and does not miss the organic lunches and visit to a historical point of Tuscany
