Regional Pride Two Greedy Italians

'I am Antonio Carluccio. I grew up in the sophisticated north of Italy.

'I left 50 years ago, but I still love it dearly.

'Now I am returning with my old friend Gennaro.'

'I am Gennaro Contaldo. I am from the sun and the sea of the south.'

'Our love of food brought us together.'

Boy, I'm cooking so good!

'And has kept us together, just.'

That's lovely. OK, go and cook.

'Since we left Italy, a lot has changed

'and we have come back to see if the food has changed too.'

Quite an expensive tomato, in one bite.

'And maybe discover something even we didn't expect.'

BOTH: Oh!

Don't move! Don't move!

Yeees!

'Of course, we'll be cooking some fantastic food.'

'And eating.'

It's a dream of a tart.

-Italia.

-Chin, chin to you.

-You really done well.

-Thank you.

'This week, we have come to my region - Piemonte -

'where traditional beliefs are being challenged

'by new modern culture's influence.'

'We are here to see if regional pride is as strong as I remember.'

CHANTING AND SINGING

'I'll be introducing Gennaro to some lovely new friends.'

Gennaro, you have a prince there. Try to kiss it.

'Nothing is safe with Antonio' around.

A delicacy. Fantastic.

'We're discovering foods new to Italy.'

Chinese pumpkin, I can't believe it!

I'm sorry, it's not a risotto.

'And the journey will bring the differences

'of north and south to the surface.'

You can't say anything in front of a cheese like this.

No, you're right.

Viva l'Italia!

'You could say there is no such things as Italian cuisine.

'Each of the 20 regions has totally different ways of cooking,

'created by the geography, culture and invaders.

'We have come to my region, Piemonte,

'where there's some of the richest food in Italy.

'It's one of the most diverse regions.

'It has miles of flatlands,

'surrounded by the beautiful Alps mountain range.

'This is my hometown, Borgofranco.'

We have here the church where I was singing,

in a little choir.

And we were eating the unblessed breads in the sacristy. Very naughty.

And today,

it's a sort of wedding

with a bridesmaid...

Antonio, did you used to be dressed like the little girls there?

-Yes, obviously.

-Yeah, all right.

And here's coming the bride.

CHEERING

I spent a lot of my youth in these balmetti -

summer houses below the mountains.

It was the ideal condition to keep wine.

-Yeah.

-And to keep cheese and all that.

But they keep it for festivity, they bring a little bit of bread

and it's fantastic.

-So this is just the right place for me and you?

-Yes.

'These are all my friends and family.'

There goes my love.

'This happens every time I come home.'

-Belinda. Come stai?

-Bene...

THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN

'Ah. this is a welcome tradition.'

HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

That's how you drink it in the balmetti.

You receive a big glass, you say cheers,

you drink a little bit and then you take it around.

Gennaro, sorry, me first.

Yeah, I know it's your...

Drink a little bit of wine, Antonio, go on.

-Salute a tutti, eh?

-Salute!

-Here, Gennaro.

-You have a little bit more.

No, no, pass it on. Pass it on.

There's a real friendship.

'Now time to show a real friend my pride and joy -

'the food I grew up with.'

Oh, my goodness me!

This is the real Piemontese style. This is the vitello tonnato.

-Yeah.

-You know that, then?

-Yeah.

-They are small cheeses of sheep

with chilli, garlic and oil.

And then we have here, this one?

And this is ox tongue.

Show me, show me. Yeah! I've got it.

Then this is potato salami.

I have to say I never ate a potato salami.

This is half potato, half pork. It is fantastic.

It's tasting good. But do you know what?

There's no vegetable on this table.

There are some. First of all, there's potato in the salami.

Well, potatoes everywhere.

Secondly, there's pepper here.

Look at this. You can't say anything in front of a cheese like this.

No, you're right.

Gennaro, you taste a little bit of this cheese,

you will forget all your silly vegetables.

This is why up to the north that everyone is...

Ah, because in the south, there are no fat people.

I never said fat, I never said the word.

You go to Rome, they have a circumference like this.

Well, Rome is halfway in Italy.

Eat that and then tell me what you think about it.

Mmm. I start to love the north. I really do!

A cheese made in heaven.

Salute! Salute a tutti.

It's wonderful to see so many people around a table

and it is the real joy of sharing Italian food,

because you share it with friends, relation. Just fantastic.

I include Gennaro, because he's from the south

but he has also too, I would think, from time to time.

-Gennaro, cheers for you too.

-Cheers for you.

Almost nothing has changed here.

The food is exactly the same as when I was a tiny boy.

This is what regional pride is all about,

food which brings back memories and a sense of belonging.

Regional pride is in the Italian blood.

Italy was only created just 150 years ago.

Before then, it was separate states

which were always fighting each other.

And through times of war, the first things a town would defend

was the bell tower, or campanile.

That's why even now us Italians have a word for regional pride -

"campanalismo".

Look at the campanile.

This, my dear Gennaro, is the symbol of all the campanalismo in Italy.

Symbolising all the culture, the language.

'And of course, the food.

'I'm prepared to fight dirty to defend the food of my region.'

What is this here?

A tomato.

Tomato comes from south of Italy, Antonio.

Antonio! Who is that man on top there? Look, can you see?

-Which one?

-The one on the window there?

There's no man there.

Who is that?

-What is it?

-Who is throwing bloody tomatoes here?

Another one there. I want to see clear here, who is that?

It's unbelievable.

No!

The lovely campanalismo? No, the south.

That's good.

You can see campanalismo played out every year in Asti,

a small town in the heart of Piemonte.

Asti's Palio is the oldest horse race in Italy.

It celebrates a medieval war against Asti's historic enemy,

the nearby town of Alba.

Nowadays though, it's competition between the 21 different rioni -

or neighbourhoods - of Asti itself.

For weeks before the race, each town quarter

hangs banners and flags and plots its victory.

The whole town is completely taken over by the build-up to the big day.

The night before the race, each neighbourhood holds a dinner

to boost up their jockey and prepare him for battle.

Gennaro is with Tanaro, a poorer district on the outskirt of town.

-Buona sera, come stai?

-Buona sera, bene.

THEY CHAT IN ITALIAN

Tanaro are the favourite to win the race.

Bellissimo!

This neighbourhood is poor people,

while the San Secondo is snob people.

San Secondo - Antonio is there! Yes, he is a little bit snobby.

But tomorrow, we must have fight with San Secondo.

Tomorrow... Believe me,

me and Antonio's gonna be like that. I'm going to punch him.

I am supporting Tanaro's arch-rivals San Secondo

from the posher side of town.

My place, you know, it's the kitchen

and I would like to see what happens there. Yes!

THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN

So this is cabbage leaves and inside there is meat,

sausage and Parmesan cheese, its called capunet.

Mmm.

Wonderful!

The smell... It's just unbelievable how clever they are,

because the sauce is going to be butter and sage.

So if I impregnate all the flavour like that of the sage,

it will be fantastic.

'I'm working out as usual - no time for me to eat.'

'I have assigned myself the role of quality control.'

This is the most sort of known dish here from Piemonte,

this insalata di carne cruda.

And it's a sort of raw beef salad.

You know you can be obsessive with hygiene, this is fantastic.

Unbelievable.

Tanaro!

CHEERING

-San Secondo!

-JEERING

Antonio Carluccio!

JEERING

'The climax of the ceremony is to present the jockey

'with a racing shirt for tomorrow.'

'There is no flash ceremony here, just love and passion.

'I spoke to the jockey, he looked a little bit scared.

'Don't worry, I said, you know tomorrow's going to be

'a very good day for you and then he looked at me

'and he said to me, "I hope so!"

'Cos he's really scared, believe me.'

'I find it very touching that a group of people...

'They believe in something...

'very, very strong.'

This is a typical Italian campanalismo,

where a small region, a small group of people,

they believe very healthily to be better than the other.

My God, I hope he wins tomorrow, can you see how many people sing

and then scream and they're drinking wine.

Can you imagine if he lose tomorrow?

You know what? He's going to win. Because if he's winning, I won

and Antonio lost!

Arrivederci, bye-bye. He can't say anything any more.

'On the big day, the whole town turns out in Piazza Alfieri

'to cheer from the heart for their horse

'and their district.'

'This is the biggest event of the year. Everyone wants to win.

'This is modern day campanalismo.'

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

-Antonio, shall we do a bet?

-OK, yeah.

So if Tanaro wins, you owe me a truffles.

If San Secondo win, I owe you a truffles.

And if they both don't win, what happens?

We going to eat the truffle!

Shake hands. It's done.

TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT

The race is dangerous, the jockeys ride bareback.

The pride of each district is at stake.

STARTER GUN FIRES

CHEERING AND EXCITEMENT

HE CHEERS

Antonio - "You come from the south, you have to lose.

"You lose, you lose." You know what? I won!

Antonio!

And so what? I lost a truffle!

When Italy became one big country in 1861,

the regions may have united politically,

but they certainly didn't gastronomically.

Campanalismo nowadays is all about pride in the food from your area

and there's something here in Piemonte that we are justly proud of.

And something Antonio has promised to buy for me.

After all, a bet is a bet!

In early winter, every year in this small square in Asti,

deals are done involving hundreds of thousands of euros.

This happens nowhere else in Italy.

It's unique to this area, my area.

We have come to meet my old dealer, Sandrino.

They're just like gold.

'Ah, truffles.'

Sandrino is more or less the king of the truffles here in Asti.

He was delivering to me for many, many years, personally,

for my restaurant in London

and is known to have only fantastic, fresh stuff.

He was very clever to buy from people like this gentleman here.

How big they are....

SPEAKS ITALIAN

He just said be very, very careful. Very valuable.

Treat them like a baby.

You were dealing just like a potato, Gennaro.

Here, no cheques. No credit card.

Only cash.

-How much you pay for these truffles?

-700 euro for one kilo.

It is, for me, memory of childhood.

November, fog. Little dog going around, sniffing away.

And I always was having a little one to bring home.

It was fantastic.

These truffles come from Asti,

but are known around the world as the white truffles of Alba.

This is because Asti's ancient enemy

launch an aggressive global PR campaign in 1950s.

A clever example of campanilismo.

No. He said he don't have any, he's got a box full inside.

'That is because Gennaro is an outsider here.

'This is my area, so only I can do a deal.'

The intensity of the smell, that's what you look for,

because when you cut it in thin slices to flavour something,

you have to have the maximum flavour.

THEY BARTER IN ITALIAN

So there are one very large and three small one,

and altogether 160 euros, vey special price.

In London, it would easily double.

One of my favourite recipes with truffles

is pasta with chicken livers and white truffle.

A real typical dish of Piemonte.

Wow!

-Antonio.

-Yes?

-I'm not used to this bicycle.

-Yes, I know.

-But this is all for the love of food.

-But you are very useful.

-What do you mean I'm very useful?

Because you bring me something, probably.

-Yeah. Smell first.

-Ah!

Ah! You got a shock.

So what did my good friend bring?

Ah!

-Oh, that's fantastic.

-My truffle.

OK, we use it.

-Do you know what I'm doing here?

-What are you doing?

Tagliolini with fegatini. Just fantastic.

It's extremely simple. Some wonderful butter, and it's unsalted butter.

Then I put chopped onions. Meanwhile, you prepare the chicken livers,

and you cut in small cubes like this.

You know, this is really cuisine morph, morph, my type of cuisine.

-Who is morph?

-It's minimum of fuss, maximum of flavour. You don't know it yet?

-Now I know. After all these years, I should know that.

-Yes.

Now I put this stuff in it, which is the chicken livers.

-Into the butter.

-It goes so quickly. Did you put enough salt in the water?

I'm going to use it now. Yes! I will put enough salt inside there.

In the pasta that hasn't been cooked like this, it taste of nothing.

So now it's just a little bit of wine, and this is fortified wine.

If you have a little bit of sherry, sherry would be very good.

Little salt and a bit of pepper.

Now we grate just a little bit of the truffle

to give fantastic smell.

And a little bit there because the rest will be on top.

-Shall I put the pasta inside?

-Put the pasta in, lovely.

It cooks about one and half minute like this when it's fresh pasta.

And give me also a little bit of the water, a couple of teaspoons.

This is a little trick to make the pasta very moist,

and in the water here just a little bit of butter for reason of...

make it creamy, a little bit creamy.

-That's fantastic.

-I can't wait to eat it.

Yes. Now let me see.

Just about.

-And now the piece de resistance. Ah!

-Come on!

-A little bit more.

-Every slice is about £5, you know.

-Ah, bless you!

And now something else. A lovely Parmesan cheese.

Gennaro, this is a dish for kings and pigs, they say,

because the truffle is liked by the pigs and the kings the same.

-So what do you prefer to be?

-Antonio, I'll be the king.

-Yeah, yeah.

-You be the pig!

-Sure, you would!

Now we peruse here. Be delicate, have a little spoon.

Not just like peasant, like this.

You mind your own business. Only reason why, because you can't do like I do it.

Only somebody in the south of Italy can eat like this.

At least they can eat. You're very greedy when you eat this.

Don't talk to me about greediness

-because you can show quite a lot on your...

-Yeah!

-..tummy.

Well, I lost it.

I don't think you have any mirror inside your house, Antonio.

I don't care, it's delicious.

Well done.

For once in your life, you show me you can cook something.

OK, you viewer, you can go because we are busy now.

Thank you. Goodbye!

MUSIC: "Una Furtiva Lagrima"

I think my region Piemonte is the most beautiful

and distinct in the country.

It has the most diverse and surprising cuisine.

Things grown here are not found anywhere else in Italy,

or even Europe, like risotto rice. And this region is its capital.

You know, Gennaro, this is a fantastic area.

Full of paddy fields.

And how many people know that Italy produces rice?

I can't believe that this is Italy!

You see the mountain down there? The Alps, they bring a lot of water, very good for cultivating rice.

That's why the area here is supposed to be for long time

the world capital of rice.

They produce about 55% of all the rice that we use in Europe.

-Ha!

-Yeah.

-55%?

55%, that's quite a lot.

It's quite a lot of rice.

This special Carnaroli risotto rice is protected by EU law.

It has "protected designation of region" or DOP.

It can only be sold under the name Carnaroli

if it's actually grown in this region,

it all comes from regional pride.

We Italians have more legally protected foods than any other country.

Parmesan, mozzarella and balsamic vinegar are other examples.

The regions today use the law to fight their battles.

This area is also very unique for something else only found in this part of Italy.

Tomorrow, we are going fishing.

Gennaro, tell me one thing, what is the umbrella for?

Ah, ah, ah, that is a secret.

-But first it help you to walk.

-Yes.

-You know.

-Secondly?

-Defend yourself.

-Yes, and then?

And then Her Majesty carry the umbrella.

Thank you, thank you.

OK. And then what does she do? In case you are too hot.

Very good.

The main thing I use this umbrella for is to catch a frog.

-No!

-What do you know?

-You catch a frog with your umbrella.

I catch a frog with umbrella.

I am speechless. I am speechless for your silliness.

I really want to see what happens now. Come on.

-Let's do it.

-Shall we go?

-I'll show you.

For centuries, frog-fishing has happened

-in this small pocket of Italy.

-Yes, you heard me correctly. Frogs!

These crazy northerners eat anything as long as it's local.

-Bongiorno.

-Bongiorno.

THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN

What is the bait?

Can you understand?

He uses a very small frog because they are carnivorous,

they eat each other.

He's 82 years old and he started when he was nine,

so all the time, he was fishing those frogs.

Well, you see, it's got same age of Antonio.

Hey! Where's my umbrella? L'ombrello!

THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN

Hey, Antonio, this is how we do it! Come on! Where are you trying to go?

Yeah, you didn't believe me. Look.

Look!

A wonderful song from the festival.

THEY HUM ALONG TOGETHER

THEY SING AN ITALIAN SONG

This is Piemonte. It's very similar to the French.

And it praises somebody that, during the day he was working,

and in the night was going fishing frogs.

That's a very big one, look at this.

Wow! Gennaro, you have a prince there. Try to kiss it.

Frog-fishing is unique to this area in Italy,

and they are tastier than you think.

Well, when in Rome, or Piemonte, to be precise...

Oh! How wonderful.

Just a coating of egg and flour, delicious.

She said they're well made.

At this time of the day she said they're even better.

Fantastic.

Before we leave my home town, there's one very, very special place I must visit.

Ah!

50 more years ago, almost 60 years ago. Unbelievable.

I lived here at the station for more than 20 years.

My papa was a station master and we came to Piemonte in 1937,

when I was just seven months old.

There was the kitchen, the loo up there.

Now it's derelict. That's unbelievable.

Here was a peach tree.

All the people, when they were stopping here,

were getting the peaches. It was...stop!

But in 1960, when I was 22, tragedy hit our family.

My little brother Enrico drowned in the lake. He was 13 years-old.

And that was very, very bad, very sad, very...

I don't know what I thought at the beginning,

but I remember on the day he died,

I concentrate myself in cooking.

I went to the market and I bought about a kilo of anchovies in salt.

And I desalted, and sort of take the bone, I prepared all filets,

I chopped a lot of parsley, a lot of parsley,

a little bit of garlic and chilli,

and...salsa verde, which is an anchovy in a green sauce.

And that was my way to cope with the situation,

because I was all day engaged in doing that.

And that was the first time that food appeared to be

a therapeutic thing, because it is therapeutic.

Cooking is a wonderful thing.

The death of Enrico was my main reason for leaving Italy in 1961.

I had two brothers.

Carlo still lives in the area, and has come to meet me at the station.

This is my elder brother, five years elder.

One of the most wonderful things is that you reminded me that, as a child,

I was sent by my mother down to the office

to see if the train would depart on time,

so that she could throw the pasta into the water,

so that when Papa was coming up for lunch, it was perfect.

Ciao!

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

But while Mama served us Italian staples like risotto and polenta every day,

foreign influences were embraced in this part of Italy, too.

Many of my recipes have been inspired

from Piemonte's neighbouring country.

Apfelstrudel.

TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN

-No, you didn't even understand what I said?

-Yeah.

I said that you didn't know that I can speak German.

Try to me. Try to me in German, and I will answer.

-Do the apfelstrudel.

-Was is das?

The apfelstrudel.

THEY BOTH LAUGH

I love it!

Yeah. Yeah.

Now, this is a sort of dessert apple which has been cut in cubes,

and I just spare you the cutting and chopping.

Then they come, about three tablespoon of raisins...

..then 100g of sugar... This is about 100 grams, you know.

50 each, there you are.

Add four teaspoons of cinnamon and a bit of butter, 50g.

-What shall I do with that?

-Unsalted butter.

You keep it there, because you have to put it in the pot and melt it.

And now, Gennaro, to you the honour of grating a little bit of the orange...

-and put the juice of the orange in it as well.

-Thank you very much. You always give me a nice job to do!

Now you put a bit of water, just 100g of water,

and then you put it on the stove to stew for about ten minutes.

OK, I will do that.

Fantastic, lovely.

And to this I'm going to add some breadcrumbs

to mop up the juices and make it a little bit more sort of...

-It's good.

-..Pliable.

So when you fill the filo pastry, it will be so juicy and so hold it better. OK?

There you are and now...

-What do you need?

-We mix it.

-What do you need here?

-A tablespoon!

It's a lovely thing to do this.

That's prepared now to be put in the pastry,

and for the first time, I use the easy option,

which is fantastic filo pastry.

And we take two sheets. Can I have the melted butter, please?

-There it is. All down here?

-Wonderful, yes. And we do this.

-Go on.

-Not too hot? No. And we brush it like this

-to give a bit of flavour and taste, and also to stick together.

-OK.

And then take another sheet and you put it on top of it.

Ah, look at this. It's just like silk.

-Again, a little bit of butter.

-Grazie.

And now we take the filling.

And you see we put a little bit here. It's enough for you, yes?

-Yep, that's enough, plenty for me.

-Good.

-You roll it very carefully. Put a bit of butter here.

-Thank you.

Then we turn it like this and we do a lovely little flower here.

Look how delicate German cooking can be.

-What flower you make with this one?

-I don't know!

And then it's possible to put a little bit of poppy seed.

Now, Gennaro, can you put it in the oven...

-Right.

-..for half an hour, 180 degrees.

Yep.

Good.

Ho-ho!

Oh, that looks wonderful. Can you put one there?

-Course I can. One there... Put this...

-Fantastic.

So the ice cream is for cooling down the temperature. Mmm, mmm!

And now, buon appetito!

-You got more than me.

-Yes, obvious.

-You can have the rest.

-You know why?

Mmm, I know why.

Mmm, very good.

So, the old German, they have the good invention, eh?

-Not bad, this foreign dish, Antonio.

-OK. Thank you.

Gennaro, do you know what it reminds me? Eating strudel?

Lovely years that I had in Vienna.

Why you went to Vienna?

A nice girl called Ingrid. Probably my first love in my life.

She was very beautiful, blonde, real Viennese...and...um...

What happened to that girl?

We left each other because it was too premature to get married. We were both very young.

I knew the way you was eating, and it was just, "Mmm..."

-Bring memory back.

-Gennaro, you are a genius.

All right, OK, all right!

-But do you know what?

-What?

50 years on, we are still good friends.

-That's good, and you still make the strudel together?

-No, she does it by herself.

THEY BOTH CHUCKLE

I'll trust you!

Very good.

Not only the best German dishes, but French cooking, too,

has made its way into Piemonte's cuisine.

We were ruled by the French Savoy dynasty for more than 800 years.

They left a legacy everywhere in the region's capital, Turin.

It's there in the language, the wide boulevards and the architecture.

-Ah, che bello!

-Finally!

Antonio, this is very nice. What is it?

It is the example of the influence of French food in Italy.

In Turin, they love to do little patisseries, similar to the French.

It's very delicate, very nice. Taste one.

I prefer the little baba. That's a real preservation of French.

-Baba.

-Le petit baba.

You find in the Piemonte, especially, an incredible amount of similar thing to France.

This is one of them, and many other things, including the ballet.

So it was a battle not only of the military sort of type, but also for food.

They tried to introduce their own food when they were here,

and they were taking it from the Piemontes, the food that they had.

-You eat this one!

-No, you eat this one.

-No, you eat this one!

So you can see how much Piemonte's cuisine has borrowed from its neighbours,

but at least the raw ingredients are 100% Italian.

This is Porta Palazzo market, in the heart of Turin.

As a treat, my mother would take me by train to Turin

and we would come to this market.

Gennaro... Brr-bbrrbr!

Everything you need to make classic Piemonte's food is here, and it's all local.

Look, the old lady there.

THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN

One euro 50. That's very cheap.

Grazie.

WOMAN SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

Just fantastic.

But we have been away from Italy for a long time.

This market is changing.

When I was a small boy, I remember migrants from the south of Italy here

but nobody from abroad.

Now there are Africans, Eastern Europeans and Chinese.

Not surprising -

today immigrants make up more than 14% of Turin's population.

And there is lots of stuff here even I don't recognise.

'Italians are so bewildered by these foreign ingredients,

'there's now a tour guide for the market.

'Vittorio Castellani shows confused Italians around Porta Palazzo

'and introduces them to new and foreign producers.'

I started organising this walk into this market

because Italian people

are very curious about the new produce, new cultures...

-Coming from other countries?

-Yes, but they afraid also.

Why?

We have a lot of migrants coming from Romania, from Morocco,

from China, and each people needs to feed with their own produce.

-This is the Chinese cabbage?

-Yes, this is a Chinese cabbage.

-That's wonderful.

-But it's come from Turin.

-That comes from Turin, nearby here?

-Yes.

Do you know, this is the first time I saw a green aubergine.

-Yeah, me too.

-Never, first time.

It's sort of garlic chives,

and it is fantastic because it's a sort of degree less

than normal garlic, and it gives a lovely... I use it in London quite a lot.

It's fresh.

VITTORIO LAUGHS

I heard that, in Tuscany, the local authority forbids

people to do cultivation, to get this thing,

because they think that they could contaminate the Italian culture.

Is it true?

Yes, it is true but it's crazy.

Why be afraid? Afraid of what?

I don't know.

They say that these are not Italian products

so we have to stay on artichoke or aubergine or tomato.

But in the past, tomato wasn't Italian.

Now we have tomato.

And they forget that polenta comes from maize,

and maize comes from South America.

-South America, that's good, yeah.

-So what's the problem?

Tomato, the potato, the basil, the mint, almost everything else.

Our history, the food, the produce, travel...

But these wonderful new vegetables aren't popular with everyone.

We heard that it's not just farms that authorities are closing down.

Several Italian cities have banned ethnic restaurants

or takeaways from opening inside the city walls.

Surely this is campanilismo gone mad?

'We have come to see a Chinese farm just outside Turin.'

Oh, that's Linda.

-Linda.

-Linda.

THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN

Linda is the translator for us.

We certainly need it, because... can you speak Chinese?

I can always try, Antonio, always a pupil.

How do you say "good morning" Chinese?

Ni hao.

-Ni hao.

-Ni hao.

HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

So she will lead us into the growing fields.

-Buongiorno! Ni hao!

-Ni hao!

-No, I said first.

-I said first.

-I said first!

-I said it second, OK.

-OK.

Oh, yes, look at this.

Ni hao. Chinese pumpkin - I can't believe it.

Ni hao.

This is a bitter...

THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN

That cleans blood, this one.

Gennaro, you need to clean your blood.

-Come on.

-Let's have a look.

Let's have a look.

Ni hao.

'As always, Gennaro and I are hungry. What a perfect place to be.'

This is Chinese maize. Ah!

So it's not yellow, but it's white.

-You can see the milk.

-Taste it.

Yep.

Tastes very flowery.

Ni hao.

This thing is pak choi, it's a wonderful cabbage.

-Mmm.

-Mmm.

-Cabbage.

-I love it.

Very good taste.

Ah, yeah, the okra! Look at this, the okra here.

Ladies' fingers.

Antonio, you love it.

Ah-ha!

Here, Antonio.

The smell is the same.

BOTH: Oh!

Absolutely no seeds.

Taste it, I'll taste it as well.

-What's the taste?

-Very good, sweet.

'This wonderful farm has so much to offer,

'but it may not be here for long.

'Right-wing politicians are threatening to close it down.'

I believe the Italians are a bit worried,

they don't want the Italian food culture being diluted,

and they start to think that perhaps slowly, slowly,

with all those imports and all the new generation of people

coming to Italy that that could be the case.

-I find that a little bit silly.

-Obviously it's silly, Gennaro,

nobody says it's intelligent.

We have quite a lot here.

-I know, who's going to carry it - you or me?

-No, we carry it together.

Oh, hallelujah!

For the first time we carrying it together!

-Come on, come on.

-Do you know what, Antonio, leave it.

-I carry it much better than you.

-Lovely.

I know that you are strong.

-Yes, I know, it's all right.

-That was always your task.

Yes, always my...

What do you mean always my task?!

We believe the Italian culture is strong enough

to cope with a little foreign influence.

And to prove it, I'm going to use a ginger from the Chinese farm

to spice up one of my favourite Italian dishes.

-What are you cooking there?

-I'm going to cook this pork,

which is cooked with the ginger.

It's ever so easy to make, it's hardly anything

but you need a little help.

So, do you know what? Do me a favour, clean me this one.

Yeah, I can, I can.

What I'm going to do, Antonio,

I'm going to have some olive oil inside here.

I use a nice bit of pancetta, if you don't have pancetta,

you can use a nice bit of bacon, which is the same.

Then you have a bit of pancetta inside.

And you make sure you seal the pancetta nice,

in exactly the same way you flavour, as well,

the oil which is inside here.

And then you move it, because you don't want to burn the pancetta.

The smell is wonderful.

Can I take it for you, yes?

Yep, take him on the side Antonio, leave it up there, it's cooked.

-Can you peel this carrot for me?

-I can.

Hey, I have a fantastic fillet of pork,

which I'm going to season properly, rub it in properly.

You make sure that everything goes in well.

MEAT SIZZLES

Then get the pork inside.

You seal him up properly, really nice.

Now, this is where it comes, the best part of it.

I have a couple of gloves of garlic.

I just crush them a little bit.

Four tablespoon of honey.

Yum!

Then comes the ginger.

Few slices of ginger.

You can see all the dripping,

all the honey, which is coated with all this ginger.

The garlic's work is as well inside, almost, the little pancetta,

and inside, slowly, slowly...

Do you want have a look as well, are you all right like that?

Gennaro, I think this dish is cooked by your sheer passion.

You're really cooking with passion.

-Can you put this stuff from here, if you can?

-This here, yes, I do.

Ah, fantastic!

Then the pancetta goes inside, helps the flavour to come out.

And, after that, you get the rosemary.

Pork and rosemary work so well.

Then, after you done all this, you have a little bit of stock,

it's just enough.

-And what stock is it?

-It can be any kind of a stock.

This particular one, it is vegetable stock

but you can have a chicken stock, beef stock, please yourself.

Then you have a carrot which, very kindly, Antonio cut it.

Then we add all shallots, which you cut in half,

and you add them inside, like that.

Then parsnips, parsnips work in there so well.

Unfortunately, do you know what?

In Italy, we call them a white carrot - pastinaca - I can't find.

So why not use these fantastic pumpkins?

Cook the vegetable for about half hour,

after half hour remove the vegetable, put it by,

stand it, and cook the pork for about another hour.

Just before you serve it, add the vegetable inside,

cook for a few more minutes and serve it.

-So you mean, everything together would be one and a half hour?

-Yes.

Come on, my goodness!

I go to my bench, I eat a pear.

-Eat a pear.

-Bye, bye.

-You've been at the pears...

-Bye, bye.

You've been at the bread...

And this is the simple, quick Italian food, yes?

-Well, I put them all, everything inside!

-Ah!

One of these days, I don't know what I'm going to do.

The pear tastes wonderful.

Yeah, thank you. The pear tastes wonderful.

-What you doing?

-Ah....

-It's OK.

Just cover you.

-No, no, no. Here.

-That's lovely.

OK, go and cook.

Ah. That's lovely.

One and a half hour... Ah, it's ready!

I'm going to remove it.

Oh, all the vegetables, the carrots.

You see, Antonio, just like a baby.

Soon as he wake up, "Meow, meow!" I have the starter for you.

Ah, you can see it stayed nice

and white inside.

It's very hot.

You can see how thick it's got.

Oh, my goodness me.

Put 'em on top.

I can see his nose already moving, you watch.

Antonio!

Ah, finally.

Finally.

Altogether, I think you've been asleep for about nearly an hour.

That's good.

So for one hour, I was liberated of you talking.

-Antonio.

-That's wonderful.

Mmm.

Delicious.

Gennaro, I'm impressed.

It's very good. Well done.

I only have to say you well done.

New ingredients like ginger are beginning to

make their way into Italian cuisine.

Some may work, but we want to see what effect this may be having

on our traditional dishes.

-Where do you come from?

-I went to buy some grapes in the market.

Oh, that's very good of you.

-That's wonderful.

-You want some?

You want some of this one as well.

That's fantastic. Thank you, thank you.

We heard there is a young chef who cooks Italian dishes

but with foreign ingredients.

They call it fusion, but I'm a little worried it might end up as confusion.

-Buongiorno.

-Buongiorno.

Wow, what are we doing here?

-Making pasta.

-Buongiorno. Antonio Carluccio.

-Julia.

-Julia. Come stai, Julia? Stai bene?

-Bene, benissimo.

-What are you doing?

-I'm making pasta with cuttlefish ink.

Ah, yes, black pasta.

We are trying to do some fusion.

Fusion? That's interesting.

That's interesting. Yeah, but why do you do that?

Because I'm curious, because it's the future. I like it.

We are going to cook a risotto

with a miso stock in place of a vegetable stock.

Yes, it smells of miso.

And we eat pak choi, the Chinese cabbage, and lemongrass,

cashew nuts and a little bit of shallots.

So we have cashew nuts from India?

-Yes.

-Pak choi from China?

-Yes.

Lemongrass from Thailand?

Yes. We have shiitake...

-Shiitake from China.

-We have miso...

-Miso from Japan.

-We have coriander.

-And you mean this to be a good risotto?

-Yes.

Have you thought to give a specific taste to the entire thing

or it's just an imagination?

Because those items, they sound very good.

Well, actually, I tried to make the recipe yesterday.

-It was good?

-Yes, it was. It worked.

So perhaps this is good.

Show the face. Show the face.

INDISTINCT

A new world, Gennaro.

A completely new world.

There we go.

Here we are. Ready?

Oh, wonderful, yes.

Yes. We are very ready.

That looks good.

I hope there are enough pots.

This is a risotto. Misotto.

I'm sorry, it's not a risotto.

I know what it is.

-What is it?

-It is a fisotto!

Ah, fisotto.

It is a lovely experiment, but I wouldn't take this as

a base to continue doing this, because it's lovely as

a warm rice salad with sort of...

spice and tastes from the East,

That's all that I can say.

Trisha would give a seven.

It is pleasurable, but it's not a risotto.

It's not that I don't like it - I don't like it compared to a risotto.

I would not call it a risotto.

-It's a fusion dish.

-A fusion rice.

We don't have to use the name of risotto

and find another name, it's true.

Anyway, well done for your researches.

It's good. Get on with it, but don't compare it to Italian food.

-I won't.

-Good.

SHE LAUGHS

It's another thing.

-Another dimension.

-Yeah, it's true.

But you are courageous, because it's very seldom

one of the young people start to move a bit on, and that's good,

because if you find the lovely niche of very good food

then you may call it Julia fusion, and that's fine.

The young people, they want to have something new here,

but they want to have something new because they don't know

the entire palate of Italian cuisine.

They are from Piemonte, they know the Piemonte cuisine and they're

fed up with it and they want to create something new.

If they would know what Italian food is about, the 20 regions, and they

would discover that they're fantastic dishes that should be cooked first,

well, and then go on into fusion.

That's my result.

You know, we love food. We come in Italy to taste the Italian food

and this is what you expect to find.

But when we find a confusion...

At least a hint of Italian food. But there was none.

There was none at all. It was a nice-looking girl.

She was a pretty girl, bless her.

She tried very hard, bless her.

But if she goes round the world and comes back in five, six years,

perhaps there is something pleasant about the cooking she will do it.

We have seen some fantastic new ingredients in Italy,

but I think Italian food simply cannot be messed with.

It is the greatest food in the world.

I think we have discovered something about ourselves.

We are as campanilistic as the day we left Italy.

We haven't changed much in nearly 50 years. Viva l'Italia!

-You bought something for me to make?

-Pasta fagioli.

You like pasta fagioli and the way I cook it.

Just simply a bit of spaghetti with tomato and basil.

Fresh tomato, lovely ripe tomato.

Little garlic there, little chilli.

You like chilli as well...

Next time, we go to Puglia, the heel of Italy.

Gennaro and I are on the pilgrimage.

I will be fulfilling my lifelong quest to visit

one of the most sacred places in Italy.

I'm a fanatic? Maybe, OK.

And I will be continuing my lifelong quest to discover

-the world's most wonderful foods.

-Mmm, mmm, mmm!

Oh, my God!

I will try to lead Antonio down the right path for once in his life.

-I'm going inside the church.

-Yeah.

You want to come with me?

Hmm... Do you think they give coffee there?

No, I don't think so, Antonio.

Then you go to the church and I go to the bar.

And I will show Gennaro there is really only one thing

to put your faith in - food.

-Gennaro, you felt yourself in heaven today?

-Yes.

This is so delicious!

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