Festa del Risotto

Today I was a very interesting day. Susan, Peter, Nick and I went to this little town called Isolla della Scala. The purpose of our trip was to attend a rice festival called “Festa del Risotto.” We took the train and in 20 minutes we were at in Isolla della Scala. We walked around trying to find this festival and the town looked like a desert. I was very nice though. We asked some people about the festival and they did not know about it. After walking around for a little bit we found an English speaking person who directed us to the festival. It was a nice 20 minute walk. As soon as we got to the festival we learned about different types of rice to make risotto. There are three different types ranging from white to brown rice. After that we got some food. There were choices for meat, side and sweets. For meat there was costella (rib) and prosciutto. For contorno (side) there was risotto and patate frite. For dolce (sweets) there were all kinds of products made out of rice and even chocolate salami. Nick and I shared a costella and risotto. It was the most delicious taste I had had in Italy! The costella was so greatly cooked and seasoned that it would melt in my mouth. The risotto was amazing since this rice is cooked very slowly (for almost one hour). I think is also cook with a special broth, meat, and fat, which gives it an irresistible flavor. For dolce we had like a rice cake dessert that was also really good.



After our delicious meal we wanted to go to explore the rice fields. Instead we learned about mushrooms at a funghi farm. I believed, if I understood the Italian tour correctly, that it takes five weeks to grow funghi. It is a four step process that begins with mixing of composite and ends with a full grown mushroom. In order for a mushroom to grow, it has to be at the perfect temperature, oxygen, humidity, etc, in every step of the way. It begins in a colder room and moves its way to normal temperature. At the end we got free funghi. It was a really fun trip.