It will be Sonia Peronaci, one of Italy's best-known foodbloggers, who will animate the cooking show area of Autumnia 2017, curated by the City and Gola Gioconda, on the closing afternoon of Nov. 12. The founder of Giallo Zafferano, in fact, will arrive in Figline for three live cooking performances, which will be held starting at 3 p.m. They will begin with the preparation of a traditional Tuscan dish and continue with a mini cooking class (open to a maximum of 5 citizens, selected through an online contest) and a time of Q&A with the audience. To apply, simply send a photo of any dish as a private message on the Autumnia facebook page or via email to info@autumnia.it by 2 p.m. Nov. 9. The photos will then be posted on the Facebook page @AutumniaFigline and the 5 that get the most votes will have the chance to cook alongside Sonia Peronaci, as a teacher. In addition to her, among the stoves in the cooking show area will be Giulia Scarpaleggia, Tuscan food blogger and founder of Juls'Kitchen, who together with the mayor Giulia Mugnai, representatives from Erzhausen (a German city twinned with Figline), a citizen of Cameroonian origin and one of Moroccan origin will be the protagonists of "Tuscan and other world cuisines with Jul's Kitchen" (Nov. 12, 10:30 a.m.). Each of the protagonists will participate by cooking a traditional dish from their homeland.
In addition, Giulia Scarpaleggia will present her book "La cucina dei mercati in Toscana," a photographic voyage of discovery of regional recipes created together with Tommaso Galli. Still on the cooking show theme, in addition to the two bloggers on the program there is also a demonstration by Emanuele Callari, chef of the restaurant "La mia cucina" in Montevarchi (12 p.m., Saturday 11) and Massimo Rossi, chef of the Belvedere Restaurant in Monte Sansavino (12 p.m., Sunday 12). If the former will revisit a traditional dish (pork belly cooked at low temperature, with polenta wafers and chestnut mousse), the latter will close the Slow Food meeting on climate change. Students from Istituto Vasari's hospitality program will also perform two cooking workshops on Saturday, Nov. 11: the first dedicated to chocolate (2 p.m.) and the second to antibiotic-free chicken and eggs (5 p.m.), sponsored by UniCoop Florence. At 7 p.m. on Nov. 11 and 6 p.m. on Nov. 12, on the other hand, there will be space for wine tasting and wine history, organized by the Italian Sommelier Association of Arezzo.
In addition to professionals and cooking classes by registration, the cooking show area will also feature a challenge open to non-professionals, who will have to cook dwarf with celery. They will be judged by a panel of journalists, chefs and representatives of institutions. To register, simply write to posta@golagioconda.it and indicate in the subject line "Popular cooking contest The stars are us" and in the body of the text your personal data.
Not only live cooking, however, is on this area's calendar. In fact, among its activities-which will be presented in detail when the booths open on Friday, Nov. 10, at 3 p.m.-is a meeting on the food pyramid entitled "At the table you need a compass" (Friday 10, 5 p.m.) and an exhibition curated by the Arno photography club entitled "Objective Agriculture: images from the 2017 international competition" (Sunday 12, 4 p.m.).