Il Cantuccio NYC

91 Christopher Street

At the beginning of the week, Tuesday the 14th, I button up my coat, put on my black gloves and ventured down to 91 Christopher Street to participate in Gustiamo‘s tasting at Il Cantuccio.

When I walked in, I was glad! It was so cold outside.

Apparently, there were a lot of other people who felt the same way because once people came in, they took a while to leave. Some customers were there when I came and still there when I left.

Since I arrived an hour early, I spoke to Thomas for a little bit. Thomas is a cartoonist artist from Italy who draws very well. He uses Il Cantuccio to reach out to people about his art.

I asked him if he ever drew Obama and he said no, he only draw ‘real’ people. To which I replied,  but you drew Bush!? (Last week he was extremely proud to show me a picture that he drew of President Bush.) So, what’s the difference?

Instead of answering my question he acted like he didn’t understand me.

Which makes me really want to know why he never drew/ draws Obama.

There was a couple behind us who was interested in his art. The husband thought his drawings were good but sad. He said everyone looked angry. He said that Thomas didn’t draw the people looking happy. Then he (the husband) asked me if Thomas drew me happy. He said he bet he did considering the smile I had.

But I think Thomas drew me as a black girl with a lot attitude.

It was still early when the couple started talking to me about learning languages. The old man sitting at the next table joined us. He was learning both Spanish and Italian at the same time.

He expressed how much he wish he started learning when he was younger. He was already fluent in French. The couple was visiting from Ohio and were just happy to be in a ‘different’ environment.  They wanted to know if I spoke Italian since basically everyone in the restaurant spoke it.

I told them I was learning.

When Gustiamo finally started the tasting, we had Schiacciata  with two kinds of marmalade’s. I think they actually sell more kinds but we only opened two for the tasting.

The marmalade was made on San Matteo Farm in Sicilia, Italy. The marmalade is not like the marmalade one can buy from Price Choice or Fine Fare it tastes much better. They are made with wheat syrup instead of castor sugar and the fruit bits are tasty.

The type of marmalade I tasted were: Organic Apple and Rosemary and Organic Apple and Grapefruit.

And of course the schiacciata was good.  That’s just a given. It was the longest piece of bread ever and tasted so good! (I want some right now!)

One lady who came to the tasting couldn’t believe there was no sugar in the marmalade. She kept shaking her head and looking at the jar  trying to read it- she couldn’t understand the writing  because it’s written in Italian.

She kept saying, it has to be some type of sugar in here!

Yep, it’s healthy and good for you and will win your taste buds over.

To order a jar visit http://www.gustiamo.com/cgi-bin/front_end/prodotto?id=164

To end the night, I asked Giovanni to teach me one how to say one thing in Italian.

To cut: di tagliare

I recently started volunteering with Gustiamo.

So far, I attend  two of their tastings at a 91 Christopher St, a restaurant in the Village called Il Cantuccio.

(God’s willing, I will be attending the rest of their tastings every Tuesday until the ending of the year. Which means more Italian words to add to my vocabulary and more good Italian food!)

The first Tuesday I attended a tasting, Gustiamo presented schiacciata with friarielli and zucca sott’olio (In English it is bread and Olive Oil…)

I loved the friarielli toppings. It is basically broccoli dipped in olive oil with bread. The zucca I did not like so much but it seemed a lot of bystanders enjoyed it. It’s pumpkin dipped in olive oil.

All of the ingredients are grown on farms in Italy.

Gustiamo gets all their products from Italy directly. The food is grown organically on about 40 or more different family owned farms which is what make Gustiamo so special.

The friarielli and the zucca was made in the Compania region of Italy.

The second time I attend the tasting was this week.  Schiacciata with Honey was on the menu.

The honey was made in Sardinia. ( The Schiacciata is always freshly baked by Il Cantuccio).

When I tasted the honey, I realize that it was similar to a honey I brought from the farmers market.

I recently brought an eight dollar jar of honey from the farmers market to surprise my father. It was unheated and kosher and like the one from Sardinia, made organically. However, the one that  I brought was made upstate New York.

Nevertheless, I am not sure which one was better. I am going to have to purchase a jar of Honey from Gustiamo to really taste the difference.

In preparation for these events I often practice the pronunciation of the words and try to glance at a map of Italy so I will be able to tell someone exactly where the product if from. Beatrice, one of the owners of Gustiamo,  took a video of me talking about the products and encouraging people to buy.

To view the video go to Gustiamo’s blog at http://gustiamo.typepad.com/

And to buy some good organic food visit their website at http://gustiamo.com/

Here is a picture of me showcasing Gustiamo’s items (also taken by Beatrice).

Did you know that smack in the middle of the Bronx exists the famous Gustiamo, Inc.?

It was founded by native Italians who missed the good cooking from their home country and thought why not treat New Yorkers with healthy, pure Italian food?

In the year 2000 the owners Beatrice and Martina got together and opened up Gustiamo. The business has been growing ever since. Gustiamo is special and unique because their food is ordered from small farms in Italy, many of which are family owned. Many of the farmers make it their priority to keep food that is endanger  ‘alive’ and eaten.

Gustiamo is not only making a profit  in the neighborhood but also reaching out to the community. With the help of the organization, Slow Food International, Gustiamo reaches out to the youth in the Wild Life Conservancy School. This organization teaches the students the importance of slow food (as opposed to fast food)  and the importance of cultivating food. It helps children to be aware and concerned of what is going into their bodies and what is being sold in the community.

In many New York neighborhoods, especially in the Bronx, it is not easy to eat healthy. It has to be first a willing mind but with businesses like Gustiamo located at 1715 West Farms Road it is not impossible.

Gustiamo believes that eating properly is a  birthright and shares this philosophy with Slow Food International  whose message to the world is everyone has a fundamental right to the pleasure of good food and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible.

In order for everyone to eat healthy it must first be taught and the community can thank Gustiamo for looking out for their well-being.

Visit the following websites for more information:

http://www.gustiamo.com/

http://www.slowfood.com/