Culture, people, street food, connection
Even though my Italian is less than fluent, I could gather from the Cibo di Strada program that there is a big heart beating in this festival.
So I asked Vittorio Castellani who put the event on my path for the English version of this Street Food Festival.
Here it is, as you can see, Vittorio was not stingy on details:
"The 6th International Street Food Festival will be held once again in the historic centre of Cesena, from Friday, 1st to Sunday, 3rd October. Saturday, 2nd October, is also the Cesena White Night for Culture.
After the extraordinary success of the previous editions, the biennial Festival organized by Confesercenti Cesenate and Slow Food Cesena with the collaboration of the journalist “gastronomade” Vittorio Castellani [Chef Kumalé], in charge of the international section, comes back with about twenty gastronomic areas offering street food coming from various Italian regions and from around the world: from Mexico to India, from Greece to Kurdistan, from Venezuela to Provence, from Peru to Morocco, from Brazil to Spain.
The festival also hosts world food Gastronomic Workshops (Officine Gastronomiche) about street food in the Mediterranean regions and from the world (led by Chef Kumalé), exhibitions, meetings, entertainments, music, street theatre. A special section will be dedicated to street coffee, with the tasting of coffee coming from every part of the world.
With the birth of the city concept in the Mediterranean culture, the idea of street food takes shape – served in the characteristic kiosk or offered by street vendors – as the most ancient and authentic form of catering. Simple to prepare, rooted into the food farming traditions of its own country, street food is probably the most genuine form of gastronomical options among the very different available ones, not so influenced by fashions and the one that allows us to understand the history (not only the gastronomic one) of a town and of its inhabitants better. From the shores of the Mediterranean Sea the street food tradition has then spread in time to all those places of the world where the climate and the developing of social relationships allowed it to take place: Far East, Africa, Latin America, and last but not least, “new” countries such as Australia and the United States, where the most different street foods imported after the various migratory waves have been absorbed.
Street Food, Regions and Countries attending the Festival:
From Italy:
Romagna: piadina and crescioni, fried fish al cono, tortello nella lastra
Emilia: fried torta and cold cuts from Parma
Liguria: fugassa and fainà from Genua
Tuscany: boiled lampredotto and tripe alla fiorentina from Florence
Sicily: pani ca’ meusa, sfincioni, panelle, rice arancine, and cannoli from Palermo
Apulia: bombette from Alberobello and panzarotti from Manfredonia
Campania: mangiamaccheroni, zeppole, crocchè, scagliuozzi, octopus soup and the original pizza
Bolzano-Bozen: münchner weiβwurst, brezel and sweet mustard sauce, meraner hauswurst,
ur-paarl, mustard sauce and gekochtes vinschger sauerkraut from Merano
From the world:
New > Brazil: acarajé, abarà, empada, coxinhas, cocada de forno, bolo de tapioca
New > Venezuela: arepas
New > Spain: churros
New > Argentina: choripan, empanadas
Provence: pissaladière, panisse, tielle setoise from Arles
Kurdistan : doner kebap, shish panir, falafel, kirkuk kebap, arak, cay
Greece : souvlaky and gyros pita
Morocco : tajin, cous cous, brewat, shai bi naanaa
India: mix pakora, byriani, samosa, chay masala
Peru: tamales de chancho, papas à la huancayna, tortillas de qinua, arroz chaufa
Mexico : tacos, burritos, enchiladas, guacamole, tortillas, fajita
Wine and drinks coming from every country, ice-creams made with the products of the Slow Food Presidia ingredients, the milk and cream ice-cream of Cesena, and even more…
Street Food Gastronomic Workshops (Officine Gastronomiche)
Workshops with tasting by the journalist “gastronomade” Vittorio Castellani aka Chef Kumalé.
Workshop running times: approx. 60 minutes.
Fee: 10 euro
Booking is heartily recommended: 348 8601886 – 348 7517095
Saturday, 2nd October
17,30 / Arepas, the white maize “tigelle”, a Venezuelan produce
Sold at all times of the day and even at night-time in the streets of Venezuela and Colombia, these delicious white maize flour buns are stuffed with the more diverse fillings: sauces, meat, vegetables or cheese. In this Officina we will discover the most refined recipe: the arepa reina pepiada.
Tasting of arepas.
Sunday, 3rd October
11,30 / Street Couscous: the bran’s on the road
Although couscous represents a dish for special occasions in the Maghreb countries, it is now more and more commonly found on the street too, particularly in Djema el Fna Square, in Marrakech. Let’s discover its recipes in this unique Officina.
This workshop is promoted by Bia quality couscous Made in Italy
Couscous tasting.
17,30 / Acarajè, the symbol of Bahia Afro-Brazilian tradition
Acarajé is a typical dish of the Afro-Brazilian cuisine, made by mixing feijão-fradinho beans. Although sold on the streets of Bahia, acarajé is still considered, by the women from Bahia adherent to candomblé, a food sacred to Gods. For this reason, its recipe can only be prepared by the members of the community: the filhos-de-santo.
Acarajé tasting.
Street Mediterranean cuisines on Google Maps
On the occasion of the International Festival new edition, the first virtual street food mapping of the Mediterranean countries will be displayed, as the result of a research completed in co-operation with the University of Turin, School of Foreign Languages and Literatures, 1st level Master – Mediterranean Travels, with the supervision of the “gastronomade” journalist Vittorio Castellani, aka Chef Kumalé. All the specialties, photos, curiosities and recipes will be available on a special web site with free access.
During the same weekend, an event organized by the city of Cesena and by the association Aidoru called “Cultural passages, Music – art – theatre” will take place: there will be a busy program of performances and shows, including the Culture Night event on Saturday, 2nd October.
Saturday, 2nd October, at 11,30, the meeting cured by Fiepet Emilia-Romagna and Fiesa “Street Food and local produce – Quality and typicalness, a binomial to be defended” will take place. Taking part in the meeting there will be Corrado Barberis, eminent professor of Sociology, great scholar of the transformation in the Italian countryside and president of the National Institute of Rural Sociology, and Silvio Barbero, vice-president of Slow Food Italia.
For people coming to Cesena there will be the chance to visit the Malatestian town and its area with guided tours organized by Iat."
Thanks Vittorio, aka Chef Kumalé for translating the Italian passion into plain English.