food - The Farmers and the Winemaker Dinner Part 2 - Gippsland Food Adventures

After leaving Bordeaux I was planning to visit the town of Sarlat in the Dordogne region. This is truffle country and I was keen to participate in a traditional truffle hunt, having had the pleasure of visiting one of our truffle growers in south Gippsland back in 2013. Sarlat hosts special truffle markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays during the season.
Unfortunately this year the truffle season finished 2-3 weeks earlier than usual due to unseasonally wet and mild conditions – many truffles basically rotted in the ground according to numerous people I spoke to. And it was like there was a death in the family, many sad faces and nodding heads – it is true!
So a short stop on the coast between Nice and Monaco was in order. This Food Adventurer thought he might rub shoulders with the rich and famous, but was hopelessly outgunned!! Wealth is everywhere around Monaco, the yachts, the boutique stores (who would consider paying less than A$1500 for a pair of men’s shoes? And let’s not start looking at watches!) and the 1 or 2 bedroom apartments (some with sea views) starting at A$2-3 million. And fortunately I could put all my sheep counting skills to good use counting all the luxury cars. Interesting place to visit, but not again I suspect – no food stories here!

So we’re on the road to Milan. And we didn’t need the Italian border check to know we had reached Italy. Through a few tunnels, then suddenly olive trees start appearing in the landscape. There is less housing development on the hills and more terracing where the olives trees are well established and vegetable patches are being worked.
And just to be sure, what’s on sale at the service station on the motorway: 4 litre tins of olive oil stacked on pallets, packets of dry pasta of a multitude of colours and shapes, cheeses, lambrusco and Mrs Gippsland Food Adventures favourite after dinner drink – Lemoncello!
Ah ……..Italy………..la dolce vita