April 30 - May 13, 2001

American chefs working in the Mediterranean flavor arena know that two of the hottest regions of interest now are Sicily and North Africa. This 14-day culinary tour, which will include both these regions, starts in Tunisia, known as the bread basket of the Roman Empire. Our culinary plunge into North Africa will begin in the country's capitol, Tunis, perched on the very edge of the Mediterranean. With its colorful souqs, markets, medina and museums, Tunis is a UNESCO World Heritage site and we'll take advantage of this to visit nearby Carthage, the ancient Phoenician city, and the great Bardo Museum with the world's finest collection of Roman mosaics. Tunisian cuisine is a fascinating complex of aromas and flavors, as we'll discover in the first of a series of cooking demonstrations and classes conducted by Tunisian master chef Abderrazak Haouari.

From Tunis, we'll fly to the island of Djerba off Tunisia's east coast, thought by many to be the original for Homer's Land of the Lotus Eaters. Savory fish couscous is a specialty of this island region, and Chef Haouari will introduce us to this and other local delights. We'll also visit one of the world's oldest synagogues and sample potato briks, sometimes called Tunisian knishes, in Djerba's ancient Jewish community.

From Djerba we go on to the desert for an overnight in a romantic Berber camp complete with tent accommodations and a swimming pool, before making our way north again, to Tunis airport for the short flight across the Mediterranean to Palermo, the Sicilian capitol.

Once in Sicily, we'll transfer immediately to the west coast of the island and the medieval hilltown of Erice, our home for the next three nights. While staying at Erice, we'll have demonstrations of local cooking, including the acclaimed pastries of Maria Grammatico, visit the ancient salt flats with their picturesque windmills south of Trapani, and take a ferry ride to the island of Favignana. There, if we're lucky, we may be able to witness the centuries-old mattanza, the harvest of giant tuna, and we'll learn about traditional Favignana ways of preparing and preserving seafood, including Sicilian ways with couscous, a strong tie with North Africa in general and Tunisia in particular.

Next it's on to southern Castelvetro, heartland of Sicily's olive oil production and the home of Olio Verde, one of the best Sicilian oils, and then to the prestigious wine estate of Regaleali in the rolling hills of central Sicily, where we will meet owner and cookbook author Anna Tasca Lanza (The Flavors of Sicily and The Heart of Sicily: Recipes and Remembrances of Regaleali). At Regaleali, we'll see and taste the production of fresh sheep's milk ricotta cheeses, and enjoy a cooking class highlighting a number of seasonal dishes that use the fine products of the estate. Finally we will complete our trans-Mediterranean tour with three days in Palermo, Sicily's bustling capitol, with its lively street markets, food shops, and restaurants, not to mention splendid monuments to Sicily's Arab-Norman-Byzantine heritage.

Instructor/tour leader: Nancy Harmon Jenkins, food writer and author, The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, Flavors of Puglia, Flavors of Tuscany, and a forthcoming book on Mediterranean ingredients and their role in the region's cooking. Ms. Jenkins has traveled extensively in Sicily, Tunisia and throughout the Mediterranean, and lived in places as diverse as Lebanon, Cyprus, and Tuscany, where she maintains a home.

For More Information
To receive more information about this exciting upcoming CIA Greystone culinary travel program (including program costs), please call Marsha Chism at the Education Office at CIA Greystone. She can be reached at (707) 967-2407, or by e-mail at m_chism@culinary.edu.
Or call our Travel Program Manager at 707-967-2312 or by e-mail: m_coon@culinary.edu

ESSENCE OF TUSCANY - A Gastronomic Adventure