Gastronomy & History: Trip to Taranto, Italy

While we are here in Italy, not only do we have kitchen classes, but we also have a class called History and Cultures of Italy. This class is a very informative class about the history of Italy, especially the region of Puglia. We had our first class this past week, where we were given information in preparation for our field trip to Taranto the following day. I have decided to divide this blog into three sections to help create a better read! Let me know what you think about it in the comment section below.

Pre-Field Trip History Class 

The notes and important facts I learned about Puglia that I would like to share with all of you!
- "Puglia is the Bible of Europe." (This will make more sense as we go through the history of the region.
- First to settle in Puglia: the Messapians

- Next, the Greeks came from Greece, in a way like no other 

The Great Greece was a group of extremely prepared people, who had money, were very clever, and went to Puglia along with their artists

Ahead of their arrival, they sent people to look for a place for them to settle, many on the coast

Why did they leave? Political economic, social, demographic reasons

When they settled, they became friendly with the Messapian people who were organized in tribes, while the Greeks were more refined with social, political, and economic organization

Eventually, this difference between the two groups creates conflict and the Greeks want to take the Messapian land

Magna Grecia: established and is more beautiful and intellectual than Greece, but eventually rivalries between cities weaken them, and in 272 BC, the Romans take Taranto

- The Romans

Rome was founded in 753 BC on Palatine hill

First was the Monarchy from 753-509 BC with King, Romulus; the monarchy ended with the Rape of Lucrezia

Then the Republic of 509-27 BC which creates the Senate of 100 of the noblest men; over their existence, they expanded through conquest and alliance from central Italy to the entire peninsula, then expanding into Northern Africa, Spain, and Southern France (eventually all of France, Greece, and the Eastern Mediterranean); the culminating point was the assassination of Caesar

* This is just some of the key points that I learned during this 4-hour lecture, but it was very interesting!

 Trip to Taranto 

This trip was a combination of both culinary and history, therefore our first stop was a tuna factory, then we went to a museum.

Tuna Factory

This factory produces tuna in oil, in a unique way that focuses on high quality, not quantity. They use yellowfin tuna, which is not native to the Mediterranean, but the other 3 tuna they use is. This first is gutted, cut, and then put in baskets in tanks to drain out any blood and toxins. What makes this factory different is it is put in a broth with onions, celery, bay leaves, and spices, wherein most factories, they put the tuna in a steam tan, affecting the flavor. The fish is cooked for an hour or two based on size, then is cooled for 24 hours. The fish are then trimmed and cleaned, then cut into fillets for different jars. The fish is put in a machine where they are put in the olive oil jars. For flavor purposes, the fish sits in the jar for at least 3 months at the factory, then is labeled and sold.

This tuna factory only began 10 years ago, but the family also has a restaurant that dates back way before the opening of the factory. They have become famous because of their traditional method of preparation and their high quality.

The trimmings that they can not use is sent to another plant that produces cat food, therefore they waste nothing. From 100 kg of tuna, they produce 33 kg of tuna in oil, this means they have a very small yield.

 Here are some of the different tuna in oil that they produce. They are not found in the USA due to the cost of export. 

 We also went to their family restaurant!

 Here, we were able to try 3 of the tuna in oil that the tuna factory produces.

The National Archaeological Museum of Taranto 

This was a very cool experience with an extremely knowledgeable professor. I am going to share this trip with photos and explanations. 

 This was a crown worn by a Greek woman. You can really see the detail of it and it is incredible. Because the Greeks were buried with all of their belongings, there are a lot of artifacts being found every day from the tombs.  

 This is a floor mosaic made by placing little colored pieces of rock in different shapes. The detail on this is incredible, and this is just a little piece of the very large mosaic that looks stunning. 

 Another beautiful crown was worn by a Greek woman. These crowns do not look like they were from centuries before now. This one looked as if I could put it on! 

 This is just a handful of the hundreds of coins used. When a city was able to mint their own coins, this is proof that they were wealthy because they had to get all of the material and equipment to do so. 

 This is actually a nutcracker! 

These pots were made and the black areas are burned and the white is an added natural pigment. 

This was a very cool trip and I really learned a lot. In 2 weeks, we are spending 2 days in Bari to do another food and culture trip, so be on the lookout for that! 

With love, 

Baylee