Christina Cooks: Back to the Cutting Board

Chestnuts have been a food source for thousands of years. They can be eaten raw, roasted, ground into flour, or mixed into pastries. In times of famine in Western Europe, it was the chestnut and its flour that saved many from starvation. Christina travels to the town of Pratalecchia in Tuscany that has produced chestnuts for centuries, where she harvests and cooks with this amazing ancient food.

Many people are looking for ways to slow down and enjoy life more. But is that even a possibility? Modern life comes with so many obligations, from work to family, slowing down is not an option. Christina meets a former New York police officer who said, “enough", and landed in a small town in Italy. He talks of his philosophy of life while preparing his favorite dish.

Many know it as tomato sauce, but in the in Italian-American households of the Northeast in the USA, that luscious, thick, richly flavored tomato concoction simmering away for hours is known as gravy. Why is this dish so important to the Italian culture? Christina visits a Tuscan vineyard and discovers the truest tradition for making this cherished traditional gravy...or sauce.

Eating like an Italian means holding a deep respect for food, tradition, cooking and the art of the enjoyed meal. Meals are celebrated in Italy, not raced through. Christina meets with two Italian-American businessmen who hold traditions close while succeeding, and visits with a family business in Umbria which values family over everything, while producing organic Italian products.

Conscious eating is a mindset in which the food you choose is thought about on all levels, from its physical satisfaction and nutrition to its impact on the planet. Christina travels to Rome to cook with a chef who has taken the idea of conscious eating and adapted many iconic Italian dishes to become kinder to human health and to the planet. His work is changing the way Romans think about food.

Christina travels to Florence, Italy to cook with a chef whose unique approach to cooking embraces all that a human is. She uses astrology, facial diagnosis and her finely tuned instinct to create luscious and unique meals for each and every customer, while giving them advice on what foods will serve them the best.

Italians are famously one of the healthiest European countries, and it ties into their sustainable and innovative everyday life choices. Christina meets with a food entrepreneur and sustainability expert as they tour a local market and cook with seasonal, fresh ingredients

Italians live with a sense that there will be time for everything. And this decreases their level of stress. The role of food we choose can also help us relax our bodies and help manage stress. Christina cooks with an Italian doctor who gives her advice on managing stress and the differences between the US and the Italian diet.

This deeply personal episode takes the idea of cooking and eating together to a new level. In a home kitchen in Tuscany, Christina cooks with her friend Sandro, in no way a vegan, to produce a dinner from seasonal, local ingredients with the idea to nourish loved ones a vegan feast that has everyone raving. A beautiful celebration of life itself, created in Sandro’s kitchen.

What does “local food” actually mean? It can be as simple as eating most of your diet from foods grown within your own home state. But does eating locally mean no imported foods like Italian olive oil? Flour grown and milled in another state? Christina visits an urban farmer in Philadelphia dedicated to creating access to fresh food for everyone.

Being aware of the impact of our choices on pollution, we can adapt our lifestyles to step a little lighter on our planet. Simple things like shopping in local farm markets to avoiding using plastic to reducing food waste and composting food scraps all contribute to becoming a zero waste society.

Christina visits a local supermarket where going green, meaning leafy greens could not be easier. Most supermarkets now sell a variety of greens, but this market takes it to a whole new level, working with local farmers and producers as much as possible to serve their community in the most sustainable way possible.