A new kind of Sunday funday

No, this is not class. This informal gathering of UNISG students, teaching one another how to make handmade pasta, was organized outside of the university curriculum. Although our program is not culinary in any capacity, in a University town full of gastronomes from all over the globe, it is clear that we will all be learning about food culture and communications outside of the classroom as well as in it.

Katharina, one of my classmates from Austria, was eager to learn how to make typical Italian pasta as well as international/regional dishes from each of us. About just as many wanted to learn as were eager to teach, so we all pitched in on supplies and set up shop at Joe and Shalom’s apartment.

What excited me most about this is exactly the reason we are all here – to learn the history of food, how to taste it, talk about it, promote it and approach the ways in which it is represented today. With those academic interests in mind and a group of 28 students from 17 different countries – I am certain that pasta making is only the beginning of this experiental learning.

In just one Sunday afternoon not only did we make pasta dough and tortellini fillings, but also learned the beauty of raw artichoke salads, and the art form of folding dough into Korean dumplings by hand. Paired with an unavoidable education in wine and spirits, this type of Sunday-funday is a welcome substitute for the typical bottomless NYC brunch!