Living in Italy for the past month and a half has been much more than educational. I have met so many great Italians and even Auburn students; therefore, I cannot wait to see these new friendships develop. My Italian family is really interesting and is always really kind to us. They are always willing to go above and beyond to help us out and show us hospitality. One of my other favorite aspects of the JSB program is learning about the Italian cuisine.

Food is a big passion of mine and being able to dive deeply into this aspect of Italian heritage has made me appreciate it even more. I have always thought about starting a food blog or food Instagram account. After Carmen from Aina Giving came to speak to us for a leadership workshop, I decided to go through with my food account. This program is giving me a lot of great content for my food page, and I am excited to see what other new exciting things will arise from this summer.

So far, we have had two cooking classes. This past week one of our instructors, Mary Lou, taught us how to make two pasta dishes and nutella cake. We all enjoyed the process and learned a lot about Mary Lou. She encouraged and empowered us with her stories and advice, all while giving us new recipes to bring home to the States!

Lastly, a week ago we received a great lesson from Cucina della Terra on making pasta and ragù. Something I learned was, “Never clean a pasta roller with water, always dust it with a brush,” and “If you don’t cook the onions long enough before adding an acid, like tomato juice, then the onions won’t taste sweet.” These are all just a little taste of the valuable things we are learning in the Joseph S. Bruno program.

Thanks!

Monique Burton