Food In The Boot 2

Scouting tour of five regions of Italy (where it doesn’t feel like winter)

By Rachel Greenberger and Cristiano Bonino

For 2016, we are kicking things off right: leaving cold Boston to visit five regions of Italy (some of the warmest of the "boot") for Food in the Boot 2 from January 11 to February 22.

Stay in touch with us (following #FoodintheBoot) to learn more about beautiful Italy. Who knows! Maybe you will be inspired by our experience and consider wintering in Italy next year on one of our tours!

Of our New Year’s Eve dinner in Istanbul several years ago, Rachel wrote: "The pleasure of food is the people and how they aim to taste life with you… True tasting requires your entire self: all five senses and a spirit willing and eager to connect with others."

As always, food is at the center of our journey. But beyond the imperative, food is so much more about the people and the place than simply the plate. Next week, we depart to discover some of those people and places in the only country Rachel finds superlative in all five pillars of a vacation destination: food and wine; people; natural beauty, culture; and weather.

The map illustrates our migration: from Sardinia to Tuscany, Liguria, and Piedmont and back down to the Amalfi Coast.

Food.Stories.Travel. is a company and a movement – a movement to return our focus and appreciation to the hands and faces of the people who feed us, to find the hidden (sometimes endangered) foods, recipes and methods of the Old World, to slow down so as to reap the full benefit of eating in community, and to taste new and favorite foods with all five senses and our hearts.

Among the things we will focus on for #‎FoodintheBoot 2:

• meeting local food producers to be inspired, learn their stories, share their food and promote them
• collecting lesser-known recipes of Italian regional cuisine to enjoy at home and feature on our private dinners in the U.S.
• improving our existing itineraries for Liguria and Cinque Terre, Sardinia, Piedmont, Lazio and Tuscany
• designing a new tour of the Amalfi Coast!
• dreaming of future tours and winter getaways
• discovering more Slow Food Presidia (currently more than 260 in Italy)
• visiting 9 Unesco sites: Su Nuraxi Barumini in Sardinia, Haercolanum, Pompei and Amalfi Coast, piazza of the Duomo in Pisa, royal residences of Savoy and Langhe area in Piedmont, Val d’ Orcia in Tuscany, historic center of Genoa and Cinque Terre in Liguria
• promoting one of the most beautiful countries in the world and its vibrant people!

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook! Buon appetito, buon viaggio and buon 2016!

Rachel and Cristiano