Dining at the Academy (and the Rome Sustainable Food Project)

When we found out that Tom won the Rome prize, there were so many things to be excited about: the opportunity for Tom to have an extra year off of teaching to finish his dissertation, the chance to make new friends and professional connections, and, of course, getting to live in and explore Rome for an extended period of time.  However, despite all of those amazing things, I have to admit that one of the things that I was most excited about was the fact that the Academy provides most lunches and dinners for fellows and their families.  In other words: no cooking or dishes for an entire year!  

Of course, Tom and I always shared cooking and dishes duties (although there was an ongoing good- natured dispute about who actually did more of those dishes), and I like to think that we're both halfway decent cooks.  But, as most of you probably know, the task of having to decide on, shop for, prepare, and clean up after meals (even when you have no kids!) can get rather exhausting, especially after a long day of work. Plus, despite it's cozy charm, our kitchen in San Francisco was impractically small, and so it was never really possible for us both to work on preparing anything at the same time.  It also lacked a dishwasher, a feature I will never again undervalue when searching for housing!

So, like I said, having all of our meals prepared for us was a very exciting notion, but what is even more amazing is how ridiculously good- and responsibly produced- the food here turned out to be.

Academy Gardens

Things weren't always this way, though.  As recently as 2005, the food here was apparently just awful, which was a problem for several reasons.  First, and most obviously, no one likes to eat horrible food (food which has been described to us as very much like bad elementary school cafeteria grub).  More problematic, however, was the fact that this bad food often led to fellows skipping meals altogether (and eating off-site).  Since meals are one of the few times when all of the fellows gather together, this trend really undermined one of the major aims of the Academy, which is to foster cross-disciplinary discussions and relationships between its fellows.

Fortunately for us, however, this has all changed. Several years ago, with the help of Alice Waters, the Academy started the "Rome Sustainable Food Project."  As its name suggests, the Project focuses on providing seasonal, healthy (largely plant based), and whenever possible, local, foods to the Academy community.  In fact, some of the fruits and herbs even come from the Academy's own grounds, where several gardens have been planted. Another really cool part of the Project is that it serves as an internship program.  Similar to the Rome Prize itself, young up-and-coming chefs can apply to work in the kitchen for three month stints in order to further develop their talents, and learn more about sustainable consumption. (Obviously, this is only a very brief overview of this very interesting and inspiring project, but if you're interested in learning more about the Rome Sustainable Food Project, you can find a lot more information, here, on the Academy's website.  The New York Times also wrote an interesting article about the Project a few years ago, which is definitely worth a read.)

Of course, as I have mentioned, the food is also ridiculously delicious, drawing on influences from both Roman cuisine and California cuisine (in the tradition of Chez Pannise).  Honestly, I don't know how we will be able to handle going back to our own cooking after this (and even our weekend dinners out in Rome have paled in comparison to the Academy's kitchen!)  If you're prone to food jealously, you might not want to read any further, but for those of you who are curious, let me tell you a bit more about our actual meals here:

Setting up for Lunch in the "Portico" 

First of all, while the weather is warm enough (hopefully for another few weeks yet), we eat our meals at one enormously long table under an open air archway attached to the courtyard.  (Tom says this is called a "portico," but, really, does anyone else know that word? I certainly didn't.)  There isn't assigned seating (although sometimes a few places are reserved when important guest are in town), so you just choose a spot wherever you like.  Once it gets too chilly to be outside, we'll eat in the indoor dining room, at various smaller tables.  Between all the fellows, visiting scholars, and other community members and guests, there are usually anywhere from 40 to 70 people at any given meal.

Lunches are served at 1:00, and are buffet style (although you can also get a "picnic" lunch of a sandwich or salad if you prefer to work through lunch and/or will be off-site).  A typical lunch consists of a vegetable based soup (today's was cream of tomato, for example), bread, a pasta dish (anything from gnocchi to pinwheels with lentils), and then about five side dishes/salads (again, often heavily vegetable-based like green beans, squash, eggplant, or caprese salad).  I'm really not doing these meals justice, though, because everything is cooked and seasoned so perfectly that it's never "just eggplant."  It's more like "the most amazing eggplant you've ever had in your life seasoned with flavors you've possibly never tasted before." The other day, for example, a salad had fruit in it that literally tasted like grape candy.  It took us a while to realize that the fruit was, in fact, actually grapes.  (Who knew that that artificial grape flavor actually came from something?!)  You're welcome to take as much or little as you want of anything, and can always go back for seconds.  At each lunch they also have a table of yogurt, amazing honey (I will never again eat honey that comes out of a plastic bear after this!), and fresh fruit, such as plums, pears, and grapes.  The lunches are great for me because- at most- there will be one dish involving meat, and, more often than not, these meals are entirely vegetarian!

Academy Dinner (although from a past year)

Dinners are equally delicious, but are (with the exception of Fridays) a bit more formal than lunches.  (In fact, as was written in our orientation materials, fellows know that dinner is ready to be served "when the candles are lit.")  You don't have to go so far as to wear a suit and tie, but you're expected to dress up a bit more than at lunches, and you never see anyone in a sweatshirt.  Dinner begins at 8, and often lasts until 9:30 or even 10 (which I think, is part of why time seems to go by so quickly here!).  So far, most of the parents haven't been bringing children to the dinners (I assume most are in bed by that time on school nights), but Fridays are "family nights" and children are especially encouraged to attend that night's buffet, kid-friendly style meal.

Delicious food! (picture taken from the Academy website)

On Mondays through Thursdays, dinner involves wait staff, who serve separate appetizers, entrees, and desserts, and there is always plenty of wine set out on the table. (Well, actually, there is wine at Friday dinners, too....see, what I meant about the not getting pregnant thing?!!!).  Most (but not all) entrees are served family style, with six individuals sharing each platter.  Many of the dinners (maybe two per week), are vegetarian for everyone (sustainable food means eating much less meat that most American do), but on the meat nights, vegetarians (like me!) get served their own veggie option meal.


Just as an example, here's the menu from our favorite dinner (which was vegetarian for all) this week:

Arugula salad with pomegranates, persimmons, and aceto balsamico
Carrot sformato with leeks and fennel
Olive oil honey cake with raisins and marsala

In case you are wondering, a "sformato" is a souffle, and, yes, they seriously prepared individual souffles for about 50 people (to be served all at once!).  It was, not only the best dinner I've had here, but, perhaps, one of the best dinners I've ever had in my entire life (but that sort of things seems to happen often around here).  

Are you feeling hungry yet?!

I know I say this in practically every post, but we truly feel so fortunate to be part of the community here. Despite the outward formality of many of the meals, people still chatter away, laugh and joke around at them, and we've gotten to know/started building friendships with more people here at meals than in any other context.  Of course, I don't think you can underestimate the role of good food and wine in that relationship development process, and we can't wait to share this experience with our visiting friends and family in the coming year!

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I forgot to do this last time, but:
Friday, Sept 21:  It was a warm and sunny day with highs in the upper 70s.  Absolutely perfect.