Food, Landscape and Community in Tuscany and New England

Last month, our good friend, Chef Doug Mack, attended the Inaugural Symposium for the Spannocchia Symposia Series on the Sustainable Future of Rural Places in Tuscany, Italy. There he joined a wonderful group of participants from New England and Italy, brought together by the Spannocchia Foundation to address the question “How do we eat locally and preserve the rural, distinctive cultures and landscapes that are threatened by development, commodity farming and loss of food traditions?”. Read more about the Symposia Series here.

The annual series will be held alternately in New England (in 2010!) and in Tuscany and is working closely with members of the Farm-Based Education Association.

Doug is the founder of The Vermont Fresh Network and is an organic farmer and chef for Mary’s Restaurant at the Inn at Baldwin Creek in Bristol, VT. Here are some pictures he sent from the trip!