One of the important roles of the school is to help students find appropriate activities to do outside of the classroom. Since there are no athletic teams at the school, many of these are athletic in nature. The second largest area seems to be gastronomic. Cooking lessons are very popular among both the students and faculty. In addition, many of the local merchants would like the opportunity to connect with the students, but the school is careful in making such arrangements. On Thursday both of these trends came together as approximately 15 students and faculty made there way to a cheese tasting at Gigi e Mena at the Piazza Fontana Grande, just up the street from the school. There we sampled a total of nine cheeses. There was mozzarella di bufala, ricotta di pecora, caciota di mucca, parmesano and 5 different pecorinos (fresh, fresh with pine nuts, fresh with pistachios, semi-aged and aged). My favorites were the parmesan and the aged pecorino. Amy enjoyed those also in addition to the mozzarella and ricotta.
Amy finally had a chance to have one of her lingering questions answered when she noted a bastardo in the display case and asked the proprietress what it was. Most cheeses in Italy are made not just from one type of milk such as cow or sheep, but also from one breed of animal. Bastardo is made from milk from mixed breed cows (essentially bovine mutts) or from milk from different breeds mixed together. Hence, the bastard.
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