Italian Butchery Apprenticeship

My dream of making the world a better place by means of happy bellies and enlightened minds is taking me to Italy.  I'll be at Tenuta di Spannocchia in Chiusdino, Italy from January 12 through April 10 as a butchery apprentice.  The 1100-acre organic agricultural estate in central Tuscany promotes awareness, understanding and practice of sustainable resource use in rural communities to interns and visiting foundation members who stay at the property during their travels in Italy. The farm emphasizes the importance of preservation and stewardship of architecture, landscape, forest, wildlife, and traditional agricultural methods, animals, and plants combined with the use of current technological advances in organic agriculture.  Spannocchia’s “Noah’s Ark” animal project is part of a worldwide effort to maintain genetic biodiversity by preserving traditional but endangered breeds of farm animals including Cinta Senese pigs, Pomarancina sheep, Calvana cows, Monterufolino ponies, and Monte Amiata donkeys.  I will be living on the estate with the other butchery and farm interns. The majority of my time will be spent learning the traditional way of transforming pigs from the pasture into Italian salumi. I'll be present for the whole process, bringing the pigs to slaughter, butchering, curing, and selling it at market. Literally farm to table on a daily basis. How amazing is that?!



People have become disconnected from the food we need to sustain our lives.  The quality of the food we eat has suffered from that disconnect. I think this is because we’ve lost respect for the lives of the animals and plants that are sacrificed to keep us alive.  I’m very interested to see how people live when food, at its source, is still a very important part of daily social life.  I want to see how such a community sustains itself.  Learning butchery in a setting that is focused on quality and not quantity would offer the ideal foundation for me to go forward in this field.  I want to do this because I think it's important for our future and the future of our children to slow down and pay attention to the lives around us and how we impact the earth.

I am entering this apprenticeship immediately after finishing my grant through the James Beard Foundation ...and thus, am pretty low on funds.  I am asking for help from my community.  The money I receive will go towards my travel expenses, regular bills I have here at home (health insurance, rent), and other misc. costs in preparation for this trip (passport, necessary equipment and supplies).  Thankfully, I am able to defer my student loans for the duration of this apprenticeship.  I will be holding a pop-up in Chicago with the help of my lovely family at Spoken Cafe on December 17.  The wonderful people at Bread & Circus Provisions in Lafayette have also graciously offered to let me take over Late Nite on January 7.  All this considered, I am still worried that I will be short of funds to make this trip possible. 

If you find that you can support me in this journey, I'd be forever grateful.  However much you can contribute would help tremendously.  Thank you from the bottom of my big ole heart!

(and I'll post info about the pop-ups as they develop!)