On Sunday, April 8 I attended my first sagra in Italy. You’re probably wondering what a sagra even is, that’s fine. They are not common in the United State, not even close to common, there is only one that has existed before that I know of and it’s because I had the pleasure of helping organize it with Lane Selman of the Culinary Breeding Network. When promoting this event last fall in Portland most people slowly repeated the word back to me with a lot of inflection, sometimes pronouncing it “saga”.
We all know that Italians love food, I mean if they didn’t then what am I doing here? Sagras are a celebration of food, and each one is a celebration of one type of food that is traditionally farmed and consumed in a specific village. They slowly begin in April and really hit it off from May until September. The origins are a little unclear, but from what I’ve read they come from pagan festivals, but I can’t say for sure. The Italians I’ve talked to about sagras don’t know when they started either, so I guess it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that they do exist and they are so much fun.
The one that I attended was in Valdottavo, a small village tucked away in the mountains in the province of Lucca. It was called Valle dell’Olio, a festival for olive oil. At the event, there are local olive oil producers for attendees to sample their products, as well as food, wine, live music, and other booths with local artisans and maybe a scarf vendor. This olive oil festival takes place every year around the same time, which is how all sagras operate. For example, in May there is a sagra dei pici (a type of thick spaghetti pasta) near Siena that always takes place during the last Sunday of May. There are books that give lists of sagras that take place in different villages, but they are also advertised on street fliers. As a tourist, the one downside to the sagra is that you usually need a car to get there because they are not in cities.
Olive oil is life in Italy, or at least that’s how it appears to an American outsider. It’s in every recipe and smothered on vegetables whether they are steamed or raw. I’ve felt like every day is a celebration of olive oil since I’ve been in Italy, but it was really fun going to an event dedicated to this beautiful substance.
There are a lot of olive oil producers throughout Italy, and in the provence of Lucca it’s one of the main agricultural products. Lucca is known for having a more delicate tasting olive oil compared to other parts of Toscana due to the variety of olive tree grown here, Frantoio. Federico produces about 100 kilos (220 pounds) of olive oil per year for personal consumptions, Elena said that to make it through a whole year of cooking she needs about 200 kilos (440 pounds). I do not doubt those figures.
The idea and sprit behind this sort of event is really wonderful. A whole weekend, sometimes a whole week, dedicated to a specific food that is also deeply tied to the people living in that area is fantastic. People of all ages are there, dancing, eating, and enjoying the magnificence of food. I’ve talk to Elena more about sagras in Italy, and the one I went to was early in the year, so it was a little different than a sagra in the summer. Once the weather is consistently nice, so around May, a typical sagra starts in the evening, around 8 pm, and there are generally 3 different vendors preparing the celebrated food each in their own style. To try one of the dishes you pay about 20 euros, which doesn’t include wine, and you get a lot of food. You can buy just one dish or try all three, the choice is yours. After the eating, there is usually live music, dancing, and of course more wine. In southern Italy, it is not uncommon for a sagra to go for an entire week, but in Toscana they are usually from Friday-Sunday. Elena suggests going to one is southern Italy because the music is generally better. I’m really hoping to be able to attend another food festival, maybe the Sagra di Pici when I go to Siena next week.
While I wait for my next sagra encounter I’m thinking about how to make these more common in the United States. Why they haven’t already swept the nation is unclear to me, essentially having a party about one crop, or one style of curred meat, or one type of pasta is arguably the best way to get people excited and informed about what they are eating. It builds community, it supports local agriculture, it spreads awareness, am I missing anything?
If this type of event sounds like something that has been missing from your life, perhaps a hole that you didn’t even know existed until I started talking about sagras, do not despair because sagras are coming to the Pacific Northwest. The Culinary Breeding Network is bringing them to the Seattle and Portland area this fall and winter, and we hope to continue to expand them nationwide. There are a lot of big ideas in the works and I’m excited to see them unfold. For now, I’m going enjoy my olive oil covered vegetables in Toscana.
Ciao!
