Sagras, festas and fairs, oh my!

Today is the second birthday of the Adventures in Italy blog!!  A lot has changed in these two years.  We completed our house, adopted a puppy and bought 3 cars in these two years.  I've been teaching English both with a school and without, volunteering at a museum and improving my Italian daily.  We are continuing to travel as much as possible and I am always focussed on getting as much out of Italy as possible!

On that note: sagras, festas and fairs!  Sagras are food festivals traditionally focused on a single local food product.  There is usually a market of some sort (antiques, local food products, made in China junk) and then in the evenings a dinner based on this product and of course music and dancing.  Festas are any sort of festival or party.

Fall is sagra, festa and fair period here in Piemonte.  Every weekend this month there are at least 4 or 5 and I'm in heaven.  I love these things.  They are full of Piemontese rednecks or country people.  The accents and dialect are fun to listen to.  The food is always interesting and usually pretty, pretty good.  And the dancing is awesome.  They do a particular type of ballroom dancing called Liscio where it appears that the couple glides across the floor as though they're on wheels.  Anyway, I love it.

We started our fall fair period with the 5th Annual Sagra dj Tajarin in Casalgrasso.  That's near Carmagnola and the museum.  Tajarin is a somewhat thin egg pasta.  The sagra had 4 types of pasta: green, white, red and black each with a different sauce.  They were all very yummy!

Two weeks ago we went to the Festa di Bagna Caoda in Faule.  Bagna caoda is a Piemontese sauce that sounds disgusting but is actually delicious.  It's made with garlic, a lot of garlic, anchoives and cream.  It has to be kept warm while eating it or it will congeal, so you use that little "cooker" pictured above with a tealight to keep it warm.  In the sauce you dip peppers, potatoes, onions, cabbage, cardoon and celery.

Now we're looking forward to the chestnut, leek and gnocchi sagras!  If you ever want to visit and like the idea of Italian rednecks, fall's the time!