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Curious Appetite is a Gourmet Blog by Coral Sisk, Italian-American writer, certified Italian sommelier & culinary tourism specialist from Seattle living in Florence, Italy

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Love Tuscan wines? Next pour, consider venturing o

Love Tuscan wines? Next pour, consider venturing off from Chianti from mostly Sangiovese- there are over 150 suspected red grape types in Tuscany alone!

This one here in my glass is 100% Canaiolo, made by La Ginestra in San Casciano (about 9mi south from Florence) an organic, natural wine producer I recently discovered with my friends @florencesidecartour

Some quick notes on Canaiolo:
🍇 in “modern times” this grape is used in small blending percentage (although historically centuries ago it was the main star) by some traditional Chianti Classico producers
🍷 In blending, it lends fruit and juicy balance the otherwise earthy, dry and tannic nature of Sangiovese
🗺 Chianti and Chianti Classico are wine producing zones within Tuscany and not a grape, and are wines mostly of Sangiovese
🍒 Pure Canaiolo is quite quaffable on its own, giving a pleasant punch of mouthwatering blackberry and cherry fruit notes with balsamic finishes
🍝 Food pairings: excellent for appetizers of semi-firm cheeses, cured meats and especially tomato-based pastas.

These are real general indications, a world more to be learned!

Age, location, climate, agricultural practices and wine making technique best explain bottles and food pairings

You’ll learn more about unique Italian wines and all these factors (including Tuscany’s natural wine scene) with our new Vino Club in the works- make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter for when sign-ups are avail!

The club mailings will include wines from artisanal producers selected by yours truly #sommlady, as well as snack boxes to pair and virtual tastings with our team of sommeliers in Florence!

Subscribe via link in bio or http://eepurl.com/cEl6cf

Buon venerdì a tutti- looking forward to swirling virtually!🍷 #curiousappetite #vinoclub

That satisfaction of cracking open a dark chocolat

That satisfaction of cracking open a dark chocolate bar filled with salted sale di Cervia caramel from Urzi chocolatiers in Via Gioberti (Florence)

This is reason 1939164 why I love Italian food- even salt depending on the coastline can be a whole story in it of itself!

Sale di Cervia is a precious salt of Cervia in the Ravenna province from the Adriatic Riviera which hugs Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. It’s considered a “sweet” sodium because it’s low in bitter chlorides. Please tell me there are other salt geeks out there?

I’ve recently been eating embarrassing amounts of chocolate and Urzi is one of my preferred pushers because they care greatly of bean provenance in addition to craft transformation. Win-win!

Like coffee, chocolate if not sourced with consideration, can be rife with ethical and environmental conundrum.

Food always for thought!

Please let us know if you’d like a bar (or 2!) in your next gourmet box order until you can taste/shop in the flesh! 🍫 #curiousappetite #florentinegourmetclub

When you come to Florence you’ll notice all sort

When you come to Florence you’ll notice all sorts of street food things like accordion-sized olive oil 🫒 brushed salt-crusted flatbread 🫓 “schiacciate ripiene” panini w/ sliced meats busting at the seams or tripe-like lampredotto guts slung into a broth-dunked cored out 🏵 rosetta breadroll, but other notable calories for the road come from a friggitoria (fried food stand) or forno (bakery) serving up fried salted pizza dough ball “coccoli” slathered w/ fresh cheese stracchino and salty peppered prosciutto or other fantasioso (imaginative) fillings (I wouldn’t throw burrata and cured anchovies outta the ring) 🤤 🍞 🧀

Which street snacks in Italy do you crave (and miss) the most? 🇮🇹🍴#curiousappetite #foodtours

We are all excited at the prospect of traveling ag

We are all excited at the prospect of traveling again, especially stumbling upon hidden gems in darling medieval villages twirling impromptu forks of Etruscan-storied pastas made modestly of flour and water, smothered in slow-cooked wild boar sugo with a bold Brunello in pair.

These throwback snaps were taken on a 5+ years past culinary wine tour scout in Montalcino, Tuscany’s fine red red Brunello wine land and home to these thicc hand-rolled fresh pasta strands.

Albeit via terrible photo taking skills, I’ll never forget this woman I did my best to capture (swipe!) who had trays of freshly rolled pici strands laying behind the bar/kitchen and the steaming plates she served up on the bar casually so- I was blown away and mesmerized for indescribable reasons.

The team at Curious Appetite is doing our best to bridge you to when we can eat pasta again in an actual restaurant in Italy with themed-online pasta classes live taught from Florence (virtually) every Sunday, including these very pici.

Schedule up via top linktree branch in bio or listed in our recently mailed newsletter

What are one of your favorite pasta memories in Italy? 🍝 🇮🇹 #curiousappetite #onlinecookingclasses

Going to miss the little things from Italy’s Eas

Going to miss the little things from Italy’s Easter period like decorative chocolate shop displays, confetti egg-shaped sweets, ricotta pie pastiera, yeasted egg doughy citrusy cakes, savory chard pasqualina pies to stuffed casatiello breads and light leather jacket blue sky weather.☀️🥧🍞🥚

The festive nature of these calories offered a bit of solace and delight during these (cue-broken-record 🎶 from Italy’s never-ending ‘rona saga) color-coded lockdownish weeks, not to mention amidst the angst of an awkwardly paced return to “normality”...and love how Italian food culture did its very best to still show up!

Existential dread aside- What did you get up to eating/drinking over the holiday weekend? Buona Pasqua a tutti! 🐣🍫 #curiousappetite #eastersnacks

I’m currently in a dangerous relationship with t

I’m currently in a dangerous relationship with the Neapolitan bakery/deli (forno alimentari pushing delicacies from Southern Italy’s prized pizza region Campania) on Via Gioberti: fresh milky mozzarella di bufala 🦬 with Sicilian dried thyme 🌿 crunched atop after sliced datterini tomatoes 🍅 and finished with bright green EV olive oil 🫒, casatiello stuffed bread of cima di rape/friarelli (broccoli rabe/rapini) and Neapolitan sausage, Santo Spirito market-sourced bitter-rich chicory salad 🥗 for vitamins, and ricotta wheat berry 🌾 orange blossom 🍊pastiera mini shortbread tartlet (with an ever so friabile crumbly crust) 🥧 🐣

This place is a candy store- and Via Gioberti in general, I love this block off Piazza Beccaria so much I listicled it on a past @voguemagazine piece you can find on my recent + past writing clips page: thecuriousappetite.com/press

Is it just me or does Naples do food better?! (Sorry Florence!!!) #curiousappetite #foodblogger #cancelled

VIRTUAL TOURS THIS WEEKEND FROM FLORENCE: 🖼 Ita

VIRTUAL TOURS THIS WEEKEND FROM FLORENCE: 🖼 Italian Easter in Art Tour (including exploring otherwise annual ancient traditions like this exploding cart pictured!) on Sunday April 4th at 1pm EST with Florence art history expert Valeria

🍷 Italian Culinary Tasting (think Vernaccia with spinach ricotta torta di pasqua and Vin Santo with Italian cakes) on Saturday April 3rd at 1pm EST w/ sommelier and food historian Adrienne.

I hope these online tours will brighten up this (second!) pandemic Easter with Italian culture (and taste)- wishing we could all be here together!

Tickets must be purchased in advance via linktree in bio, catching the links in stories or by finding our page via @eventbrite by searching “Curious Appetite Travel.”

Sincerely wishing for this light at the end of the tunnel and celebrating traditions in the meantime ❤️#curiousappetite #virtualtours

📸 credits @girlinflorence from @windowtotheduomo
🍰@cognitivesese for the Italian dessert spread 🤤
(Last photo of the foods we’ll be tasting on the Saturday tasting taken by Adrienne)

Italian coffee talk with expert barista @johnsy_je

Italian coffee talk with expert barista @johnsy_jessica_ in Florence, Italy. Grab a cup, watch or play in the background- this chat is chock full of fascinating info on one of the world’s most consumed beverages (il caffè!) graciously shared by @johnsy_jessica_ regarding brewing technique, gadgets, bean quality, Italian coffee culture as well as lesser considered topics such as coffee colonialism and climate change impacting coffee production and food sovereignty.

I learned that coffee is being grown near Sicily’s Mt. Etna 🌋- that’s 🍌s!

One of the TLDR morals to take away is- we should be buying coffee bags which tell a story and hint to a fairly traded product and normalize paying more than 1eu for an espresso. And support specialty coffee purveyors & local roasters in Italy and at home.

To continue your coffee education, make sure to sign up or request a virtual Italian barista workshop via bio and follow Jessica (Johnsy:) as well as her projects with @coffee_soul_relief and @black.history.month.florence

Buon venerdì a tutti! ☕️ #curiousappetite #coffee #IGlive #FlorenceItaly

Prendiamo un caffè ☕️- Join me and expert bar

Prendiamo un caffè ☕️- Join me and expert barista in Florence @johnsy_jessica_ Friday March 26th here on IG live at 1:30pm East Coast/6:30pm Italy time!

I’m beyond lucky to be chatting with Jessica (aka Johnsy) about specialty coffee & culture in Italy, her impressive career in the world of coffee (from barista training, founding @coffee_soul_relief, pouring competitions around Italy, travels to coffee producing regions, etc) her project in collab w/ @black.history.month.florence regarding coffee colonialism and some at-home brewing tips.

I am beyond thrilled for this live and if you even as much have a drop of curiosity for il caffè, you will not want to miss this chat- much to learn!!

Jessica helped open Ditta Artigianale and currently pours some of the city’s best cups at Melaleuca and also leads our virtual Italian coffee workshops. If you haven’t had the pleasure to meet her yet, pop over and join the live tomorrow and please share any/all questions you may have.

If you can’t make it, I’ll post to IGTV and share the link in my weekly newsletter.

Hope you’re all well, a domani! ☕️ ☮️ #curiousappetite #IGlive

My latest writing is on finding Iranian food in Fl

My latest writing is on finding Iranian food in Florence and beyond on @theflorentine (link to article via stories plus Iran travel throwbacks)

Lots of tips in that article from info nuggets explaining Nowruz/Persian New Year (thanks to my friends/family who helped me fact-check!) finding dates and Persian pantry essentials @advie.fga, weekly menu deliveries @persian_foodexperience including fair-trade saffron infused craft beer @shirinpersia.it and Florence restaurants offering an authentic slice of Iran @ristorantetehran and @lacongregafirenze 🇮🇷 ❤️

Grazie mille to the kind businesses listed making it possible for us in Italy to enjoy the plethora of Persian flavors and to lovely editor @helencfarrell for giving this tasty story a spot in this Renaissance town’s English speaking paper! Happy Springtime to all ☮️ #curiousappetite #foodblogger