It all started with a Bicerin… Once upon a time a dream.

It all started with a Bicerin…Once upon a time a dream.

How  wonderful:  we  finally  toast  to  our  first  post!  

Every  occasion  is  good  to  rejoice  and party, here.

I  thought  that  the  best  way  to  inaugurate  the  blog  was  to  tell  you the  origins  of  the culinary  adventure  Abram and I set up:  let  you  know  how  I  Eeat Food Tours was  born, in short.

Why did I write that it all started with a Bicerin?

Well, then make yourself comfortable, I’ll tell you this!

But first, about  bicerin,  I show you what it is.

Bicerin. Bicerin is a traditional hot drink native to Turin, Italy, made of espresso, drinking chocolate, and whole milk served layered in a small rounded glass

If  you  then  want  to  taste  it  seriously,   along  with  many others  sweet treats in our company, there  is  only one thing to do: come to join our Chocolate Tour 

https://ieatfoodtours.co.uk/tour/chocolate-tour/

That said, happy reading … and we hope to see you soon!

May the Good Food always be with us,

Cecilia 

Abram and I set up  I  Eat  Food  Tours  as we both are very passionate about sharing, storytelling and meeting people from all over the world.

We basically are people persons.

Besides, we do love Turin, Torino in Italian.

I personally think that this city is always dressed  with spectacular  and  at  the  same  time  beautifully  composed,  whose  charm  is  able  to amaze every time as if it were the first.

It was an April afternoon.

The  light  spring  air  mingled  with  the  intense  scent  of  chocolate,  which,  passing  through  the “Caffè  al  Bicerin” https://bicerin.it/ reached  lively  up  to us, stopped to contemplate the beauty of the Consolata sanctuary and of the homonymous square

Piazzetta della Consolata

“If  you  have  the  patience  to  be  quiet  to  listen  to  them,  the  squares  have  so  much  to  tell!  Even those  small  and  yet  as  magnificent as this “- I say to Abram, while my eyes are lost among the thousand details around us.

“Yes, this place contains the magic of Turin … and you can enjoy it better with a great bicerin“. He told me.

“I agree, let’s get it right away, then!”, I reply enthusiastically.

Entering the famous Café, which boasts 265 years of age, in a moment we jump back in time.

Not just the  window and  furnishings  are  the  same  of  the  early  nineteenth  century,  in  this  tiny  historic  candy  box, city  institution and  destination  for  tourists  from  all  over,  even  the  atmosphere  seems  not  to have  changed:  you  almost  expect  to  find  the statesman Cavour sitting at his usual small table at the corner near the showcase.

Cavour’s table. The famous statestman who played the main role during Italy’s reunification was an authentic glutton. He loved the Bicerin and this one was his private table. ( Foto credit: www.bicerin.it)

That’s  right,  the  one  who  made  Italy  was  a  very  affectionate  of  the  place  …  and  of  all  his gluttons;  first  of  all,  the  irresistible  drink from  which  the  restaurant  takes  its  name:  the  bicerin, in  fact.  Tripartite  delight  in  chocolate,  coffee  and  milk  –  whose  real  recipe  is still secret – served in a small glass (bicerin in Piedmontese dialect) and to which one can not say no.

Abram and I order two of them.

During  the  wait,  the  seven  tables  around  us  are  filled  and  in  a  moment  we  are  close  to  distant lands.  Japan,  USA,  Russia,  the Middle East are gathered around us.

Once  they  were  nobles  and  people  of  the  people  to  meet  in  that  small  space:  for  a  few minutes,  in  the  name  of  the  bicerin,  all  class separations  disappeared.  

Nowadays  things  have changed  and  there  are  different  cultures  that  discover to be not so far away from each others:  all  there, together, united by food and history.

“It’s faboulos  what  food  is capable to  do. Can you realize  that  the  bicerin  have been continuing  to  welcome  tourists from  all  over  the  world  for  almost three  centuries?  Everyone  comes to Torino has to taste it!  By sitting  around  the same  table  for savouring some delish any  separation stops to exist.  How much I  like  this type of stories… “. I say to Abram, while I’m looking around smugly.

“Well,  speaking  of  stories,  you  like to listening  to  them  and  writing  them  down.  Maybe  you  could start  telling  them. Tell about food stories. Torino is the city master of taste, after all”. 

“Mmm … food stories. Why did not I think about it before?”

“Not just that. I think more about something like walking food tours, where you can tell stories and I …”.

“You would be my gourmet companion!” – I anticipate him and end his sentence for him.

“Yes! This  would also be a nice way to create a project of common work, as we have dreamed of doing‘.

“This is amazing! Promise me that we will work to make it possible “.

“I promise you” – replies Abram, almost solemnly. “And you?” – he asks me.

“I promise it too…”- I sayed.

From  that  day on  April,  the  rest  is history.  

A  new  story,  which  we  have  just  begun  to  write and  that  we  hope  will  grow  by  number of pages, passionate readers … and maybe even new storytellers!

You saw what the Piazzetta de La Consolata  did  for  us?  We  were able to listening to  its  voice  and it created thoughts,  business flowed, promises…

The  best  ideas  are  always  around  a  table.  If  you  are  in  the company  of  a  good  bicerin  and  surrounded  by the magic of Torino, then … success is assured!