Home Food in Italy

Some friends who visited Italy a few years ago were disappointed in the restaurants in that country renowned for its cuisine. They said they had eaten better Italian food here in Montreal.

Now travellers have an alternative to restaurants, a chance to share an authentic Italian meal with an Italian family at home. The program is called Home Food (www.homefood.it/en/) and while it is somewhat pricey, it includes not just several courses made from local ingredients but appropriate wines to go with each course. The cost is 50 euros per person, or about $65.

In North America it is easy to spend this much for pretty mediocre food and a glass of wine or two.

The places where you can enjoy home food are scattered around the country, from Lombardy to Sicily. A video on the Website features two women who rave about their experience in Bologna, known as "La Grassa," and considered to be one of the gourmet centres of Italy. Although I seldom could afford to eat in its best restaurants, Bologna certainly lived up to that reputation during the nine months I spent there.

If you want to sample Italian hospitatily through this program, you need to book ahead since there is a limited number of hosts and most accommodate eight guests at most.

I learned about the Home Food program through a post on the Website www.classetouriste,com, a blog with unusually beautiful pictures.