Italy’s Primo Foodie Emporium

For those of us who dream of eating our way though Italy, I have the perfect place to do so...all under one roof.   Think Oz’s Emerald City meets Whole Foods on steroids.  Eataly (a clever play on words), opened in the city of Torino in 2007, is a mind-blowing food experience. 

It’s not surprising that this gourmand’s utopia is located in Italy’s Piedmont district.  Piedmont is the home of the Slow-Food movement, a kind of Noah’s Ark for the culinary world.  Slow-Food, now an international phenomena, was birthed in the 1980’s in outrage to the opening of the first McDonald’s in Italy.  Eataly exemplifies Slow-Food’s philosophy by showcasing artisanal culinary products from all parts of all of Italy…some of them rarely known outside their region…many were saved from extinction by the Slow-Food movement.

Housed in a former vermouth factory, the mammoth Eataly structure has been altered to 21^st century sleek and sexy.   It’s divided into 8 sections:  pasta, pizza, cheese, meat, fish, wine, beer and gelato.  Each area comes with its own chef and tasting bar, and the well trained staff is more than willing to educate shoppers though a myriad of kock-your-socks-off tastings. 

If you’re joining Wine-Knows on the truffle tour to Piedmont this October, we’ll be stopping at Eataly for lunch.  The Torino store was such a success that branches have opened in Milan and just last month a gigantic one in Rome.  Not going to Italy?  No worries as Eataly has recently opened an outpost in New York City.

Don’t miss Eatly… bring lots of money, but every foodie must go to this gastronomic nirvana.