MAG TRAVEL

Certain vegetables have a majestic quality to them that requires you to address them with a level of respect. I feel that way about eggplant, and I’m fascinated not only with dishes made with it but with when and how it came to us. Several varieties of eggplant are now available at the market, including the familiar purple oval one and the purple globe eggplant, which is called Tunisian eggplant in Sicily. There are long and thin purple, lavender and white eggplant called Japanese or Chinese eggplant. There are white eggplants that look like  large eggs and there is a round, ribbed eggplant called the Italian Rosa Bianco. The...

The Rolling Stones love Morocco and always stay at hidden Kasbahs in the Northern Regions. Mick has been sighted each time sipping piping hot mint tea and a ciggie during pauses.

Mint tea isn’t just a drink in Morocco. It is a sign of hospitality and friendship and tradition. Because this drink is so popular, it is served all day long, after every meal and with every conversation. Moroccans take great pride in their tea and will often ask a visitor who among their group of friends makes the best cup of mint tea. It’s a favorite among every Moroccan, old or young, even out at bars in the coolest 5-star hotels or i...

A well out of which an almond tree appears. This centuries old construction, in the heart of the town’s historic center, has become the symbol of Manduria, ancient town situated on Puglia’s Ionic coast.

The “Fonte Pliniano” testifies to both the presence of the messapic population who inhabited southern Puglia from the 8th century B.C. onwards, and the visit to the town by “Plinio the Old”: the famous Roman historian who mentioned the well in his “Historia naturalis” and after whom the structure w...

20th August is St. Stephen’s Day in Hungary and is also my Dad’s birthday. He is half Hungarian, so I’m a quarter. We joke about being Hungarian and about beefy women eating paprika and sour cream.I even went on a pilgrimage in 2006 to find out ancestors. It turned out that 1/4 of the phone book has our last name. Strangely enough, my main bread & butter this year is from a Hungarian client, so I’ve had a chance to get to know the ins and outs of Hungarian culture, food and modern Budapest. As today is their  public holiday, I’d like to point out that it is today that they...

Late Summer Edition

All’ombra del colosseo
One of the nicest of the temporary areas set up for the Estate Romana summer festival, “Al Ombra del Colosso” features a 1,500 square meter village, seating 2000 for cabaret and concerts. During the day, there’s a 200-square meter pool and jacuzzi; a disco, with an “apperitivo pool party” at 5 pm; a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and apperitivi; a revolving Texas Hold ‘em Poker game; and cabaret shows nightly at 9:45 pm. Parco del Celio, Viale del Parco del Celio at Via Celio Vibenna. Pool open, 9 am – 6 pm; Monday...

I am taking a Masters course and for the life of me I still cannot get over the wretched name “Storia e Cultura delle Tradizioni Gastronomiche” – History and Culture of Gastronomic Traditions. Sounds properly academic and Julia Childs-esque, but it’s that gastro part that disturbs me. Like Colonoscopies and the such.

Nevertheless, I am supposed to be writing my thesis and came across this wonder Amalfitana Alphabet of the Gastronomic delights it boasts.

As a tribute to the place that ignited my fire and where, for the last 10 years, I’ve called home away from home, despite the long bo...

Morocco is like the original hippy colony. Hippies but with thousands of years of tradition and culture and religion.Everything is done in accordance with tradition and culture; slowly, rehearsed daily, without questioning why or how.

This always boggles me, mono-cultures. Having come from a multi-cultural city in the most multi-cultural state in the melting pot of cultures, I never experienced this before: there is one way to do it, and we all say it’s the best way! Italy is like this in many ways: cooking, eating, recipe wars going back centuries which are still being argued right now at a trattoria near you. It&...

Four hundred years after the artist’s death, the much-anticipated Caravaggio exhibit will be open at the Scuderie del Quirinale from February 20 through June 13 and if you are in Rome tonight, the museum will be open all night, and for free!

Michelangelo da Merisi, dubbed Caravaggio, ...

A beautiful idealic town in the province of Caserta- where Spartacus was trained at the Gladiator school (ludus) here in what was then known as Capua is now known as one of the most dangerous mafia regions in Italy. We went down to meet with locals to discuss food, politics and how English as a second language is saving force. Believe it or not, no one sees them. Forget Sopranos, this is the “Gomorrah” – the mafia located in the Campania region who control the region since – as they put it – no one else takes care of them. The don’t bother you or me, they are infiltrated in the government, the infrast...

It takes place in Naples on Monday 17 May at 12.00 in the Conference Room of Castel dell ‘Ovo (on the 1st floor next to elevator) the press conference of “sips of moons. Itineraries of taste and to make women” The annual meeting of the Association of Women’s Wine Campania for the past six years has seen the members of the Association to life, June 8 at the Taste of the Town of Naples, a great dinner – tasting produced with the assistance of all members .

The event, procedes going to charity,will mark the beginning of the program of the Association for the second half of 2010.
During the...