Delcastle students get a taste of Italia

For two weeks in July, high school students and faculty from the culinary arts class at Delcastle Technical High School in Wilmington, Del., traveled to Ripatransone, an ancient walled city in the province of Ascoli Piceno in the Marche region of central Italy as part of the department's "Cooking without Borders" program. Cooking without Borders has played host to a delegation from Ripatransone for the past few years. Through fundraising, student contributions and support of private businesses, the group of 13 (pictured, below) experienced a taste of life in Ripatransone and its surrounding areas.


During their stay, the students took language classes, prepared food indigenous to the region like gnocchi, tagliatelle, ravioletto, tacchino and pizza, and shared tables with local residents. They assisted with the butchering of four cattle for a town festival, and visited the open-air market of San Benedetto and the beach at Grottomare.

Students taste porchette at the market at San Benedetto

The town's close proximity to the Adriatic Sea also provided fodder for seafood meals including pan roasted spigola, calamari fritti and steamed cockles. To share their day-to-day adventures, the group created a blog, CookingInItaly2010.blogspot.com.


Cooking Without Borders will again host a group from Italy in the fall and will send another team to the Ripatransone community in two years. For more information, visit www.cooksandbakers.com.

Preparing ravioli