Easter is for the Christian world the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, on the third day after his crucifixion by the Romans, which occurred in the same period Jews celebrate the passover from Egypt to the promised land and secular culture celebrates the spring equinox, with bunnies, eggs, cakes and other pagan stuff full of ancient symbolism...among these, a cake shaped like a dove is a must on the Italian tables during Easter time...
Considering that a) doves have been used in all times and cultures as symbols of love, peace or as messengers of hope, new start and good luck, beyond borders, gates, cultural and religious divides...b) in the land of food every holiday has its own food... today we want to send you our warmest Easter greetings with a story of food, hope and creativity.
NOT EVERYBODY KNOWS!
that in Italy you can't call it Easter, if you don't eat a slice of "Colomba"...a traditional cake fashioned into a dove shape, made the same way as the Christmas panettone, but with sugar pearls and almonds on the top.
The practice of eating Easter bread or sweetened "communion" bread traces its origin back to Byzantium and the Orthodox Christian church and the recipe may date back as far as the Homeric Greek period...on the other size the origin of the dove-shape is controversial: one version dates the bread to 572 a.c., when King Alboin conquered Pavia after a three-year siege and demanded a magnificent tribute, including 12 virgins: the clever 12th, when called to the king's bed, presented a dove-shaped bread, and the king was so charmed by this simple gesture that he set her free, saved Pavia from destruction and made it his capital. Another legend connects the cake to Saint Colombano who at the beginning of the 7th century, when Queen Teodolinda refused a rich banquet of meats to observe the traditional Friday abstinence from meat consumption, transformed the food served in white and crisp breads dove-shaped...Finally, a third version dates the colomba back to 1176, commemorating the victory of the Lombard League over the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, when three doves representing the Holy Spirit came to rest over the Lombard signs, bringing fortune and victory.
The first to standardize the colomba recipe and commercialize it in the early 1900's, was the Milanese company founded by the baker and businessman Angelo Motta.
Easter time, almost one century ago, Dino Villani, the commercial director of Motta - a brand already well known for its famous Christmas cakes (panettoni and pandori) - had the clever intuition to re-use Christmas machinery and ingredients in the subsequent months, just adding to the traditional dough of the Xmas panettone, a surface layer of almonds and sugar pearls: this simple idea proved to be very soon an industrial success of big proportions and has made the colomba the most popular and imitated food symbol of the Christian Easter, a must-have for all the Italian tables worth of respect.
BAU ROME in collaboration with BAUSEM Istanbul
PRESENTS
ITALİAN CULİNARY WEEK-ENDS İN ROME
SPRING EDITION
Ideal for food/life bloggers, amateurs, entrepreneurs, journalists
13 May: Arrival in the morning, pick up at the airport for the hotel
16.00 - 22.00 DO & EAT IT MasterClass
Master Class with an Italian Professional chef: cooking and eating a typical Italian dinner, from the appetizers to the dessert.
At the end of this session, participants will receive a Master Class Certificate of Attendance
14 May: 15.30 - 19.00 How to Brand Food: Italian Families secret formulas: case study, Roscioli Rome
1. Exploring the Roscioli family secret formula: Bakery, Enoteca, Bar and Gourmet Shop in the heart of Rome
2. Tasting Session at Rimessa Roscioli: 5 great Italian wines coupled with breads, cheese and seeds
3. Dinner at the Roscioli Restaurant
At the end of this session, participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance by Roscioli & BAU Rome
15 May: Pick up at the hotel for Fiumicino
APPLY NOW or WRITE to to tailor your program